"When my youngest daughter was born, motherhood soon became quite hard on me. I felt like it was my job to be with my kids 24/7, to hold them, and entertain them non-stop. I didn't understand why they were so clingy, and whiny, and fighting, and never playing with the million toys scattered over the floor that I'd desperately tried to make them play with!
I soon felt completely depleted, even anxious and depressed at times, not enjoying motherhood like I always imagined... Was this parenting?
Fast forward a couple months to last Thursday. My girls playing quietly by themselves while I crochet in the same room... for an hour! That's huge for us! My husband, who's a lot more skeptical than I am, tells me daily how much the atmosphere in our home has improved, how he sees that the kids are less whiny, how screen time has gone from a lot to nothing, how they fight less, are more helpful, and play more, and, finally, how much more happy and relaxed I am, which makes him happy as well.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for teaching me the way and for helping me love parenting and parent from love! Forever grateful."
"I was one of the lucky ones - I found Avital in 2015 before I had my first child. Although parenting has brought many challenges, play has never been one of them.
I now have three children, and they all play joyfully and independently for hours most days which has been a real joy and blessing for both the children and us parents. More than that, I feel independent play has given them a strong sense of capability - they are incredibly capable and know their own abilities, both physical and mental. The things they learn from play is remarkable.
Thank you, Reclaim Play, for teaching me to trust and take a step back from over-parenting. I am a calmer and happier mom - your work is truly life-changing!"
"Before I found Reclaim Play I would describe my son as very clingy and needy. He needed me next to him all the time. I was often in tears or cross with him for not letting me just sit down or chat! I felt very suffocated.
I genuinely just thought that was my lot, that my son just wasn’t ready for independent play. I knew about limiting and rotating toys but it felt way too overwhelming to do, and I also couldn’t imagine it would work.
The pivot point was screaming and crying in front of my children and feeling like it was the last straw. I read a Facebook ad about Reclaim Play describing this exact scenario and realised that maybe I needed to change something.
We’ve had so many changes since my son has developed his play muscle. While he prefers to have one of us in the room with him, he’ll usually play on his own. Our house is so much easier to tidy and clean since decluttering and reorganising the toys, which has had a huge knock on effect on our wellbeing. It’s motivated us to (slowly!) do some decluttering around the house which has resulted in a cleaner house in general!
I’ve also been able to start working on my business while they’re playing, rather than assuming I have to have them out of the house. I also love that my younger daughter is starting with this from an earlier age - she is already way more independent, and I've been able to take more time away from the children at an earlier stage which has been massive for my mental health!
I think this has been a major turning point for me and my family, not just physically because there’s more play, but mentally - we’ve shifted so many assumptions and we definitely have more of a growth mindset than before. It feels like we can be more intentional as a family, which I’d never really considered before."
"There was a missing piece. I had done all the research, had all the scripts, and I thought I was being empathetic. In fact, I was just checking the boxes. Before Reclaim Play, we dealt with a lot of very intense emotions and we went from being permissive to quickly becoming fed up and getting super strict and yelling. There was chaos and so much clutter! It looked like Toys R Us had exploded into my playroom. I couldn't understand why son couldn't play independently or concentrate on anything, since he had a whole room full of toys. Now I understand it's because he had too many options!
With Reclaim Play, I gained all these magical skills that helped us go from surviving to actually living and enjoying every moment. It's brought peace into my life. It was the missing piece that I was looking for to go from floundering and not knowing how to devote my energy in motherhood. It's so wonderful because now, I look at a hard day or a hard moment as an opportunity to truly be compassionate even if I'm exhausted, and then I go ahead and get through it.
It's life-changing on a level that I haven't experienced elsewhere. This has been a game-changer unlike anything else I've ever tried and it's impacted every part of my life, from being a mother to being a wife to being a business owner as well.
Reclaim Play is for anybody who wants to go from getting through their day to enjoying their day and feeling energetic about tomorrow and remembering the joy of yesterday."
"Discovering Reclaim Play has made ALL the difference to the atmosphere, flow, and energy in my home and family. I am so grateful we embraced independent play. Such a gift to the children and parents alike!
The kids play between 2 and 3 hours so creatively every day. It fulfills them and they are thriving by it. I've learned play is vital, play is beautiful, and us adults should do more of it too."