Is it reasonable to expect a 3yr old...

[rabbitrabbit]

...to amuse himself for a short while.
I'm in the mood for a bit of a rant so I'm trying to rein myself in-but do you expect a 3yr old to amuse themselves for half an hour whilst you get on with things you need to do?
I've spent the last God knows how long trying to get my ds to stop following me into every room in the house and amuse himself whilst I get on with things.

Do your children play whilst your busy? If I try to do something other than give him my total attention at the moment then he either does things that he knows I don't want him to do (things where I'm worried he'll hurt himself so I then have to intervene) or jumps all over me.

Sorry-its beginning to drive me insane. He gets my total attention at all other times and we're always doing things but I'm trying to teach him to amuse himself as I think he needs to know this for school etc-am I the one getting it all wrong?!
TIA

[fennel]

i am sceptical if you can really teach them. my dd1 and dd3 both played alone from aged 1 or so.

But my dd2, now nearly 5, does so very rarely indeed. she will just about amuse herself now with craft or writing or drawing activity but won't do much else on her own. she's a high maintenance raving socialite type. luckily we lived in an area where they start full time school at just 3 cos she was such hard work at home.

[Firefox]

I agree with fennel. I think it is much more of a personality thing. Some children I know are happy to amuse themselves for ages whilst others seem to need constant interaction and input. My dd was high maintenance but now she is older she is a lot better and she also likes playing with her brother too. I find that when I try to do chores to get her involved too. Usually when she realises how boring it is, she goes off and finds something else. If you are desperate there is always the TV or computer to resort too to give yourself a breather.