Play (dough) with purpose
My in-person classes have been moved to online, all of the appointments and meetings I have have either been rescheduled or shifted to virtual. It's hard not to get anxious about the reason why.
Sometimes I talk about the big picture philosophy of being playful -- what it looks like societally if we change our attitudes, or who gets access to certain toys or play spaces.
Other times I think it's important to bring it back to play at it's simplest and purest. Today it is rainy and the world is scared. Today I am making play dough, with my grandmother's recipe. I am adding cinnamon and cloves, and my kids and I will squish our fingers in it until nothing exists in my mind except the tiny world we create at the dining room table.
This is also the power of play.
Lean into tactile, cathartic experiences. Take deep breaths. Keep the anxiety away from your kids, and for the love of humanity, don't forget to play.
My grandmother's play dough recipe, enjoy!
Roya Dedeaux is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a focus on using creative tools like art, writing, and recreation as a way to help teens and their families who don't quite fit the mold.
Roya’s first book, Connect with Courage: practical ways to release fear and find joy in the places your kids take you is the result of her background in Recreation and Leisure Studies and Marriage and Family Therapy and is the base of her Connect with Courage Parenting Course.
She loves running her private practice, creating art prompts for her
two online art groups, and running games and challenges in the
free Recreate Parenting Facebook community! When she's not doing that, she loves to make messes with her three wild & wonderful kids where they live and play hard in Southern California.
Connect With Courage
