Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Role Play - Not So Fun for Daddy

Couple days ago at the park (in between sniffling and demanding that I play Billy Goats Gruff on the wooden bridge), Maia decided we were going to play Families. She would be Daddy, Daddy would be The Baby and Mummy would be Mummy. Got that?

Being The Baby was, without doubt, the most work. Pat was presented with a pine cone to use as a pacifier, a cardboard bee as a bottle and, just to ramp up the parental embarrassment factor, Maia wanted to change his nappy. In the park. In public.

She was quite insistent, as well. We were kind of stunned and not sure what to do - do you stop it because someone, somewhere might think it is inappropriate to play nappy changing, specifically with Daddy? She changes her teddies' nappies, when they are playing The Baby. Daddy was The Baby, so he needed a nappy change.

In the end, it was over in seconds. Weird though. It is awkward when their totally innocent play gets muddled up in our very adult ideas about bodies and how we should relate to children.

The game was abandoned pretty soon after. We opted for the coward's way out of Far More Billy Goat's Gruff, Far Less Nappy Changing Daddy in the Park. In public.

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