Playing with your children

JLK0414 · April 2014

In a typical day, how often do you play with your children?

ETA: I ask because some days I get so bored of playing with my 3.5 year old and 8 month old. I didn't know if that was normal. I wish they would entertain each other.

notkateanymore · April 2014

I hang toys above him and push them every once in awhile.

Mrs.Hizzo · April 2014

I have no idea. Not a lot. I'm not really a "playing" type of mom. I read a lot of stories and build a lot of legos and plan a lot of field trips, but for everything else I usually go tell them to find their brothers.

nonoemily · April 2014

Hmm... Hard to say. We just kind of do it spontaneously in short bursts throughout the day. DS might come grab me when I'm in the kitchen and ask me to help him build something, so he'll ask for a snack and we'll play around on the floor in between making him something. If we go to the park I might play him for a minute here and there.

He's very independent and I try to encourage him to play by himself as much as I can.

Sometimes I'll be cooking and he'll pretend to cook beside me, or I'll be working in the yard and he'll be digging next to me looking for worms.

Spin313 · April 2014

Totally depends. Some days it's half the day, others it's very little.

kcisthebombdotcom · April 2014

Pretty much when they ask me to--I couldn't give you an estimate of how many hours in a day. They both play well independently so I don't mind playing when requested. They have a good balance of playing independently/playing with me/playing with each other.

Hollylb3 · April 2014

DS (15 months) is better about independent play some days better than others. One day, I may only be down playing with him an hour total, others, I spend half the day in the floor. A lot of the rest of the time, I act interested from the couch, lol. I hope when he gets a sibling, they play well together. That is the point of having a second kid, isn't it?

zbeesma86 · April 2014

Depends. Some days she wants me to sit & play. We color, read, play kitchen, play baby & chalk. Others she's totally independent & if I sit to play she says 'bye bye momma'

caybeh · April 2014

DS just likes me to sit with him while he plays. I will build legos or train tracks when he asks. He plays pretty well by himself, but I try to "play" with him a little bit each day. DH will wrestle with him, but DS knows not with mommy.

magentawarped · April 2014

It depends. She plays on her own a lot, but if she asks me to color or do puzzles or whatever, I will.

@hls19‌ Your avatar change is screwing with me.

zbeesma86 · April 2014

magentawarped said:

It depends. She plays on her own a lot, but if she asks me to color or do puzzles or whatever, I will. @hls19‌ Your avatar change is screwing with me.

I just noticed! Ididn't even change it! Grrrrr. I'm on my iPad because my computer has been screwy. I don't even know where to go to fix it :-/

sunnydays99 · April 2014

My kids are 4 and almost 2. They enjoy playing with each other and can play individually as well. I do activities with them but they don't seem to need me to okay with them as often anymore. They mostly just want me to read to them!!

magentawarped · April 2014

hls19 said:

magentawarped said:

It depends. She plays on her own a lot, but if she asks me to color or do puzzles or whatever, I will.

@hls19‌ Your avatar change is screwing with me.

I just noticed! Ididn't even change it! Grrrrr. I'm on my iPad because my computer has been screwy. I don't even know where to go to fix it :-/

I don't know that you can fix it on mobile...I had to get on the PC to change mine. I thought that seemed like an odd picture for you from what little I know of you...

zbeesma86 · April 2014

magentawarped said:

magentawarped said:

It depends. She plays on her own a lot, but if she asks me to color or do puzzles or whatever, I will. @hls19‌ Your avatar change is screwing with me.

I just noticed! Ididn't even change it! Grrrrr. I'm on my iPad because my computer has been screwy. I don't even know where to go to fix it :-/
I don't know that you can fix it on mobile...I had to get on the PC to change mine. I thought that seemed like an odd picture for you from what little I know of you...

I think I changed it? But I can't flip it!! It's sideways! Gah!

