I really struggle to carve out time to just sit and play with my kids – I’m usually way behind on housework, life admin or the million other things required of me, which means sitting down to play gets pushed to the very back of a long queue.
But when I do play with them – whether that’s pretending to visit their ice cream shop or simply sitting and colouring together – I do notice I feel calmer after. And they seem happier, too.
New research suggests playing with your kids influences three factors that increase family bonding and connection.
What did the study find?
A total of 41 families were observed across two phases of the study.
The study, conducted in two phases by the University of East London (UEL) with support from Kinder, found when parents and children played together:
1. Conversations become more linguistically aligned – parents were more likely to answer children, and children were more likely to answer parents.
2. Families moved physically closer together.
3. Before play began, parents’ and children’s heart rates reacted to each other with an average delay of around 14 seconds. But during play, th...
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