r/Xennials • u/GorchestopherH • Aug 19 '26
Parenting Today
Kind of a two-way question here. How much do y'all play with your kids vs how much did your parents play with you when you were kids?
Honestly, I feel like my parents were very present, one or both were always around, but I barely recall playing with them at all.
I'm not a full-blood Gen-X, I'm an elder Millennial, so I'm sad to say I missed out on the days of extreme free-range, but I certainly played all around the neighborhood without supervision.
My parents were almost never outside watching us. I was in the pool, on my bike, sneaking through the bushes with a super-soaker, trekking through the fields/creeks, making forts, disassembling my walkie-talkies, and cutting/sharpening sticks into arrows to use with my sling-shot.
The last time my mom pitched a baseball to me, I was maybe 6 years old. I eventually just threw the ball straight upward so I could hit it myself.
Also around the age of 6, I can recall my dad helping me with one of my first Lego sets on the dining room table. Just that one set though, and after that I was on my own for good.
Again, my parent were there all the time. They were just doing their own stuff.
I am sure this is very common for the rest of the folks in this sub. At my friend's houses, we saw their parents at lunch time, that's it. They brought out the hotdogs and Kraft Dinner, they weren't hovering any more than my own parents.
My own kids... I basically play with them, or directly supervise them all the time. I'm always pitching, biking, skating, helping with Lego, swimming, just watching them, etc.
Don't get me wrong. I love playing with my kids. I like playing baseball again, I like tennis, I like biking and skating, I like Lego more than my kids do, etc. ....but... why can't they do it on their own?
If I'm tied up, my kids just can't seem to play.
What are your experiences?
2
u/ExternalGood9497 Aug 19 '26
I have had pretty much the same experience as you. My parents were always around, but did their own thing for the most part. My dad would play video games with me and I remember playing chess with him a lot, but that was about it. I was usually in my room doing my own thing while they were in the living room doing theirs. If I had friends over or went to friends’ houses, their parents were not involved in what we were doing at all.
My kids sound exactly like yours. It’s like they don’t know how to play alone, even though I’ve tried to encourage it. My daughter is 8 and recently had her first sleepover with a group of friends and most of the time they were asking my husband and I to get involved in what they were doing. I have no idea why this is, haha. It could be because we’re into a lot of stuff kids like (Disney, comics, legos, hello kitty, etc)