...to HATE pretend play?!

[Randomname85]

Am I?! Tell me I’m not the only one. Any sort of ‘mummy you be this and I’ll be that’ - I cannot bear it! Baking, drawing, anything else but if I hear the words ‘mummy let’s play frozen/paw patrol/moana’ I can’t help but internally make this face 😖

I think lockdown has only exacerbated my hatred of it.

My DH says the only time he has used his drama degree is since having kids!

@BlackBrowedAlbatross

Being corrected all the time used to wind me up

"OK Mummy, you can be a princess, what colour dress would you like, Princess Mummy?"

"Oh I think I'd like a red dress"

"No Mummy, here's your dress, it's blue"

Why the fuck did you bother asking then, you little tyrant?

THIS. It isn't princesses but my DS's pretend play always involves me being WRONG. I can last about five minutes and then I develop an urgent need to do some housework.

Even as a child I hated pretend play. It was so deathly dull
When my dcs were younger dh did all the pretend play

My DS was never much into it (preferred building hugely complicated Brio tracks, which is quite fun tbh), but he had a friend from school who would ask to come for tea at least once a week, and her first words as soon as she came through the door were always 'Let's play cats!' - she had to be the cat and I had to be the owner, but I also had to generate complicated storylines for the pair of us, all while simultaneously trying to entertain DS, who was having no part in it! The only thing worse was when she'd say 'Let's make cakes!' >

I actually founded a live roleplay society at university and helped to run it for ten years...and I too shudder at the words "Mummy, let's play pretend!". :-)

it's my least favourite. I'll be kitten and you be the mummy cat - queue Darth Vader doom music in my mind as I wheel out distractions and bribes to avoid it. My DC love, love, love it though.

@Helpel

Yep hate it too. Spent varying levels of time on it over the years, but we have two girls only 16 months apart, so now insist they to do this kind of play together! Like others have said, there is no memory of my mum or dad doing these kind games with me, however now they are grandparents, they will literally spend hours with our girls playing shops, mummies and babies and any other god awful version of role play games! So as well as insisting they play together, i also say 'grandma and grandpa will play that with you when you next see them'. I stick to craft and games - much more bearable.

This is one of the reasons why I have dc close in age. I simply wanted to avoid having to pretend play

I can still remember my liberation day from my small tyrant. A little girl about DDs age moved into the street, came round with her mummy to ask if DD could play .... and that was it. Better playmate acquired! I still did things with DD (and her friend) but 'let's pretend' pretty much ended.

Oh no - I think I am still mentally 3 years old as I love it and can't wait for DD to be at that stage.
But I am still a bit bossy and think the games should be my way so that's going to be interesting.

I particularly loved Shops and Schools so have everything crossed that DD does too. I'll be gutted if she doesn't want me to play.

I probably need to get out more....

Just. Say. No.

As PP said, give them a scenario and leave them to get on with it. Or tell them you'll watch a 'performance' in an hour or so. Harder if they haven't got siblings, admittedly, but if there's more than one of them they should be able to get on with it alone.

I can't STAND it as you might be able to tell.

I loved pretend play as a child, loved it, but my parents were never involved. Schools, mummies and daddy’s, witches, detectives, children-who-have-run-awayand-live-ina-cave, the Faraway Tree, Kids from Fame, being in Bucks Fizz...
DS1 didn’t like it at all, he found it chaotic and confusing, and preferred games with rules, so we didn’t do much and I wished we could. Then came more imaginative DS2 and I was quickly drained of the will to live. I did make myself play a bit because I felt sorry for him, as I had two sisters to play with but his brother absolutely refused. The best was “mummy you be mummy and I’ll be your child” - er, OK

I think most adults hate it! Normally I would indulge for say 20 minutes and then say I have a job to do, be back soon. So they get you playing but the torture is time limited!

I have found my people!
I can’t do it, I hate it, ds5 wandered in while I was getting dressed this morning. “I’ve got some things out for us to play together” That familiar feeling of dread creeping over me as I realised I have to play bloody transformers!

