[Barbee]

He's constantly pushing toys in my face saying "I want you to talk for my ____". I can't stand it. Sometimes I'll humor him and do it but I feel like I'll go insane the whole time. There's not always the opportunity to invite other kids over and even when I do, he's right back to it after they leave, sometimes with more vengeance. It's driving me insane.

 

[Vancouver Mommy]

Yeah, my dd has a dollhouse and I always have to speak for mommy, daddy, brother and the flying dragon. Sometimes I have to be the farmer and the farm animals as well. I try to keep her busy as possible because it seems like every sentence starts with "OK, you be X and I'll be Y, and then you say this and I'll say that....". Her imagination is constantly running and I am expected to play many rolls. Her favourite is to be a baby dragon recently hatched out of an egg and I'm the mommy dragon who can't find the purple egg with gold speckles that I left right here and has now apparently hatched into a baby called Gryphon who then wants to have a pretend cake baked in honour of her birth. When we build a fort out of couch cushions she wants me to be the "grumpy old troll" who doesn't let anybody in but soon learns the benefits of friendship and allows the little girl into her house. It's cute and all, but the repetition drives me nuts. I'm also not allowed to deviate from script or all hell breaks loose. My new standard reply is "that's why I made you a brother", but that doesn't always work. Apparently his theatrical skills leave even more to be desired than mine.

 

[candipooh]

Quote:

that's why I made you a brother"

That is so funny!!! LOVE IT!!!

:

 

[limabean]

Yeah, I can only do it for a few minutes too. I just tell my DS that at the beginning -- I'll say, "Sure, I'll be your race car for 5 minutes, but after that I'm going to be Mommy again." Or if I don't feel like it I'll say, "I don't feel like talking for your toys right now. Would you like to play with them on your own or would you like to color with me?" so that if he's looking for my time/attention, it's available, but if he's really wanting to play with his toy he can choose to do so on his own. It's worked fine so far.

 

[savvybabygrace]

Seriously, get sooo annoying, doesn't it??? dd#1 is always asking

 

[snoopy5386]

mine does this too. All day long it's "Can you make a friend talk" or "can you make so and so talk". Stuffed animals also read all the bedtime stories most nights. If I ask her to make so and so talk so always tells me "I can't, it's too hard".

 

[Mama2Bug]

I don't mind playing pretend with DD a lot of the time but, if I do, I have no problem telling her nicely that I don't want to play right then. DH does the same thing. We just say something like "Sorry, DD, but I don't really feel like playing right now." We might add "because I'm tired/busy/would rather read my book." If we don't mind playing, but don't want to play ____, we make suggestions. "I don't really want to play dollhouse, but I'll build a block tower if you want."

Sometimes she gets annoyed, but she is generally accepting of our answers. I feel like teaching DD that other people are really people with their own thoughts and feelings and desires is important.

I wouldn't like an adult friend who is constantly bugging me to do recreational things that I don't really like. I might try out the activity sometimes, if it was really important to them, but it would be really irritating to be asked every day or hour.

 

[tylerdylan]

Oh I'm so glad to read I'm not the only one who hates this game. Seriously. I have no imagination to begin with so I just don't know what to say, but DS doesn't seem to care as long as I do it. I would rather do ANYTHING else, but not talking for his animals or cars. I offer all kinds of other ideas of things we can do together but all he wants to do is to talk with his toys back and forth. I can't wait till DS2 is a little older and talking better so he can take over for me. I think I'll stop feeling guilty for not wanting to play this game now though just knowing I'm not the only one who doesn't want to play it!

 

[lisalulu]

My DS does this a lot too and he has since about 2.5yo. I'm not a big fan of it but I go along with it for the most part. He will often tell me what to say and at least half the time the scenarios revolve around something going on in his or our life. So I try to think of it as a way for him to process stuff a la "Playful Parenting" But it can be a bit boring and sometimes I'm guilty of reading a magazine while playing too

 

[vegemamato]

my four-year-old does this to me, and her sister! My 8 yr-old will gladly play along as long as the younger one isn't being 'bossy' but, unfortunetely, this isn't usually the case..

