Do you play with your toddler all the time?

winery

I always hear, from the moment he wakes,"Momma, do you want to play with my toys with me?".

I'm starting to tell him to go play with his toys by himself or with his brother.  Sometimes I just want to sit down and finish a cup of coffee while it's still hot.

I feel guilty about sitting down, doing *my* thing while he wants me to play cars with him, but I hardly remember my parents ever playing with my toys with me.  There's got to be a happy medium.

4Speedy

I did until recently. Well not constantly, but A LOT. At least it seemed like a lot to me. It probably seemed like no time at all to her.  DD is now 3.5 yo and for the last couple of months I've heard a lot of "It's sooo borin'!" so we are working on problem solving so she can find something to do by herself.  We frequently make lists of all the things big girls can play by themselves.

AWD

Up until about a month ago I did. He would not play by himself for some reason. Now all of the sudden (it changed overnight) he will play happily by himself for 15 mins or so then ask me to play I will and then he's happy alone for awhile this goes on all day. It's a good mix of both and I do NOT feel guilty for it For the past 2 years I have spent every waking min. at home playing with him and now that he's content on his own I let him have at it. I can now get some laundry done or take a shower without him whining for me to play with him 24/7!

4Speedy

I forgot to add that we are teaching her the concept of adult time.  It's adult time any time I am on the phone, after 8pm, if she is still up for some reason, Sunday mornings, etc.  She needs to not only find things to do by herself, but when we say it's grown-up time, she needs to be respectful of our time.  She can't interupt us, if she does she needs to say "excuse me..." etc.

jtbmommy

I feel the same way. I think the teacher in me thinks I need to be stimulating him all the time. I hate hearing myself say, Mommy can't play right now she needs to xyz.

BUT at the same time, I tell myself there are lots of times he will need to entertain himself and needs to see that cleaning, cooking, etc is a part of life. I always give him the option of "helping" .

Ds is 2 and a half 

JCS2007

Hey! Not so much lately, b/c I feel like I have barely seen him, but usually it is 50/50. J always wants to tell us what he is doing, and often I get 'do you want to play XX with me?'. Right now he has been coloring for the last 20 minutes while I upload pictures (fyi- check out FB- I added a bunch of pics of the baby- should be home sometime in the next few days).

thatgirlang

I don't play with toys with DS very often. I do more of the coloring, reading, puzzles, etc. DH does the backyard and outdoor stuff regularly and throws, rolls balls with him inside. Neither of us actually play with his trucks, cars, trains, etc with him and he seems pretty content playing with them alone. I like being able to do something else alongside him as he does that. As long as we do the other stuff with him along with games (like Memory), I think it's all good!

butterbeansmama

thatgirlang:

I don't play with toys with DS very often. I do more of the coloring, reading, puzzles, etc. DH does the backyard and outdoor stuff regularly and throws, rolls balls with him inside. Neither of us actually play with his trucks, cars, trains, etc with him and he seems pretty content playing with them alone. I like being able to do something else alongside him as he does that. As long as we do the other stuff with him along with games (like Memory), I think it's all good!

Exactly this.

Bellisimo

Nope, I sure don't.  I play with him A LOT, don't get me wrong, but he also plays on his own a lot too.  And yeah, I never remember my parents playing with me....and I was an only child so I played make believe by myself ALL the time.

hikerbeth

We have a pretty good balance of "together play" and "independent play" especially the last 6 months (she's 3.5).

Now that she's started preschool, she wants to have me around (same floor of the house) but doesn't necessarily want me to be playing with her.  I think she just needs to reconnect after a morning without me.

SumnerBride

I hardly ever play with her.  She loves to play by herself.  Sometimes she'll ask me to hold a doll or whatever, but she rarely asks me to join her.

I wouldn't feel guilty about telling him you'll play when you're coffee is done though.  Every mom needs a few minutes of peace.