DS wants attention ALL the time

[Nanoon]

DS is 2.11 and for as long as i can remember he isn't happy amusing himself for anything longer that 5 minutes. Lately DH and i have really been sticking to our guns for example its 7.30 on a Sunday morning and DS is demanding that we play with him even before we have a cup of tea! There seems to e very little pleasure in our time together at the moment and that breaks my heart.

Anyway my mum came round today to look after DS while i went to the hairdressers and it wa impossible for us to have a onversation. My DS did anything and everything to get our attention, throwing, jumping on us and constantly whining.

This is all so frustrating as he is a wonderful little boy in so many ways but i am at my wits end as to how to deal with his constant demands on my attention. Oh i am also 26 wks pregnant and this type of situation is reducing me to tears every day.

Tis normal.

Do v. little alone until about 3.5 in my experience.

It's normal. A lot of mums (myself included) put the telly on when it gets to the point where you want to cry if you don't get some headspace.

aaahhh its just so exhausting, perhaps i am just really crap at dealing with it. At nursery he is so independent, it seems so unfair.

It is exhausting. Don't feel for one minute that you are any crapper than anyone else at dealing with it!

send him out in the garden with a spray bottle full of water.

i feel so worn down by it that i can't even think of fun and imaginative play ideas - will give the water bottle a whirl. thanks

Please please do nit feel bad anout this, it is an exhausting age and you are pregnant.

other fiddley things ....

Toilet roll inners and a ping pong ball.

Train tracks

scissors (out in the garden, "GO cut the grass!")

Gravel

DVD series of Thomas the Tank

Paddling pool / big bowl water and some ping pong balls.

I read about this one but haven't tried it: give him a 'time in'. explain that you are going to have some time together doing x (something he likes) but when the bell rings, you will have to cook tea/eat breakfast/ sort the laundry/ whatever, and he will have to carry on alone. set the timer for 5 minutes, give him your undivided attention, and when the bell rings, say, 'that was really fun, we'll have another time in in a while, but now mummy has to go do y, you carry on here.'

hope that helps!

My dd1 has always been like that. I promise you it gets better although the personality never changes. At your ds's age I used to set her up with toys and an idea (e.g. the fisher price people are going to the park) and once she was into it I would withdraw.

It's not easy. I didn't realise how demanding she was until I had 2 more who are much better at getting on with things themselves. Even now, at age 6 and with 2 younger siblings, she has been asking to do things with me the whole school holidays. Things she surely knows I can't do with 2 younger ones, e.g. playing Connect 4! The difference now is that I can reason and come up with a deal (she gets to stay up later one night and do things with me), and also I know she CAN sit and draw on her own, for example.

I'm sure he'll soon be at the age when you can make deals about how much time he gets. And he'll also learn that whining is ignored.