DIR/Floortime-Informed Insights for Parents of Babies and Toddlers
By Katy Barnes, OTD, OTR/L
Why Play?
Play is a safe space without demands or expectations. It’s where children can make sense of their experiences, experiment with new ideas, and build the emotional muscles they’ll use for life.
How Play Builds Emotional Resilience
In a play-based setting, children are free to explore, take risks, and return to security when things feel hard. Through pretend adventures, building projects, or silly games, they learn:
– To manage frustration when things don’t go as planned
– To adapt to changes and unexpected ideas
– To express needs and emotions clearly to others.
The Role of Engagement
This happens when you and your child are tuned in to each other’s ideas, emotions, and body language. It’s the foundation for:
– Shared attention: staying in an interaction together
– Reciprocity: the back-and-forth rhythm of connection
– Emotional safety, trusting that their feelings are understood and welcomed
When you join your toddler’s play at their level, you’re saying I see you. I understand you. I’m here with you.
Make Connection the Goal
Instead of focusing on compliance during frustrating moments, focus on connection. This supports future peer relationships, autonomy, and internal motivation. A child who can work through frustration in play is better prepared to handle frustration in life. Play becomes a rehearsal space for relationships, problem-solving, and flexibility.
Try This at Home: Play With Purpose
– Add a gentle twist to their play by introducing an obstacle or new idea to stretch flexibility.
– During sibling fights or power struggles, bring in something playful or silly to reset the nervous system, such as pretending to slip on a banana peel or acting surprised at something imaginary. Problem-solving works best when everyone feels regulated.
– Revisit tricky situations in pretend play and act them out with a new ending so they can process and explore solutions.
– Welcome big emotions like anger, sadness, and guilt into play. Kids can only regulate the emotions we give them space to feel.
Discover the power of play and emotional resilience: schedule a FREE consultation with a pediatric occupational therapist.