A mother's unique take on her kids' playtime has gone viral.
Jessi Meeks said every day, her three children get a designated hour where they get to do "whatever" they want, and even though it can get chaotic at times, the former teacher-turned-content creator said it has worked out well for everyone in her family.
Meeks told "Good Morning America" the idea for her kids' "whatever-make-you-happy hour," which she shared on Instagram and TikTok, arose organically in 2022 from one of her kids' suggestions. On a typical day, her husband Tyler Meeks would come home from work as a teacher and the kids would clamor for his attention, leaving the Meekses struggling to find time to talk together as a couple and as parents.
"One afternoon, the kids were outside painting and he and I were trying to talk, and we had been trying to finish a conversation for like 20 minutes, and my oldest [child] Cannon looks at me and he goes, 'Can I paint my hands?' And we were like, 'Whatever makes you happy. Like y'all just do it and be quiet so Mommy and Daddy can talk to each other,'" Meeks recalled. "And ever since then, around that same time of the day, they would ask if they could do something and we'd be like, 'Sure, whatever makes you happy.'"
Meeks said the hour of free-range play time has been beneficial not just for her and her husband but also for their children, who range in age from 2 to 5, and are now usually "excited" for their fun play hour.
"Instead of interfering if they start to get messy, we just let them do what makes them happy so that they can get that last bit of energy out, get that sensory play in," Meeks said. "And then when there's kind of that natural lull in them playing, that's when we'll start cleaning up and if they're super messy, we'll give them a bath real quick before we eat dinner."
Meeks said her kids tend to do simple activities during their free hour, and although the emphasis is on play, they end up learning along the way, too.
"One thing that I did not expect to learn from doing this is how my kids like to learn," she said.
She continued, "My oldest will just play sensory play with his hands, while my other two will, like, put their feet in [the sensory activity] and their bodies, and so that part has been really, really interesting."
Meeks recommends other interested parents try their own version of a "whatever-makes-you-happy hour" with their kids and view it as a daily period to make new memories and reconnect with their partner or spouse. If the kids make a big mess, Meeks also suggests it's an opportunity to teach little ones the practice of tidying up.
For anyone racking their brains for ideas on what young kids can do, Meeks said to keep things simple and to set necessary boundaries.
"If I'm setting anything up, it's super, super simple," the mom of three said. "So, I will keep cardboard boxes from packages and I'll give them paint and they just paint the box. I'll set up a really easy sensory activity where I'll just put rice in a bin and some cups and spoons and they'll just pour the rice about. We'll set up water activities … [where I'll] put food dye in it and they'll mix the colors and see what colors they can make."
"If they start hurting themselves or hurting each other, we step in. We don't let them watch TV," she added. "I think people would be pleasantly surprised [by their] kids, when they do the things that they want to do and play the way that they want to play."
