The “My Baby Cow!” game went on in our family child care program for about 2 years with Maddie–starting when she was about two and going on until she moved away a few days before she turned four. You may remember Maddie from the Block Car Wash play sighting.

It went like this:

We had a bunch of plastic animals, including a calf like the one in the above image. If I had the calf, she would demand, “My Baby Cow!” Then I would hide it behind my back, stuff it in my pocket, or hold it just out of her reach and respond, “No, My Baby Cow!”

She’d tease, “MY baby cow!” while trying to swipe it from me. I’d respond in a whisper, “my……baby……cow.”

She’d stick her lip out in a fake pout and plead, “my baby cow,” with sad-puppy-dog-eyes. I’d smile wide and joyfully sing, “My baby cow.” And on and on and on it would go until one of us grew distracted or bored.

There were variations to the game. Sometimes she’d start it by running up with the baby cow and stating the cold hard fact that I had to live with, “Jeff, this is my baby cow. Not your baby cow.” Sometimes we played “My Dinosaur,” “My Puppy,” or “My Tasha.” My Tasha was my favorite iteration of the game because it always resulted in Maddie and me pulling Tasha (my wife) in different directions. Tasha was presumably wondered why she was running a family child care program with a toddler man.

“My Baby Cow!” Wrap Up

Some adults are not fans, but consensual teasing games like this make up a widespread form of play. The key word here is consensual. If everyone involved is a willing participant, teasing is Play. On the other hand, if one or more people tease a person who wants no part in the activity, it is an aggressive act. Our job as adults is to see the difference, stay out of the way when it is Play, and intercede as little as possible but as much as necessary when it is not.

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