What do your 7yo girls do at home?

[Givemestrength23]

Dd 7 has never been interested in playing with toys or games. She will do craft stuff if forced but only really wants to be on a screen while moaning she is bored. She is anxious and I'm sure screen time isn't helping but struggle with the battle of getting her to do something else in the house without me doing it with her.
Inspire me - how do I get her off the screen and find something that she wants to do?

Lots of playing with our cat at that age and still now, a few years later. Cat is very sociable and enjoys human company.

I would get her helping with chores and reading or writing a diary or letters to other family members. Of course she prefers a screen don't we all!

What do you do with free time? Do you sit and read or do a hobby or are you on your phone? Hard as it is we need to set an example

Some great ideas here so thank you all. Its not really anything that we haven't got/ don't already know. Really do need to limit the screen time! I actually set a time limit a couple of weeks ago but it somehow ended up removed. Back on that tomorrow.

When mine were a bit younger, screens were creating an environment whereby they had no idea HOW to entertain themselves, so as soon as they'd come off them they'd be whining "I'm so BORRRRRROED!!". When I was a kid in the 80s, you had no choice but to come up with your own entertain, right? We all did. No "screens", really.

So I FORCED our kids to be bored. No tv, no gaming, nothing, for over half a year to allow them to discover "boredom" for themselves. Now (they're 10, 9 and 7) they get a couple hours gaming after all homework etc is done on a weekend but otherwise nothing in the week, and they've learned to entertain themselves for years now. They mostly craft, do arts, write, read, and roleplay together. Gaming has wrecked my little nephews, and not judging, just saying. They just get put on their devices for hours and similarily, once they come off, they're whining.

*I should add, i meant no "junk" tv for over half a year. They loved watching documentaries and stuff like that, things about history etc, so of course they could watch educational stuff.

Ours has 30 mins a week of computer games. Some TV every day but not huge amounts. Only child so she mostly plays on her own unless a friend is round for a play date.

Her favourite things are:
Drawing, writing stories, doodling, inventing games or crafts. Those all sort of tie in together. Eg she'll write a story, then illustrate it or make something for it.
Building elaborate scenarios with Lego or Playmobile and acting out scenes.
Building sets for her dolls and soft toys and then acting out some kind of game with it.
Making mud dens/wildlife kingdoms in the garden.
Reading piles of books (variable and can't predict when it'll happen as depends what she's got from the library).

With us she also enjoys cooking, going to the play area and board games.

Mine likes TV but we limit it. Then she likes colouring, crafts, books, building toys, figurines or play mobil which she will play with, vets stuff, reading. If it's dry she will be climbing trees or making potions/ponds in the gardens.

Maybe make sure her toys are tidy and easy to access then leave a few things set out for when she gets home / wakes up and see if they take her interest rather than asking for screens.

If she says she is bored and has already watched TV I tend to either offer to do a game together, suggest we go for a walk or say she is more than welcome to help me do chores (which tends to inspire her to find a game to play on her own!)

I reckon if screens are an option a lot of kids would revert to them and say they are bored so I would just remove them tbh. I still think 7 year olds should be using their imagination.

Plays outside/on trampoline, plays with her brothers - board games or cards or whatever, plays with dolls a bit but less as she's getting older, piano practice, lots of art/drawing, occasionally lego, listens to music, reads at bedtime, occasionally does jigsaws, watches TV & screens/gaming.

She likes to help with household tasks/gardening but that would be with an adult rather than independently. She likes crafts and went through a mega aquabeads phase, but that seems to have fallen by the wayside. She loves comics and I bought her a few 'how to draw' books which she loves.

Editing to say we have a DIY mud kitchen outside made from an old IKEA kids kitchen toy - she loves that and spends ages making potions etc (this is v messy).

She will always want the tv if you don’t limit. By giving in, you are limiting her capacity to get bored, hence creating, be imaginative and also develop her intelligence and creativity by inventing new games, build legos etc. you just need to put form rules around tv time so she has not alternative and she needs to find something else.
you are asking the wrong question. It is not how you get her off the screen, of course you can not, nothing will be as easy and appealing as screen. The question is how you become de adult, put rules in your house so she has no access to tv apart from some set times and she plays on her own without having to involve you. Be firm and resist some wining, you will see she will stop soon and find some things to do.

DD lives painting, drawing, play dough

Will do the whole dolly thing once in a while

Likes playing cards, jigsaws too

We're also outdoors a lot. We have the usual bikes, trampolines, roller blades, scooters etc

Sometimes it only takes a bit of initiative to get the kids started on something.. then you can slowly back away and leave them to it

Mine had a real screen addition as we bought her one during Covid (there was only so much CBeebies we could stand on the TV)!

