Can someone teach me to play...?!

[Darva]

I love to do things with my 2 girls (3 & 5, we do lots of craft things, baking,going out,reading etc. But the think they want to do most with me is ...play with the dolls house, toy castle, mermaid dolls etc.,. This leaves me cold - I don't ever remember playing with things like this (I didn't do dolls!)and now I really struggle to know how to play, what to say and what to do? I feel so inadequate and now try to avoid playing these sorts of games. Can anyone give me pointers as to what to say and do?

Just sit on the floor. They'll boss you arround and tell you exactly what to do.

Hm...I really don't think you can force yourself to do somehting you don't enjoy, without it being obvious to the lil ones that it's all put on...therefore it would spoil the game anyway....
you seem to be doing a lot anyway...and those are all good things...surely it's o.k. not to enjoy some things as much as others...surely Kids are not constantly meant to be occupied?

don't

that's why you have 2 children

you do plenty with them

don't do stuff you don't like

You know all the boring, humdrum things you have to do every day for your girls? The mealtimes, the washing and dressing, the housework, the nappy changes? Playing is doing all of that, all over again but this time sitting on the floor and just pretending. Usually, brightly coloured plastic is involved.

i dont think they actually want you to play just kinda stage manage .....who is this? u ask holding up tess with the shorn hair......"princess gladioli the bauitiful princess with bunions"they reply(or not)you just kinda set the scene by making the scene....or you can introduce other bits like ohhhh shall we have this as a pond?(big squshy bit of tinfoil its not playing just guiding and really just watching and being involved .....having spent far too many hours with action man and max steele we have never completed a whole scene or game just worked out who is who and by the next game it changes lol

I don't think is necessary to be honest..I can't remember my mum ever really joining in those kind of imaginary, "let's pretend" games, just let them get on with it and stick with the things you enjoy.

Oh I have no imagination and am rubbish at this too. Thankfully dd1 has realised this and now plays with dd2 instead (they are 2.5 and nearly 5). DH is quite good and I do the more structured reading, baking, craft things like you instead. It is fine.

DH/DPs are brilliant at this sort of thing... well mine is anyway. DD1 and he will have a good 30mins playtime (playmobil usually) together once she's in her jimmyjams after tea while I sort out the baby. Like others have said, she mainly ignores everything he says, but she likes the fact that he is sitting on the floor with her, pretending to be interested

playmobil is the work of the devil....all those teeny tiny bits and stickers to put on ......we have several sets and i always have to spend hours sticking things on ......

I hate the imaginative roleplaying stuff too and have always avoided it. Agree that your DDs will soon work this out and role-play with each other! Just stick to the activities you do enjoy (in my case construction stuff - duplo, marble runs etc) - persisting awkwardly with something you hate won't be enjoyable for anyone, including the girls.