In the Genuine Fun Is Key strategy, it’s important to actively participate in your child’s play and become the toy that they can engage with. This means finding opportunities to join in the action and giving them the space to direct the play, using their words to communicate what they want to happen. To truly connect with your child and have fun together, it’s important to bring your own energy and enthusiasm to the play. However, it’s equally important to set up the environment for success and to be authentic in your interactions. Your child will be able to tell if you’re not genuinely enjoying yourself, so make sure to have fun in a way that feels natural and comfortable for both you and your child.
Watch the below videos that illustrate this strategy and make sure to download the supporting PDF Workbook.
Warm up question to ponder: Think of the most relevant times in your childhood (and your current life), how relevant was fun in your learning? How important was it to see your caregivers also having fun?
Lesson Takeaways
- You have to be the toy: you have to be so much fun that he wants you to do it
- Its about finding the place where there is an action where he needs you for and giving the space for him to say to word to make it happen
- Use your energy to get them to want something and then get them to communicate
- Reach for the things that get your child to laugh and smile and have fun, because that’s when they’re connected to you, and then when you ask for clearer speech, then you get an answer
- Set up environment for success so you can be successful with your child
- You need to also have fun: they will see through the fakeness and then nothing will come out of your time together