Schools have begun closing in many places – the days are definitely longer and the nights much shorter. The long cold winter days are finally behind us. There are two brothers roughly my sons age (4-5) who have been coming to play with our kids every day after school without fail. They ring the door bell and its always, “Guess who is back!!” They ride their bikes “around the block” and play all sorts of other games. This has been such a wonderful time for me as I have been using this time to make dinner, listen to podcasts and I believe so have their folks.
What I love the most is that it has evolved into such a self -directed playtime – they make the rules, decide if they want to come in or stay out, they decide if they feel hungry and come get a slice of an apple etc. What I have also noticed is more kids on the street have started coming out around the same time. They hear the laughter the squeals and I have noticed on average 2-3 new little faces come walking down the street. Today my daughter (4) met a girl her age and she was so excited.
I say all that to say – Play begets play friends. When kids see other kids play they are just drawn like iron fillings to a magnet. So this summer let them out, let them play.