I have two children - just turned 2 and nearly 9. My 9 year old has high functioning autism and dyspraxia and although bright I would say he is less mature than his peers in some ways. He has always been hopeless at entertaining himself unless he is plugged into electronics.
My dd is 2 and constantly on the go. Everyone told me girls were calmer and had longer attention spans when little. They lied. I feared they probably were.
So we do ballet, tumble tots, a craft session and football in the week and the free day we go swimming or to the farm we have annual passes for. Most of the activities we do are only short so we will possibly go to soft play or in the better weather to the park after lunch as they are all in the mornings.
The time we are at home she is bored. I know this because she follows me round the house moaning and whinging and crying but when we are out she is delightful. She gets stuff out and plays with it for about two minutes and then abandons it. I've had a real sort out of toys because I felt she had too much and that might not be helping so now I rotate the toys and have less options. The only things that hold her for any length of time are painting (about an hour but hideous hideous mess) and play doh (maybe twenty minutes?) but both need me and if I'm trying to get anything done around the house it doesn't help me. She doesn't like books or jigsaws. She doesn't even like tv which makes me sad as it is very handy at times. She doesn't like duplo. She likes role play toys but wants me to play with her. She doesn't Nap and hasn't since 18months but still doesn't go to bed until 8pm.
The time I'm finding hardest is between 3.30pm and bedtime. It's really really really hard going. In the summer my son spends a lot of time in the garden and my daughter loves the garden too but at the moment it's so cold and covered in ice. Also because our garden has several sheer drops I cannot possibly leave her out there alone even for a minute whilst I put something in the oven etc. I can see her from the kitchen but it's impossible because the garden isn't safe.
Trying to get dinner ready is a nightmare. Four hours they have at home together and largely spend the time annoying each other and me. Take out an hour for dinner and bathtime and that's still three hours where they need to be occupied. 😬
What do people do with their children?! I know at 8 I was playing on my own happily for hours - drawing or reading too - but unless I let him on his iPad for three hours my son is bored. He doesn't really have play dates because in all honesty he doesn't have any real friends due to his SEN. If we have someone here to play ds gets fed up of they won't do what he wants, gets over the top and then goes on his iPad and I'm left with an extra child to entertain.
Sorry it's so long. Just finding it hard work at the moment.