One of my biggest challenges as a mom was playtime. I was reminded of this inadequacy this morning as I went through my Twitter feed.  @jdaniel4smom tweeted “Making Time to Play: Follow His Lead- It is important to let your child show you how to play."  I retweeted with the hashtag "sosmart.  

Such a simple idea that I could have used. Honestly, along with being craft challenged, I was a completely play challenged mom.

Growing up, my family just never really played. We read. We took day trips in the car. Occasionally, we camped (badly I might add).  We had moved across country when I was in first grade, and I didn’t grow up around any family. Young children and unstructured play were mysteries to me.

As a young mom, I felt pretty inadequate on the playtime front until I discovered the most wonderful book, Baby Games by Elaine Martin. It had a happy collection of nursery rhymes and simple games for newborns to 3 years old. These were things I could read and repeat (kinda pitiful, I know).

I wasn’t great at Legos (unless you count stepping on them at night in bare feet and masterfully biting my tongue so as not to wake the sleeping builder). I was bewildered by KNex. But I totally rocked PlayDough. That stuff is like Rescue Remedy to me. Puts me in a happy place! So I wasn’t a total playmommy failure!

Sadly, Baby Games is only available to order from a few places as a discounted book. I don’t think it’s in print anymore. But if you’re play challenged as I was, you might want to visit JDaniel4'sMom for her series on taking time to play.