Jouer (to play)

The Wall St. Journal recently published an article about common differences in French and American parenting styles. It was inspiring. Quiet but consistent authority, delayed gratification, independence, high expectations -- who would've thought we could learn so much from the French?

Frankly, I have never found it overly tempting to spend all day catering to and entertaining my boys. Their idea of a good time generally involves piling a random assortment of small objects into a vehicle, accompanied by sounds that don't form into any known words. Instead, I usually focus the time I play with them on activities I can enjoy (i.e. building a lego house or pillow fort, reading pretty much anything, walking downtown, watching Wildkratts, etc). But these mutually-agreeable activities do not the day fill. So the boys spend hours each week playing on their own. An excellent skill, right? Yes! But does this prevent me from feeling guilty that I don't spend more time with the dreaded Hot-wheels? Of course not! I am an American, after all.

Not only that, I am morning sick. Still. Between this reality and the French example, I've found two fabulous excuses to celebrate Noah and Aaron's playtime independence. They've always been good at playing on their own -- and playing together IF it was a 2-yr-old-friendly game (i.e. chase). But lately, Aaron has been able to join Noah in more mature, sedate activities (i.e. sitting in a chair for minutes strung together and playing with Play-doh). They still tackle and chase and--thankfully--ask for my participation plenty, but listening to them sit quietly and play with toys at the table brings a special kind of joy to this mother's heart.