- April 23, 2024
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I’m not the best at playing make-believe with my children. My 6-year-old daughter, Kennedy, acts as game master, directing 3-year-old Luke as her customer or her pet dog or her baby, depending on the game. When they ask me to join in, I get bored immediately.
“What are the rules, here?” I’ll ask. “What are we trying to accomplish?”
“We’re playing Library,” Kennedy will say. She has all the doors to the entertainment center wide open, and she's surrounded by books, while Luke dutifully approaches her "desk" and requests one. Kennedy then pretends to print out a receipt for him.
“And then what?” I ask.
“Then he comes back and gets another book,” she says, the happiest librarian you’ll ever meet.
One night, I agree to play Hotel with them. Kennedy, the manager, sets out a row of granola bars and crackers and calls it the breakfast bar. I arrive as her first customer.
“Where’s your luggage?” she asks.
“I don’t have any,” I say.
“Just pretend, Dad,” she says. “Right this way.” She leads me to Luke’s bedroom, which is now Room 110 in the hotel.
“Have a good night,” she says with a smile, and she closes the door.
I secretly escape and answer some work emails.
The next day, while Kennedy is at school, Luke is cranky. I’m focused on my laptop, trying to get him to look at books to keep him occupied, but he keeps begging to watch TV. I avoid it as long as possible but finally relent.
He turns on “Bluey,” a cartoon about a family of bipedal dogs on Disney+. In each episode, the mom and dad dogs play make-believe games with their two young children. The dad often acts as game master, and they end up laughing and making great memories as a family.
“What a great idea for a show,” I think to myself. “I bet it’s great for kids who get stuck watching TV all the time."
Luke is zoning out. He watches two more episodes.
Then I realize that Luke is one of those kids who is watching TV instead of playing make-believe. And I’m sitting right next to him.
Sigh.
The next day, while I'm driving Kennedy and Luke on an errand, I give it a shot. “We’re on a pirate ship,” I say, tentatively, from the driver's seat.
Luke’s eyes brighten. A smile spreads across his face.
Kennedy raises an eyebrow. “Dad, no we’re not.”
“And if you don’t do exactly what I say, you’re both walking the plank,” I continue. I don’t have a lot to work with, so I lift up an armrest. “If I do this, you have to raise your hands.”
After a couple of tries, Luke and Kennedy are both giggling. I have no idea what to do next. The rules change on a whim, and there seems to be no point whatsoever.
And that’s just how they like it.
What's your favorite way to spend time with your children or grandchildren? Send ideas to [email protected].
