Wanting my kids to play alone

[mazdaz25]

Dd 4 and Ds 7 happily play alone on their tablets but as soon as I say it's time to finish on them & play for a bit, they nearly ALWAYS want me to play with them.
They normally want to play separate things too so obviously can't split myself in two! I feel especially this half-term I have just wanted them to play independently!
I do play with them, normally 15/20 mins, Barbies, Lego, Games, football, me pretending to be a monster & chasing them etc!
AIBU to just want them to entertain themselves or am I being mean and should play with them?

No you're not being unreasonable. My 6 year old is the same. He used to play on his own a bit but since he got the tablet for Christmas he seems to have forgotten how to play alone (to be fair I have let him on it a fair bit this half term but my excuse is I'm heavily pregnant and knackered)

YANBU. I've lost the ability to play games with the DCs. Board games with clear rules for everyone are fine, but imaginative free-play, no. Besides I never do it to their standards! That doesn't mean I'm not playful, but that's in a different way.

Playing independently is as valuable a skill as collaborative play.

We recently had about 10 days when the DCs were ill/ off colour so a lot more tech time was allowed than usual. By the time they'd got some energy back, I banned all screens including TV for about 4 hours on a Sunday afternoon, and there was uproar and much whinging in the first half hour. Once they found something to do and knuckled down, they were fine for the rest of the time, but it did prove my point that they needed time to focus on playing and entertaining themselves!

I am the most relaxed parent ever and i have limited iPad time because of this. It’s like they watch tv or ipad and loose all ability to think. We now only have iPad at weekend for an hour and playing with toys has improved

No YANBU. But going from tablets to independent play is hard. Hide the tablets in the morning so they wander away from breakfast and start playing, or if you're trying to get them off of them in the afternoon, interrupt with an activity (nothing fancy, a trip to the postbox or the supermarket or the park for half an hour will do).

Tbh if they've been staring at a screen for however long and you're then deciding they need to play with proper toys, I think it's a bit mean to declare "no, alone"

Whether that means you stipulate the game, or thru take it in turns etc but I think it's rather miserable to say no to them.

They WERE entertaining themselves. You stopped them.

Oh god I remember this - totally agree. My youngest plays completely independently because she has to - there are two other children in the household. The first child though wanted me to play all the time and it was so boring having tea party's etc. I think you need to just say you don't have time to play at the moment. They will soon make their own entertainment and probably with each other!