The Art of Roughhousing: Good Old-Fashioned Horseplay and Why Every Kid Needs It. DeBenedet, Anthony T. & Lawrence J. Cohen. Coming May 2011. ISBN 9781594744877.
I am very excited to share this great review with you about a book that I also think is wonderful. As the mother of three young boys, it is nice to see that I am not the only one that finds that my kids are much happier when they are being a little rough and a litle loud!
This book embraces and celebrates the joy that kids find in good olde fashioned playing- and with so many parents worried about their kids’ weight and addictions to video games- this book is a great place to start…PLAY, and PLAY often!
The review says it all…
Giddyup, Dad! Hands-on play with your kids guarantees enormous fun (and probably some crying, but it’s worth it). Say the authors, a physician and a psychologist, respectively, “What was once a motto of Safety First has evolved into a fretful new motto of Safety Only. Many parents are more frightened by skinned knees and bruised feelings than life’s real dangers: stifled creativity and listless apathy.” Amen! Making their case for creativity, physical fitness, and emotional intelligence, the authors present nearly 200 pages of humorous and fun activities, such as the Balboa (“Yo, Adrian!”), the Sleeping Bat, and the Greek Catapult. Replete with suggested age ranges, a difficulty level, and effective drawings for each activity, this book nicely caters to kids from zero to ten, who will treasure the time parents spend roughhousing with them. Enthusiastically recommended.