What I learnt from my kids

Children love to role play. It's their way or learning how life works, how they feel about growing up and what they perceive certain roles to be like. The act out what they see, what they feel from the adults around them, what they see on television.

When my son was 4 years old he watched his cartoon character run away from home, he thought he would do the same. He packed a small bag and walked out the door. I let him go to see what he would do. At the time we lived in a fairly quiet street and he went and sat in the gutter and contemplated his next move. He sat there for what seemed like sometime and then I went and brought him in. He had watched his character run away but hadn't thought through what he was going to do.

Looking back I'm glad I let him go for him to see that every action has a consequence even though he was only 4. Also he needed to see that what happened on television is not always the best move. Role playing is healthy.