Daughter won't play by herself - help!!

[KateMT]

Help! When did your child start playing by him/herself for short periods when you're at home?? I'm not expecting much - 10 mins would be great - just so I can get boring chores done really...DD is 2 yrs 9 months and will not play at all by herself. If I can't play with/actively involve her in stuff she wants the TV on - I say 'no' a lot of the time and this leads to tantrums or cries of "Nobody loves me" etc, etc (which I try to stay calm about)! Am getting frustrated and grumpy - is it my fault for being a SAHM and giving her too much attention from Day 1 ??

DS is the same age and will still only play on his own for short periods of time and even then Im usually talking to him at the same time. If Im on the phone, making dinner or out of the room for a while I dont have a problem with him having the tv on tbh.

Try suggesting that she might do something, say build a tower, for you by the time you come back. Would she do that do you think?

what does she do while your mnetting? Are you sure it doesn't just feel like she never plays alone?

My dd is the same and I work full time ( though always gave her a lot of attention when with her)My grandma had six kids- half were good at playing by themselves, half useless. No rhyme or reason to it!

How about this: Buy a large brightly coloured (Ikea stylee) clock. Set her up with a time consuming, but enjoyable play task which takes a bit of concentration - Magnetic fishing, farm animals/building blocks, even a packet of snap cards or toy cars to sort into matching groups.

Now tell her what the game is: if she can get all these into there, or all those onto that, before the big hand has gone from pointing up to the ceiling to pointing over to the chair; then she'll get a prize. Could be a prize straight off, or could be a sticker on a star chart and then a prize for three stickers.

Start off by doing it somewhere where you can see each other. Set yourself up with a job aswell so she can see that you won't be joining in. Congratulate her a couple of times, from a distance, but don't go over to her. Tell her that you really want to come over as soon as the clock gets to where it's meant to be. Tell her you hope she manages it!

After a couple of weeks she'll be in a different room, occupied happily for half an hour!

Thanks for your replies & support - good ideas, will def. try the clock - that'll be great as she is fascinated by clocks so will love that!
I do my mnetting when she is asleep - I took her for a long muddy walk and picnic this morning and she was dropping off after lunch & stories!

My dd is same age. She will play by herself for a little while but inevitably ends up making more mess than I am managing to tidy up somewhere else. I find it helps if she's nearby (so if I'm tidying the kitchen she draws at the table and we chat) or actively helping (carrying washing down and putting it in machine/helping me dust etc), or even watching TV while I iron.
She watches TV while I make the tea most days, sometimes beetling in to help or watch me (and steal food while I'm cooking it) - while I don't like her watching too much I don't think that a short bit each day is that bad. I usually work full time and she is at nursery (on mat leave now) - I think this has helped a bit to get her used to playing on her own and making up her own games as well as having lots of 'planned play'.

Put a DVD on for 50 minutes and do all your jobs in one hit. She is happy (TV is on) you have done everything you needed to do.

Also think of some little jobs you can do together. Ds folds face cloths, puts out toilet rolls, tidies away his trainset pieces, puts his washing in machine, passes me pegs. It doesn't matter if he wanders off as then he plays by himself, which is what I want to see more of.