Hello Spring! It’s officially the season of change and us finally getting to enjoy being outside again. I thoughtshare my favourite play activity with you; roughhousing. 

I don’t know about you but I find winter really hard. The cold inconsistent weather, leaves you no choice but to be inside more often than not. This becomes quite stifling and finding ways to play only inside can be challenging for parents. But Spring is here and it’s time to get outside once again.

Spring; the time I most enjoy going to the park, beach or coffee dates with friends and letting that fresh air move through my home again. What I also love about this time of year is we all start getting active again. Either exploring in nature with bush walks, playing outside and/or roughhousing with our siblings. 

Growing up, our family was known for being active. We loved moving our bodies and were always outside entertaining ourselves. Our parents were always thinking about how to keep us busy, entertained and having fun. Now this was not an easy feat as all 3 of us have very different inside game preferences but lucky for us when we were all outside, we all loved to move! 

Now don’t get me wrong some days this worked beautifully and we played nicely. On other days, well we fought like cats and dogs to put it nicely.  And some days we still do! Boy did we roughhouse. But, it was exactly what our bodies needed. We were also lucky, that growing up dad was a big kid himself and loved to wrestle and rough us up!

When we would go and visit our cousins (being 5 to 9 years older and all boys), again we would wrestle and play with them. Now did they happen to just hang us upside down in the air, hold us down so we had to figure out how to get out? Of course they did! Did we find ways to get out? Not always truth be told. But did we have fun? Absolutely! And still to this day, they are honestly some of my favourite and memorable times. 

Looking back and with the knowledge of play and OT that I have today, roughhousing is such an integral part of our development and growing up. It works on so many different skills but it is also so much fun! I do find that today most parents tend to bubble wrap their children with concerns of being injured or dealing with the emotions and safety. But managed well it is safe form of play and the benefits are fantastic.

It can be used to support your children in;

• Activating the body and the sensory systems, processing and responding to the input
  
• Increasing child to parent connections
  
• Helping to build trust and safety
  
• Getting their body moving for core, postural and gross motor development
  
• Helping to enhance non-verbal social skills, tuning in and engaging to the other people’s emotions and body language and then to respond accordingly
  
• Expanding skills on co-regulating emotions and self-regulating emotions within the games; having self-control. Learning how to independently increase and decrease  interest levels and controlling emotions. These skills can then be transferred into your child’s everyday social interactions with siblings, parents, friends and into the community.
  
• When playing these games, you may have a chaser and a catcher, negotiations, sharing of ideas, winning/losing. These decisions only expand their social skills, and develop a greater understanding of cooperation, respect, and empathy.
  
• Activates the higher executive functioning skills all kids need for academic development, such as ideation, problem solving and creativity.
  
• AND my personal favourite…. It is a form of play that allows kids to make mistakes without fear or punishment.
  

And remember, when there is fun and laughter, your child is actively learning new skills at a faster rate!

If you want to learn more about roughhousing, you should read ‘The Art of Roughhousing’ by Anthony T. DeBenedet. It is one of my all time favourite books and it has many different games and ideas on how to play with our children and develop the skills I mentioned above through roughhousing. So go check it out if you are interested!

Also, for a fun quick way and guide to get started in roughhousing and supporting your children in engaging in this play, click on this link and get your free hand out today. It is all my rules and favourite games I play with the kids to help them develop their motor skills and their emotional, social development. 

Have a go, see what works for you and your family. Stay safe, create structures and boundaries to support everyone when playing and simply just go for it. It’s Spring, so play outside in the backyard and wrestle on the trampoline, in the park or anywhere! But most importantly have fun whilst doing so. I hope you can have fun connecting, laughing and building great memories for you and your family. 

If you would like more ideas, supports or strategies, feel free to contact us and we would love to chat to you about it today.

Jess.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

Latest Posts