Listen, playing isn’t always easy. Children are wonderful and exhausting at the same time, which means they are wonderful but also very exhausting. Sometimes, you just don’t have the energy to get into the legend they created for Barbie, and that’s okay!
When all you want to do is lie down and take a nap, one dad has come up with a genius solution: introduce “horizontal parenting.”
Content creator Elkey Zandstra posted a video of her husband, Will, showing off his creative ways to play with the couple’s two children without having to get up from the floor.
Activity #1: A T-shirt with a road painted on the back and a car-like back massager can be a relaxing experience for dad and fun for kids.
Yes, I was immediately sold.
For the next activity, Will transformed himself into a paper doll, put on a felt outfit and a mustache, and let the children arrange things on him.
Now let’s get one thing straight: lateral parenting is no Lazy. This method requires creativity, preparation, and participation, just enough so that you can do it without standing up. Which rock.
For example, Will also created a giant whack-a-mole contraption, placing cardboard boxes together to create a platform above him. He then stuffed the stuffed animals into holes in the platform and let the kids bang them with pool noodles. Be creative! Participatory! Horizontal!
He also designed a shirt with a tic-tac-toe board on the back, and a Zen garden T-shirt where kids can create designs by drawing sparkly patterns on the back of the shirt.
Parents in the comments were supportive, with many noting that it would help more than just tired parents.
“This would actually be cute for disabled/chronically ill parents too,” one user noted.
“My first thought was that this is very POT friendly😂😂,” another added.
Other parents also expressed their views on “horizontal parenting.”
“My daughter used to play funeral home makeup with me and she would make me cross my arms over my chest and close my eyes and I couldn’t talk while she did her makeup,” one user commented. “After a while, when I was tired, I started suggesting it…so if your kid is weird, give it a try 😆”
“One day I was exhausted, so I lay on the floor while my kids played ‘barber,’ which is putting all the bobby pins they had on my head. It was painful to get them all out, but I slept for 20 minutes and they were happy to have a live doll,” said another.
So parents, kill two birds with one stone with “horizontal parenting” – you get a free back massage, and your kids get to enjoy quality time with exhausted mom and dad.
