Play, play, play
12 Baskets Full
A Heritage Basket March 2021
A little girl was invited for dinner at the home of her first-grade friend. The vegetable was buttered broccoli and the mother asked if she liked it. “Oh, yes,” the child replied politely, “I love it!”
But when the bowl of broccoli was passed, she declined to take any. The hostess said, “I thought you said you loved broccoli.” The girl replied sweetly, “Oh, yes ma’am, I do, but not enough to eat it!”[1]
As you add more items to your basket each week, it is my prayer that you will keep in mind the personality, spiritual gifts, talents and interests of the child(ren) who will receive this encouragement. More importantly, it is my prayer that each gift will celebrate their individual design and purpose. In other words, that they will love their gifts enough to use and enjoy them, or in the words of the above – to love them enough to eat them!
Let’s Get Practical
‘Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things,’ I was told many moons ago. A nugget of truth I think we should all keep in mind as we are adding finishing touches to this month’s basket.
A Hobby Horse: Play! Play! Play!
Play should be one of the most important aspects of a child’s development, for fun fosters emotional intelligence, while risk and adventure help them grow in confidence. Play also reinforces memory and promotes critical thinking skills, helps develop fine and gross motor skills as well as teaches children how to interact with others. Yet, for play to be effective, we will have to undo the bubble wrap society demands we constantly put around our kids.
Your gifts can vary from rattles and rag dolls for babies to cars, building blocks, Lego’s and puzzles for older kids. While board games were already mentioned last week, I need to emphasize that I am also a great proponent of make-believe play. I still have vivid memories of a box filled with a variety of handbags, ancient hats, gloves, old tweed jackets, outdated evening gowns and princess dresses, all kinds of scarfs and even broken jewelry pieces I kept in the girls’ bedroom. It ensured many happy hours of play, fueled their imaginations and resulted in hilarious photoshoots.
Wonder & Work: The Balancing Act
Once resolved to see a task through and determined to conquer the challenge – whether in woodwork, baking skills or mastering a musical instrument – they will soon discover the beauty of routines and the happiness of habit. Children like promotion and the idea of successfully completing a task brings great joy and holds numerous benefits for later in life. You can play an important role in this journey. An encouraging gift to reward their efforts, can go a long way in recognizing their accomplishment and applauding their discipline. Whether that is a cook book from a beloved master chef, or a new CD from a favourite artist – it can add to the triumph and inspire them to keep the momentum.
Which brings me to wonder – a feeling of amazement and admiration, caused by something beautiful, remarkable or unfamiliar, as my Apple dictionary expounds. I cannot be excited enough about this last gift – the gift of wonder. Bogged down with responsibility, continuously stressed – right or wrong and grappling with the many changes covid19 brought about, we urgently need to set the example.
At the heart of this gift, is the art of noticing beauty. Appreciating dewdrops on cobwebs and sprouting seedlings, forwarding a video about animal antics, or opening a discussion on black swans and white rainbows are ways in which we can take the lead on this. As are blessing girls with imported lace, beautiful material with gorgeous patterns and colours or a delicate old teacup from a secondhand store. Inviting boys and girls to attend the annual vintage car show in your town or a neighbouring town is another way we can show them how to pause and applaud the handiwork of God and others!
Which almost wraps up this month’s basket. Next week we will post various resources to help you during this exciting season of your life.
[1] https://www.moretolifetoday.net/what-love-looks-like/
