Okay, I'm back. I had to put the blog off for a week or so, but now I'll get back to how creative play can help calm children and increase his/her ability to be empathetic. Creative play is more than just dolls and tea parties. Toy cars, sticks, blanket forts, and anything safe for kids can be incorporated into creative play. Creative play is genderless and important for both boys and girls. If a boy is torturing his sister, or little brother, then the parent may want to set up some creative play games that will teach empathy. For example, have the boy build a tower of blocks, or anything that is challenging for him to build, then tell him that you're the monster who's going to knock it over. If he says “NO!” then it opens up an opportunity for the parent to talk about why he doesn't want the blocks knocked over and to apply that to how he treats his siblings. If he laughs and helps the parent knock the blocks over then the structure may not have been complicated enough; therefore he didn't feel “invested” in it enough, or the parent needs to try another approach. Each individual child sees and senses things differently. It may work better to role play with the boy. Put him in the role of a victim, like someone who broke his leg, and the parent can play the role of someone who is supposed to help, like a doctor, but won't help or even hurts him instead (this is role playing, remember, and the parent only PRETENDS to hurt him instead of helping him). This type of activity can open up conversation about the differences between helping and hurting, how he would like to be treated by those who are supposed to care about him, and how his siblings might feel, since they expect him to care for them.
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