To wonder if anyone else struggles to know what to do with their child in the house?

[Notreallylookingforadvice]

As the username suggests I’m not exactly looking for advice on this but I really struggle, always have. Ds is now 3 and I don’t know how to play with him at all. Whenever he’s in the house the TV is inevitably on for him.

I found "play schema" type ideas off instagram to be a load of shite.

Set up carefully planned activity. Child does it for about 5 mins, does nowhere near half the stuff the trendy website claims they will do to "extend" the play, makes a giant mess, and it creates a lot of rubbish that goes in the bin and isn't reusable.

Honestly nothing occupied my kids like good old duplo or brio.

@ShoePalaver

It is a bit of effort and mess. Which is why I do it once a fortnight max. I don't do stuff like that too often because

a) I simply cannot be bothered
And
b) I don't like it to lose the novelty value

He gets plenty of that stuff on nursery days. Similar to the fact that he eats better at nursery than he does at home. I don't stress I see it as a positive that he's getting all these things and it doesn't all have to fall to me!

@VenhamousSnake

I found schemas helpful for me as I struggle to think of different nice things we can do. Schema ideas just help me extend certain types of play and make a bit more out of them.

Fortunately my son plays very well on his own and isn't the needy type for my constantly playing with him. But he's only good like that for an afternoon as long as we've been out all morning.

Cannot state enough how just getting them out and about anywhere is the best thing above all! Run the legs off them!

I totally hear you op! I feel the same. I often berate myself because I feel guilty that I'm not playing with my 3 year old more, or doing crafts etc. To try to avoid the self-criticism, I remind myself of the things I am good at, and like you, I'm good at getting him out the house most days. Because I know I'm not the best when we're at home, I concentrate on outside entertainment. When I factor in that, dropping and picking up the other children from school, and mealtimes etc, it doesn't leave masses of time, I don't think, and having the TV on in between times helps him to wind down. Plus, he doesn't watch constantly. He plays with his toys or follows me around doing jobs, and goes back to the TV now and then.

Also, go easy on yourself... You have a baby too! And soon enough, they'll be playmates. My 4 children are a good source of entertainment for one another.

My son is three and has been home for three weeks from nursery. On any given day his two year old sister, him and me will do any or all of the following.

Puzzle
Books
Crayons
Play Doh
Watch Disney+
Go in the yard
"Clean" the house together
Song sings
Play tag
"Cook" together
Build stuff

If they do something they shouldn't then I intervene. Mostly they do what they want as long as no damage to property or physical violence. Hasn't resulted in any major disasters so far.

I think when you have a young baby isn't the time to be worrying too much about this.
You are out a lot which is great for the 3 year old.
Anything else is a bonus.

What does he actually watch on TV, OP? There are some active things like cosmic kids, go noodle, loads of other stuff that are basically exercise videos for kids.

The problem with TV is it buys you some time but then backfires because once you turn it off, all the energy they haven't been using is right there and they go a bit hyper and hard to handle. Which makes you just want to put the TV back on.

I also have a disco light thing, quite cheap but you can turn lights off, close curtains and toddler dances the energy off while baby coos at the lights. In an ideal world!