Connecting with Teens through Play

Your time to breathe: about < 1 minute of reading

guys shoeMy son is 15 now, and he’s much bigger than I am. He used to chase me, and get me down and tickle me. And he just loves that, absolutely loves that. He laughs and laughs.

Now, he’ll take a stinky shoe or a stinky sock, and chase me around, or pick his toenails and try to gross me out with what he found. Of course, I am very grossed out, playfully! My yelping and running gets him laughing and playing hard.

This kind of play is really good, because he’s so big and strong; it’s a way we can have fun without me being too overpowered.

–a mother in Berkeley, CA

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