I *really* don't like to do this with them because I feel like it usually ends with the smaller one being frusterated that I'm not doing it right

luckily we have the three kids though- they can keep each other busy while I slowly sneak away

 

[pomplemoose]

I am with you on the sneak away tactic...slowly try to get them into their own game so i dont have to pretend to be a snotty little plastic dog named bossy because while shes bossy. but if you want to do an art project or build something with legos/play doh im all for it... just dont make me pretend to be a plastic dog. Im also ok with saying no i dont want to play. it just depends on what im doing at the time.

 

[Barbee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lisalulu My DS does this a lot too and he has since about 2.5yo. I'm not a big fan of it but I go along with it for the most part. He will often tell me what to say and at least half the time the scenarios revolve around something going on in his or our life. So I try to think of it as a way for him to process stuff a la "Playful Parenting" But it can be a bit boring and sometimes I'm guilty of reading a magazine while playing too

I like this tactic and he'll sometimes tell his toys things he doesn't tell me which is good. Maybe I'll try harder to steer the game in this direction. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[eepster]

DS tends to hold them right up to my face and start talking to them, and if I don't just make them respond he gets annoyed

. You'd be surprised how often his toys get sleepy and ask to go to bed, when I happen to be talking for them

.

 

[MommaFox]

Oh my goodness! Thank you so much! Now I don't feel horrible. I'm SO sick of "Make (so-and-so) talk." Because it's never "You be Sally and I'll be Lightning" it's always, without fail "Make Lightning talk." Or Measy or Winston or Marshmallow or Flash or some other stuffed animal and then it's all on me. "Hi Danny!" "Hi Winston" "How are you today?" "Good" Then DS will giggle and blush and stare at the animal and there we are. Nothing to say.

 

[annamama]

I spend a lot of my time being either Batman, Alfred or Peter Rabbit.
It is not as interesting as I imagined it would be.

 

[harmonyhobbit]

I have a strict no-playing rule. I now it's probably not a popular policy, but I HATE pretend play. I like to listen to my kids, and talk to them, and do things with them, but I do not like to play with their toys. IMO, it's not my job to entertain my children. They are both extremely imaginative and creative, and I encourage that, but I do not participate.

 

[vegemamato]

One thing that makes the "make this talk" game a bit more fun..

we make the kids talk

I forgot about this yesterday when I posted since it's been a minute.. bt really, try it

we hold the kids' heads, move them around, use a high-pitch voice and make them do/say all kinds of silly (possibly innapropriate) things- the 4 yr old is amazed when we through in F or SH words

the baby's never quite sure what's going on...

 

[AndVeeGeeMakes3]

Ugh. I feel ya. And then I feel SO BAD. VeeGee's constantly saying, "Mommy, pway wif me! Pweeeeeze!" Kills me.

 

[HappilyEvrAfter]

Ya know, I completely hated (hated, hated, hated) to play these things until I read Playful Parenting. Wow. It changed my view so much.

Don't get me wrong, I still get easily bored, don't totally look forward to this kind of play, and will always try to redirect it to some kind of more concrete play, but I'm slowing getting better with the idea becuase it's what my kid wants to do.

Lol. I try to turn the tables though and beat him to it. I ask HIM at odd times to make something talk to ME. I think he's coming to realize how mundane it can be from the other side.

 

[vegemamato]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HappilyEvrAfter Ya know, I completely hated (hated, hated, hated) to play these things until I read Playful Parenting. Wow. It changed my view so much. Don't get me wrong, I still get easily bored, don't totally look forward to this kind of play, and will always try to redirect it to some kind of more concrete play, but I'm slowing getting better with the idea becuase it's what my kid wants to do. Lol. I try to turn the tables though and beat him to it. I ask HIM at odd times to make something talk to ME. I think he's coming to realize how mundane it can be from the other side.

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