A father we know was sitting at the kitchen table and spotted an empty egg carton on the counter. He decided to make something from it, something he remembered from his own childhood. His four-year-old daughter was in the next room, watching television, but during a commercial, she wandered in to see what was going on.

She asked her father what he was doing, and he told her, "I thought I'd see if I could make a toy car." When she asked, "Why?" he answered, "Just for fun. I used to make them from egg cartons when I was a boy."

They worked together on this project, adding ideas and embellishing the design with colored markers. When they finished, she picked up the egg-carton car and ran upstairs to her mother and cried out, "Look, Mommy! Look what Daddy and I just made!" Just think about how much it meant to her -- on many levels -- to have that playtime with her father, building something together, appreciating each other's creative ideas, and feeling proud of what he and she made. And think about how much that playtime must have meant to her father, too!

There's Playfulness In Each Of Us

Whether you're a parent, grandparent, or other caregiver who becomes involved, either watching a child play as an interested bystander or becoming a partner with a child in the play, you'll have a wonderful opportunity to learn more about that child -- and probably more about yourself, too.

Maybe you'll also find that by watching a child at play, you'll tap into some of the playfulness inside you -- remembering your childhood and discovering new things about yourself. Parenting gives us many chances to grow...right along with our growing children.

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