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What do your kids like to do to play?

My daughter does imaginative play. Whatever she's into at the time. She'll assign us roles or characters and tell us exactly what to say and do. I'm not allowed to improvise which I find unbearable. The whole thing is weirdly exhausting.

The other thing she will do is make scenes from her Playmobil. She used to just line everything up but now she does scenes and will tell you the story behind it.

This is the only real 'play' I see her do. Otherwise it's just endless drawings, or 'crafting' which is sticking stuff together with tape.

At all times she would prefer to be watching television, but I guess that's all kids.

well if i ever have kids i plan on them playing airsoft.I hope they play sports like football and baseball basketball and possibly golf.

That sounds a lot like putting on a pretend theatre play. That's an excellent role-playing game. She's the director, and writes the script; you're the actors, and you perform. Ain't nothing wrong with that. That's her game, and by agreeing to play it, you agree to follow the script.

I remember myself doing the same thing. And my family tried improv on me like you did on your daughter. Which I hated. I quickly gave up trying to make them actors, and delegated those roles to my stuffed animals. My family became the audience instead. Even though that turned my plays into glorified puppet shows, I was mostly OK with that.

My plays changed little as a result: the stuffed animals simply stood in for humans playing the same roles, and I (male) was a voice actor for all of them. Occasionally, although not often, my older sister (by 10 years) joined me as a voice actress for female characters. And even then, I wrote their lines.

My ASD son played with all sorts of imaginative toys. He was always inventing new worlds and inventing new games. LEGO’s, Playmobile, Thomas the Train, etc were all very popular with him.

What he could not appreciate until much older was someone else’s rules and someone else’s setting. He needed to be in control, to apply his vision. Still, there were plenty of kids who enjoyed his games and the worlds he created, so once kids accepted it was a one way street, they seemed to really enjoy being part of his imagination.

Sports were only part of his world because they are so big in American culture. I can’t say he ever truly really melded into that system. He had amazing coaches that played to his strengths and gave him positive experiences, but he lacked physical skill and tended to be too lost in his own world to really be an effective teammate. Still, I think he will always have a soft spot for soccer.

In high school he did a lot of acting. He became some amazing characters, and developed an intense appreciation for the art form of theater.