In reception she was allowed to watch it in the morning before we got up (otherwise she would wake us up) but she got into the habit of heading straight for it as soon as she came home from school. She could get quite aggressive when we tried to take it off her.

Last year (year 1) we bought her a clock for her bedroom and set timers on the tablet (6.30-7.30am and 4.30-5.30pm). She had to stay in bed until 6.30am and if she got up before this and woke us she wouldn't get the tablet that day!

She's always loved reading to us at bedtime (which we encouraged) so she is now pretty advanced for a 7 year old. So this September (year 2) it was cold turkey time and we took the tablet off her and told her to read a book!

To be honest she is pretty good and hardly mentions it now. She has activities after school most evenings and her weekends are busy. We are also happy to let her slump into front of the TV for a hour once tea, homework and practice is out of the way.

One night, when her tennis was cancelled, she asked if she could play games on her tablet. I let her and the old 'rage' appeared when it was time to put it down. These things are like crack!

No more screen time, if it's not an option she'll find something else to do. Using a TV to entertain her and her still being bored will just make her unable to think of anything else to do.

Try a few different kinds of crafts- sewing, paint by numbers, scrapbook, clay etc. Get her outside, a routine involving a 10+ minute walk every afternoon will help her.

Eldest DD randomly got into baking and now can make bread, cakes, pastry etc with no help (only with getting things in and out of the oven). Your DD will find something

Audiobooks? Great free stories on Circle Round podcast and the Super Great Kids Stories. Mine will draw/craft/build for ages when listening to one.

My daughter was the same at that age, she wouldn't do anything unless we sat and played with her. I spent about a billion hours playing lego or plamobil with her then I taught her to bake and then cook, she loved it and I incorporated it with baking /cooking for the family, it paid off too, now at 19 she does most of the cooking at home!

My children weren’t playing on screens at 7 and barely do it now (maybe once or twice a month for an hour each) they are a few years older. If I were you I would go cold turkey on screens (apart from maybe films a few times a week with you). Yes she will find it very hard to start with but the benefits should be huge. Get her plying outside in the garden if possible, maybe learn a musical instrument, and let her find something that she really enjoys (drawing, lego, playmobil, fimo, football, basketball, piano etc). I think if mine had been offered screens for long times from a young age they would be addicted to them now, but we purposefully didn’t offer screens and so instead their favourite things are anything outdoors (football, rugby, archery, photography, training the dogs), Lego, building forts, nerf guns 🙄 and writing stories / drawing). I know you said she doesn’t like playing with toys but perhaps she’s just always had an easier alternative (screens)? I notice when the children’s friends come over they will always ask about gaming and when my children or I say no we don’t do that, then the visiting kids don’t sit there bored, they join in with whatever my children suggest, and they always always have a great time and don’t want to leave.

Could I ask what vitamins you give? Interested for my under 5s. Give them multivitamin but if there’s something specific that helps with anxiety I’d like to try. TIA

My DD is only 5 but has anxiety and screen makes her worse. She loves puzzles, painting, cleaning windows or will help me pair socks etc and genuinely loves it. She will also sit and read now. But mainly I get her outside as much as possible or her younger sibling is good at imaginative play etc so he will guide her so I'm not needed so much
Before him we had friends over for her as much as possible.
She has screen time ticket which she made and once she's used it for the day she's used it so we don't get constant nagging

Mine just reads. I have to hide her books otherwise she'll never join in any other activity.
It's lovely in a way because I was the same at that age but my youngest does get frustrated that his sister doesn't ever want to play anymore.

Can you divert her sideways initially? So maybe learning coding, but through a physical game rather than a screen?

Mine had Brownies, Guides and Cubs on a Tuesday, Highland Dancing on Wednesday, Swimming Lessons on Thursday, Friday it was peace for nothing on, Saturday Netball in the afternoon and 5 a side for my son at night and Sunday was Sunday School. Mon nothing. The rest of the time they could play or watch TV. My grandchildren are on electronics and seem to do very little.

Take the screen away, shes only obsessed with it because you let her be. Once interact with her. Play with her. Do crafts. Thats what mums do.

Same problem with my DS. I have had to limit screen time and I threaten to ban it if he moans or complains. Then suddenly he finds stuff to do after 5/10 mins. He'll run around, bounce up and down, do imaginary play or start playing with LEGO. I would just remove the screens and have some books, art stuff, LEGO easily available and hope for the best.

Otherwise I mention that my Mum asked me to do chores if I complained a lot about being bored 😆

Also, we have swimming after school one day and week and drama another day which helps.