'Eventually they stopped asking [to play]': Mom brags about never playing pretend with her kids, claims it teaches independence

Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor

Mar 13, 2024 6:00 AM EDT

If you've ever babysat a kid, you know that "playing pretend" is much less fun than you remember it being when you were their age. I would devise many fanciful scenarios in my toddler mind that were so fun when I was young and carefree and illiterate. It was a whole different story when I had to engage in a toddler's seemingly endless fantasy while babysitting. Parents and anyone over 12 have difficulty getting on the level of a little kid regarding playfulness and fantasy, but we do it anyway because it makes our kids happy. Well, almost all of us do it anyway.

A prominent parenting TikToker recently got a lot of slack for opening up and admitting to never playing pretend with her kids. Although she does arts and crafts with her kids and doesn't neglect them wholesale, this "anti-parent playing" stance has created some admittedly expected controversy

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