Am I the only one who thinks it’s really pathetic that SWPL types have to take classes on roughhousing with their kids? On the other hand, at least there’s “expert support” for it now so maybe it’ll have something of a comeback.
My entire immediate family got together over the Memorial Day holiday for the first time in a number of years. My sister lives almost on the other side of the continent and one of my brothers lives in another state, so we don’t all get together much. I spent a little (and I mean a little) bit of time roughhousing with my two year old niece. The reaction from her mother?
“We’ll see how she reacts to that. She’s not used to roughhousing.”
Sad. My son, who is about 8 months younger, is so used to roughhousing (and loves it so much) that now he’ll climb on top of the couch to throw himself off onto the seat cushion, laughing like a madman the whole time. We took him to the pool for the first time last week. While we were out there, one of the local kids did a cannonball right next to us. My son’s eyes opened wide and he got a huge grin. I have no doubt that he’d have been doing it himself five seconds later if he could swim (not yet; we’re about to sign him up for swimming lessons later this summer).
Don’t let your kid be a pansy. Start roughhousing with them at a young age and don’t stop. Be careful (duh), and keep it age appropriate (double duh). But do it. Mothers and fathers both.
