Across generations, the act of play has always been one of humanity's quietest and most reliable forms of love. Research surfaced through Lego's Play Well study, and brought to public attention by New Zealand television personality Suzy Cato, suggests that just five hours of shared play each week between grandparents and grandchildren yields measurable gains in family bonding, childhood resilience, and creative development. The finding asks us to reconsider what wellness truly requires — not programs or prescriptions, but the willingness of one generation to step fully into the world of anothe
Playing with grandkids boosts wellbeing, says TV icon Suzy Cato
Give yourself permission to be a little childlike in the process
Mark
So Suzy Cato is saying five hours a week of play with grandkids actually changes things. What does the Lego study actually measure here—are we talking emotional bonds, or something more concrete?
Mimi
The study looked at strengthened family bonds, resilience in children, and creativity. Those aren't small things. Resilience especially—that's about how kids handle difficulty later on.
Luke
But I want to know what "strengthened bonds" means operationally. Did they measure attachment scores? Parent reports? And five hours—is that a minimum, or is that where they saw the effect kick in?
Mimi
The source doesn't specify the methodology that precisely. We know the finding exists and Cato is citing it, but the granular details of how Lego measured these things aren't in what we have.
Mark
Cato says grandparents should embrace being childlike. Does the research actually say that's the mechanism, or is that her interpretation?
Mimi
That's Cato's framing. She's encouraging grandparents to step into play rather than supervise it. Whether the study isolates that as the active ingredient—we don't know.
Luke
Right. The study says play works. Cato is offering wisdom about *how* to play. Those are different claims, and it's worth holding them separate.
Mark
What about the long-distance piece? Can you really get the same benefit from a video call?
Mimi
Cato says it's possible, that connection can happen across distance. But the study was probably conducted with in-person play. We're extrapolating there.
Luke
Exactly. The research foundation is five hours weekly of play. Everything else—the distance part, the specific advice about being childlike—that's Cato's wisdom layered on top. Both valuable, but different.
Mark
So the real story is: there's evidence that regular play matters, and here's someone trusted by families explaining why and how to do it.
Mimi
That's it. The research gives it weight. Cato gives it humanity.
Il Polso
- Families navigating busy modern schedules often underestimate how little time is actually needed to forge deep intergenerational connection — five hours a week, less than an hour a day, is the threshold the research identifies.
- The tension lies in a cultural habit of adults hovering at the edges of children's play rather than entering it fully, treating imagination as a child's domain rather than a shared human one.
- Suzy Cato's message disrupts that habit directly, urging grandparents to grant themselves permission to be genuinely childlike — not supervisors, but participants.
- Distance is named and then dismissed as an obstacle, with video calls and adapted activities extending the reach of play beyond geography.
- The conversation lands not as a parenting tip but as a wellness argument: play is serious work, tending simultaneously to the child's development and the grandparent's sense of presence and purpose.
Across generations, the act of play has always been one of humanity's quietest and most reliable forms of love. Research surfaced through Lego's Play Well study, and brought to public attention by New Zealand television personality Suzy Cato, suggests that just five hours of shared play each week between grandparents and grandchildren yields measurable gains in family bonding, childhood resilience, and creative development. The finding asks us to reconsider what wellness truly requires — not programs or prescriptions, but the willingness of one generation to step fully into the world of another.
Suzy Cato, the television personality who spent decades in the company of children, recently turned her attention to a quieter stage: the space between grandparents and grandchildren, and what happens when adults are willing to play there.
Drawing on Lego's Play Well study, in her role as a Lego ambassador for New Zealand, Cato made a case both simple and striking. Five hours of intergenerational play each week — less than an hour a day — produces measurable benefits across the whole family. Children build resilience and creativity. Bonds between generations deepen. The barrier to entry is almost nothing: no equipment, no expertise, no program to join. Only willingness.
What Cato emphasized most was the quality of presence required. Adults must resist the instinct to supervise and instead step into the imaginative world the child inhabits. That shift — from observer to participant — is where the connection actually forms. And for those separated by distance, the principle holds across video calls and adapted shared activities; the geography changes, but the mechanism does not.
Cato's remarks came as part of a broader wellness episode on House of Wellness with Chemist Warehouse, which also featured conversations on protein nutrition, affordable family cooking, pharmacy-based health consultations, and a high-protein supplement. But it was the play research that grounded the episode in something more elemental than convenience or nutrition.
For grandparents, Cato suggested, regular play is not a gift given only to grandchildren. It is also a way of remaining genuinely present in a life that matters — and in doing so, tending carefully to one's own.
Suzy Cato, the television personality who has spent decades entertaining children, sat down recently to talk about something that matters just as much to her now as it did when she was on screen: the simple act of playing with grandchildren.
Cato, who serves as a Lego ambassador for New Zealand, drew on findings from Lego's Play Well study to make her case. The research suggests that grandparents who spend just five hours a week engaged in play with their grandchildren see measurable benefits ripple through the entire family. The study found that this regular, unstructured time together strengthens the bonds between generations, builds resilience in children, and opens space for creativity to flourish. Five hours might sound like a commitment, but spread across a week it amounts to less than an hour a day—manageable even for busy schedules.
What struck Cato most, she explained, was how accessible this form of wellbeing actually is. There is no special equipment required, no expensive program to join, no expertise needed beyond willingness. A grandparent and a grandchild can play with blocks, build something together, play a game, or simply engage in the kind of imaginative activity that children naturally gravitate toward. The key, Cato emphasized, is for adults to give themselves permission to be a little childlike in the process—to step into that world rather than hover at its edges as a supervisor.
Distance need not be a barrier either. Cato noted that these connections can happen in person or across the miles, through video calls or other shared activities adapted for remote participation. The mechanism is the same: two generations meeting in a space of play, which turns out to be one of the most reliable ways to build something that lasts.
The appearance was part of a broader wellness conversation on House of Wellness with Chemist Warehouse, a program that brought together several voices on health and nutrition. Nutritionist Claire Turnbull discussed eggs as a protein source and addressed common misconceptions about daily egg consumption. Home cook Vanya Insoll, author of Always Delicious, shared strategies for preparing affordable, family-friendly meals using pantry staples and vegetables. Natasha Leaney, a registered nutritionist, spoke about incorporating quality protein into routines when time or appetite presents obstacles. Pharmacist Piyara Perera outlined the expanding range of services now available directly at local pharmacies—consultations and treatment for conditions like urinary tract infections, skin infections, and fungal issues—without requiring a doctor's appointment or prescription first.
The episode also featured Healtheries High Protein Plus, a vanilla-flavored supplement providing 18 grams of protein and 16 essential vitamins and minerals per serving. The product is marketed toward health-conscious adults managing time constraints, reduced appetite, or limited food variety, and contains no artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, or preservatives.
But it was Cato's message about grandparenting that anchored the conversation in something more fundamental than nutrition or convenience. Play, she suggested, is not a luxury or a distraction from the serious work of child-rearing. It is itself serious work—the work of connection, of building resilience, of giving children the experience of being fully seen and engaged with by someone who loves them. For grandparents, it offers something equally vital: a way to remain present and active in their grandchildren's lives, and in doing so, to tend to their own wellbeing as well.
Citazioni salienti
Grandparents should give themselves permission to step into the world of play rather than hover at its edges as a supervisor— Suzy Cato
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