Man I HATED that stage. BORING. AS. FUCK.

He still tries it occasionally now age 10... lets play Pokemon...

I’m a Nanny and I hate it too, I absolutely hate it and it’s my job. I’ll sit n read, play game’s ,sing messy play etc anything just not that.

@Megan2018

Oh no - I think I am still mentally 3 years old as I love it and can't wait for DD to be at that stage. But I am still a bit bossy and think the games should be my way so that's going to be interesting.

I particularly loved Shops and Schools so have everything crossed that DD does too. I'll be gutted if she doesn't want me to play.

I probably need to get out more....

She will but... I loved playing as a kid - The Phoenix & the Carpet, Little House on the Prairie, Grange Hill etc. I thought I would find it fun as an adult, but I discovered I had totally lost the thinking process that went along with it.

DD plays Topsy and Tim and I get to be the mum, so I basically carry on as normal! Or they play Raa Raa and I am Topsy the giraffe who likes reading and tidying!

DD doesn't really ask me to play imaginary games. She bosses DS around and has a bunch of imaginary friends she plays with. She will give me a blow by blow account of the playing though

Why are people doing this? I had this convo with a friend a few months ago who refuses to do it with her 2 and they’re perfectly fine, they don’t know any different. We both said that we can remember playing make believe crap for hours, but on our own or with our siblings, never with our parents

Parenting, like dog ownership seems to have gone absolutely nuts in the 21st century, it’s all just pandering. I have another friend whose child is an absolute nightmare tbh, you cannot have even a 3 min convo with her because her child is constantly interrupting, he cannot entertain himself for even 5 mins, he needs constant interaction and it’s so draining to be around but she admits she’s made him like that because she’s constantly pandered to him.

If you don’t want to play make believe, just don’t do it, let them get on with it themselves, what is actually the worst that’s going to happen? No one will die.

I know I sound grumpy and harsh with the above but I just think the standards parents put upon themselves nowadays just isn’t realistic, no wonder there are so many stressed, unhappy parents and spoiled, entitled children.

19 years of parenting here. Of all the things you won't miss, it's the highly flammable princess dresses and mind dissolving 'role play' we find ourselves in. I do sort of miss when DS1 would turn the front room into a How to Train Your Dragon museum... but not really that much.

Go forth and enjoy parenting, guilt-free. Let them crack on with their play. You're not a volunteer from the audience. I think it is SO good for kids to learn not to depend on parents as playthings or accessories in their play.

DD plays Topsy and Tim and I get to be the mum

You poor, poor thing. Has your DD saddled you with that oaf of a husband as well?

This is why I had 3 children super close together. The first few years were horrendous but I'm reaping the rewards now they can all entertain eachother

@riverrunning

it's my least favourite. I'll be kitten and you be the mummy cat - queue Darth Vader doom music in my mind as I wheel out distractions and bribes to avoid it. My DC love, love, love it though.

Have you thought of pointing out that Mummy Cat twats her babies across the head and fucks off for food and a long, undisturbed shit if they piss her off enough?

I hate it too. I can spend hours with her 'doing' things, but not 'being' things. Luckily her dad is good at that.

I can never remember my mother playing these games with me. I can recall trying to draw her in and she got snappy. I was an only child for 7 years so I learned to play along for hours with my dolls or other toys. I always enjoyed being a solitary child.

When I was older - about 11-12 - I enjoyed playing imagination games with younger kids. Maybe I was bossing them around but they seemed to enjoy it ans always came back the next week.. We used to put on little plays and pantomimes.

As an adult Ive always enjoyed role play and have used it a lot with other adults who had social type "problems".

This is really making me chuckle.

I also hate it, DD5 was great at playing on her own (as in this type of play) whereas DD2 is rubbish. They do play together a lot of the time but they still try and rope me in as well. I just do a lot of "hmm" and "oh yes!"

I'm dying on the inside. And probably showing it on the outside too.

Like a lot of you say, puzzles, reading, baking Lego, all over it. DH is the role play guy, which is why they pretty much pounce on the poor victim guy when he gets home.