Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

4 year old can't entertain herself

1 reply

Glago2017 · 07/05/2022 12:26

My 4 year old DD can't entertain herself unless it is with technology. Tv, computer etc. She loves being out doing things and always asks "where are we going today" in the morning. I am 6 months pregnant and can't go places everyday with her.
When we are in the house she will either watch TV or play the computer. I don't actually know the last time she played with a toy even though she has got a cupboard full of them.
If she has a friend or her cousin round she will play away for hours but not herself.
I am limiting the amount of TV she watches but she is now playing up and being cheeky or she will ask me to play with her every 5 minutes. I do play but then I need to go and make dinner or a load of washing so leave her to play. When I turn around she is right behind me in the kitchen asking me to play again.
How can I get her to entertain herself with toys even for 15 minutes to start?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Ahurricaneofjacarandas · 08/05/2022 10:37

I have a simular 4YO. I'm coming to the conclusion it's habutual. I do try and give her plenty of one to one time but I am also trying to incorporate times when me and daddy do what WE need to. We're quite into gardening for example. I've found that the only way to teach her to entertain herself is insist on it. If we want to garden for half an hour I tell her clearly that we're busy gardening right now and her choices are she can either help us (which she sometimes happily does) or plays alone with her garden toys. Be firm and remind her whenever she wants your attention that you're busy right now but don't punish or get cross when the inevitable pushbacks and playing up occur. Something else that works well is starting an activity then 'needing the toilet' or going to fix up a snack/drink then gradually increasing the time you're gone and eventually she'll learn to focus on play/avivities alone. It DOES get better. Mine can still be a bit clingy (usually when you most need her to amuse herself) but she now sometimes opts to play alone for short times and she will sit for quite long lengths of time when doing something she really wants to do eg drawing. X

New posts on this thread. Refresh page