My 2 and a Half year old refuses to play on her own or entertain herself in anyway....

[KarisTiasMum]

For her age my daughter is very clever with her speech, learning new things, her concept of things etc.. and when she is at nursery she plays beautifully with other children. BUT at home she refuses to entertain herself, she is never left alone or neglected in anyway (of course), but it is almost impossible for the adults in our house to do anything that does not involve her. We are constantly trying to get her to play with her toys and use her imagination a bit, but unless someone is with her she just doesnt. She will go from one person to another craving constant attention. She does have an imagination when we play with her, she dresses up, plays with dolls, all toys etc.. but only when she has someones full attention.
i am just not sure really about what to do, i dont want her to grow up being one of these massively clingy kids who cant do any thing for themselves but i also dont want to overestimate what she should be doing at her age!?
any ideas?

yes, have another one so she has someone to play with

I have a dd like that. She is lovely but very hard work as she seems almost incapable of enetrtaining herself. I do playdates with friends or her cousin as much as possible and am clinging to the hope that as ds gets older they'll play together. Having said that she is a little better now at 3 than she was six months ago so there is hope......

maybe this will help, although it is advice relating to my DS when he was much younger...

try sitting with her and involving her in an activity she likes - get her interested, then edge away for a few seconds. Return and re-engage. Then back off again - just a bit. Repeat........

Then, slowly, slowly, slowly increase your distance from her while she is entertaining herself and increase the time you spend away.

Trust is maybe the issue - building it up might help.

PITA but it worked!

HTH