I'm a mom, stepmom, and theatre educator who helps parents connect with their children by accessing their silly side! No messy arts and crafts, complicated activities, or sensory bins here -- just easy, simple, silly moments to share as a family. Short weekly emails include free resources, exclusive discounts, inspiration, playful tips, and easy game ideas.
Moms… can I get real with you for a sec?
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I’ve seen this study going around on social media that kind of bothers me: It says mothers get more oxytocin from cuddling their kids and dads get more oxytocin from playing with their kids. The study itself doesn’t bother me. It’s the hundreds of comments saying: “I hate playing with my kids. My husband's the fun one, I’m the nurturing one. Good to know it’s just science.” And my most viral reel? My husband. The world loves a fun dad. Here’s what the stigma seems to be: Dads = fun, silly, playful Moms = nurturing, carrying the mental load, nagging, all the NOT-fun stuff. That’s some B.S. — sorry, I said it! Moms, I’m here to tell you: we get to be nurturing AND fun. “Fun” can be silly and simple. Doesn’t have to be rough-and-tumble. Example: My son and I used a “magic wand” to freeze and unfreeze each other today and he was squealing with laughter. It’s already been my favorite part of the day. What are your thoughts on this? Reply and let me know — I’d love to hear! Love, Mia P.S. Here’s a message from a mom yesterday that sparked this email: “I started using your free ideas for being silly and it has magically diffused so many almost-tense moments. It's made me feel so much more real, relaxed, and not stressed. I always hated that my husband was the "fun one,” but now I feel happy having even fifteen mins of silly time!” P.P.S. Have you saved that list yet? Here it is: 25 Easy Silly Moments updated.pdf P.P.P.S. I'm experimenting with sending short, weekly emails like this to keep in touch with you. I'll still be posting on Instagram, but shifting my focus to be more personal here. That algorithm is crazy and I never know if even 1% of followers will see my content -- so thank you in advance for sticking around! 🙏🏽 |
Playful Heart Parenting
I'm a mom, stepmom, and theatre educator who helps parents connect with their children by accessing their silly side! No messy arts and crafts, complicated activities, or sensory bins here -- just easy, simple, silly moments to share as a family. Short weekly emails include free resources, exclusive discounts, inspiration, playful tips, and easy game ideas.
On Friday, I felt like a total failure. A friend invited us to the park, and I thought, “Yes, we need this.” I’ve been having a lot of guilt over not being outside enough with my son (it’s been hard to do that for a number of reasons). The story in my head was: This is your chance to redeem yourself and be a better mom. That narrative inside my head is exactly why the following events were such a blow to my confidence and self-worth: My son was so excited, asking me all day when we’d leave....
I got this message yesterday on Instagram: “Your videos are always so amazing. It seems like you have endless patience. How do you have the capacity at the end of a long day to still be silly? I find myself wanting it to move quickly and them just do what they need to so we can get to bedtime.” I’m going to be completely honest… I’m not a patient person by nature. I can lose my patience easily. I usually want things to move faster. I often start eating my food before I even get to the table...
Things have been rough around here. My baby girl has been very unhappy, and it’s been heartbreaking and stressful. On top of that, my husband’s been working seven-day weeks, and my almost-threenager has been having big feelings about it all. There’s been a lot of screaming from both kiddos. (And I, myself, may have stepped into another room yesterday to scream) I haven’t felt playful. I’ve been stressed and worried. And with that, the guilt creeps in—telling me it’s my fault my son is...