By: Nataly Hamdi, a mother of three kids

Before I start my story, I would like to tell you a bit about myself. I am Nataly Hamdi, and I have been married for thirteen years now. I have three kids: Slava (twelve), Nabila (five) and Kareem (two). I used to be a lawyer before I became a mother, and I had to put my career on hold for three years after delivering my first child, as I wanted to wait for him to be ready for kindergarten. After that, I went back to work, but again, I had to stop to care for my second child. This, however, did not stop me from investing time with my kids as best as I could. 

The fun began with my first child, Slava. I noticed how fast he was growing up, advancing, acquiring new skills and how happy he was when he tried at a new game or an activity. I started to create new games to entertain him. I read books to him and we went on walks to enjoy the fresh air together. It was a blessing to watch how his little fingers would get stronger with each tower, pyramid or mosaic we built. I could see that he had a wild imagination, especially when he would play with his toy soldiers and inventing war scenarios and plotlines. He often impressed me by how quickly he assembled puzzle pieces.

Thanks to the games I played with Slava, I was better prepared for the fun to come with my second child. The games with Nabila started even earlier, and they were even more fun. They quickly became part of our routine, and we always got excited about exploring some new game idea.

I often grabbed at the chance to combine fun with education. One day while we were out, a very pretty yellow butterfly passed by us and landed on a flower next to us, settling there for a few minutes. Nabila was curious and exclaimed, “Mom, I cannot believe how an ugly cocoon can transform into such a beautiful butterfly!” And I thought that was a great opportunity for us to conduct an experiment together to show her how the process works. With the help of my younger brother, we brought a huge number of toilet paper rolls and started rolling these around Nabila and shaped her into a cocoon.

Then, my brother held her upside down to give her a real sense of the experience. After that, we started unrolling the tissues until my own beautiful butterfly, Nabila, emerged.

We laughed a lot that day! And we also learned something new. My brother and I explained the process to Nabila, and she and Slava got extremely excited about the “magical” transformation. Next, we watched a documentary about cocoons and butterflies together. Our modest experiment was a lot of fun but also quite educational. It was a hands-on science experiment that created life-long and happy memories for my kids. The details of that day will remain imprinted in their minds forever, I think!

What surprised me was how useful our investment in games proved to be for our third-born, Kareem. Slava and Nabila were always eager to teach their little brother all “the cool stuff” they already knew, and they happily shared information with him as he was growing up. They adopted the same fun methods I used with them when they were younger, and they recounted that experience to their sibling.

Playing games with your kids is essential for their personalities and for their emotional health.

This is why I encourage you all to start having fun with your kids as early as possible: play with them and build memories together because with every game, kids learn something new and gain more knowledge.

Games will become experiences and will encourage children to be more ambitious and adventurous in exploring new frontiers in the future. It is also important to remember that fun and games foster the relationship between children and their parents. Children become closer to their parents and to their siblings and feel emotionally connected to them through these games.

Remember my cocoon experiment? I think every child has the potential to turn into a butterfly! Always nourish your kids with love and support so that you can help them transform into the butterflies they deserve to be.