Mrs.Greg · April 2014

I can't pinpoint any amount of time. Every day, at some point, we read a few books, sit at the table and color, I help them dress up dolls. Stuff like that. But we aren't sitting together playing for an hour or anything like that. My kids love to cook in their kitchen or have tea parties and they'll bring me a pretend snack but they're really playing with each other and kinda including me. I guess I don't PLAY with them all that much but they include me in most of their playing. Does that make sense?

jensriot · April 2014

Mrs.Greg said:

I can't pinpoint any amount of time. Every day, at some point, we read a few books, sit at the table and color, I help them dress up dolls. Stuff like that. But we aren't sitting together playing for an hour or anything like that. My kids love to cook in their kitchen or have tea parties and they'll bring me a pretend snack but they're really playing with each other and kinda including me. I guess I don't PLAY with them all that much but they include me in most of their playing. Does that make sense?

This is how it works with my girls as well. We do crafty things together too.

DS really wants to play with his sisters more than me. I do read and we do dance parties.

ArmyWife114 · April 2014

Hollylb3 said:

DS (15 months) is better about independent play some days better than others. One day, I may only be down playing with him an hour total, others, I spend half the day in the floor. A lot of the rest of the time, I act interested from the couch, lol. I hope when he gets a sibling, they play well together. That is the point of having a second kid, isn't it?

This is pretty much where we're at too. DS plays really well by himself, but he does sometimes want me there with him. Not so much that he can play with me, but he just wants me in the room with him.

vlagrl29 · April 2014

I always hear "play me mama", 100 times a day. When DH gets home from work I tell him he has to play with her. I get tired of it at times, so I've limited it to a little bit in the morning and a little bit in the afternoon.

raraavis28 · April 2014

I tend to do my most engaged playing with them when they need me to distract them....like they just want to climb the bookshelves or fight over the same toy. They are getting better at playing independently....they play more next to each other rather than with each other, but they do tend to prefer me at least sitting and watching them. If I try to do something else they tend to get demanding. Oh, and one of their favorite games is spinning the Tupperware bowls on the kitchen floor.....they will bring me bowls and other items to spin for them....very important job, heheh.

bumpuser8448316 · April 2014

I get bored of playing with my kids too. I typically do things in 20 minute increments when they're having a needy day. 20 minutes of play then I get DS started on an activity and put DD in the jumperoo or on her playmat and go do some chores. When they're not having a needy day DS will p.ay for hours without needing me. During DD's nap time I typically spend about an hour just focusing on DS so we do whatever he wants- play, read, watch a show, etc.

Keeptruckin · April 2014

We are not home a lot, but when we are it goes like this. I will play for about 20 min then work on something. We do have stretches where we do crazy imaginative play for an hour or two, maybe twice a week. She has tons of play dates. She loves colouring or doing crafts with me at the table but she is fine with my surfing on my phone, etc while we do.

cactus5 · April 2014

Not a lot. I will read, play catch, and set up crafts/activities, but they typically play with each other.

AimeeL85 · April 2014

Not as much as I feel like I should, to be honest. I know I don't need to play with them all day but most days I don't actually get down on the floor at all to play toys with them. I'm engaging them and talking to them all day, but I'm usually trying to get something else done as I do that. It's something I want to get better about.

My kids don't play that well with each other, I guess it's just the ages they are right now. DS is usually trying to actually play with something, DD is more interested in circling the house nonstop and tearing into whatever she can, including whatever he's trying to play with.

I try to remind myself that my brother and I were the same age difference as DS and DD, and our mom was not at all the playing kind and I never remember wishing she'd play with us, and we entertained ourselves and played with each other nonstop. We also fought nonstop, but that's a different story!

Disneygeek77 · April 2014

It depends. I would say 20 minutes to an hour a day depending on our schedule and my mood. I know that sounds bad ( and I used to feel guilty about this), but there were many days when I just didn't have the patience to sit on the floor with her and play with her dolls or restaurant. I had about a 20 minute time limit and I was done. I would always feel so bad because she would beg me to continue playing with her. The best solution I found was to tell her I would play, but when my phone alarms sounds, I had to go and do chores. That seemed to work and I would come back and play again when chores were done, but the play time would be in 20 minute increments.

PrimRoseMama · April 2014

Frequently if I am not cleaning etc.

Laurakat81 · April 2014

Most days we play a lot together or if I have a lot to do I include her in it. It's a little tough to really "play" with a 7 month old but I make it a point to set aside at least a couple hours where she gets my full attention, aside from nursing, eating meals, and general childcare.

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