While we cannot spare our foster children from all of the trauma of being in foster care, one of the best things foster parents can do is cultivate a home life aimed at helping build resilience in their foster children. In this and the other two videos in this series, I am offering three things you can do every day, beginning on day one of a new placement, to do just that. (Click here for Part One: Routines and here for Part Two: Communication if you missed the first two videos in the series!)

In this latest video, I am sharing about the vital role fun can play in helping children develop a sense of stability, security, and safety as they adjust to being in a new place (your home).

Remember, there is a world of difference between “Go play!” and “Let’s play!”

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Playing with an infant or toddler can be as simple as an endless game of Peek-a-boo or “This little piggy went to market…” Preschool and early elementary school-aged kids love board games like Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Connect Four, Uno, Go Fish, and Outfoxed. Likewise, they love when, rather than sitting on a park bench and watching them play, you join them on the playground. For older kids, some of our favorite board games include Monopoly Deal (which, unlike Monopoly, can be played in under fifteen minutes), Sequence, and Clue. And Hide-and-Seek never gets old, no matter your age!

One vital key to “healing play” is that your attention be undivided and entirely on your kids. No cell phones, no checking social media, no chatting with other adults in the room while “playing” with the child. Even if it’s just for fifteen minutes or so, the child must have your full attention.

Another key is to let the child take the lead in what you play. Remember, children often feel like adults are making all the decisions for them. But children have a natural desire to experience agency and to feel empowered! Letting them choose the game you play is a great way to, in the words of my parenting coach Amy McCready of Positive Parenting Solutions, “give them a hit of power.”

Believe me when I tell you: that “hit of power” goes a long way!

Again, we foster parents cannot do anything about the circumstances that have brought a child into foster care and into our home. However, there is so much we can do to help them develop resilience and begin their healing journey, and I believe it mostly boils down to maintaining routines, being intentional about communicating with them, and going out of our way to have fun with them on a daily basis.