I'm aware that there's already a thread on the board with a very similar title, but I wanted to create my own thread as my situation is slightly different.
My son is 3.5, and for the past 18 months - 2 years, I've been trying to encourage him to play imaginatively or play alone. He refuses to do so. I'm becoming more and more stressed out by this, as I'm a single parent, have no real friends and know no other people with children to spend time with. This means I am with him a lot and don't have much support. He's very energetic (we do go out to the park etc), bright and lazy.
I am really at a breaking point now, where I can no longer cope with constant demands to do things with him. I've tried to deal with it for a long time but sometimes feel as though I can't breathe because he's putting so much pressure on me. I can play with him for hours and hours and it's never enough. I've tried setting up games so that he can play alone, setting up a game with the agreement that I leave after five minutes, setting up a game and playing before sneaking away, refusing to play so that he will be forced to play alone and, if I catch him doing it, trying to stay still and quiet so that he will carry on with it. I've also tried many different types of games, so many, many variations of small world play, role play, dressing up with props, not using toys, but using boxes and things (so that he can use his imagination more). I've tried encouraging him to play in his bedroom while I get a job done, but he's whinging for me within minutes and won't even agree to it now. I sometimes kind of wander around the house to get a minute to think, but he just follows me around. None of the things I've tried have worked. I do play with him regularly, but he expects me to lead the games all of the time. He is perfectly capable of leading a game, but would rather have everything done for him. I also created an area where he has a LOT of craft stuff, so his own little corner with a table and a stool. The idea was that he could go over there and do whatever he likes, but he refuses to do that.
I feel like I'm going mad. He goes to pre-school three mornings a week, but as soon as he's out I get non-stop whinging and demands to play with him. He will start nursery in the afternoons in September (afternoons are much better for us because a long stretch of time with him alone is what I really struggle with, so this will break up the day) so that will help, but I have the six week holiday to contend with before that happens.
Does anybody have a child who behaves in a similar way? Any advice? I'm currently considering buying a digitial clock and setting an alarm for half an hour. During that half an hour, he'd play alone in his bedroom. I don't know whether that seems too much like a punishment!