At what age is it reasonable to expect DCs to entertain themselves in the garden?

[AdamAnt]

I've tried plonking mine (20 months and 3.3) in the garden so I can et on with a bit of MNing housework, but they just drift around for a minute or two, then start pushing each other off the slide, and after about 3 and a half minutes they are wailing to come back in. It's a gorgeous day out there. How can I persuade them to enjoy it without me?

sandyballs - I almost had a similar escape last summer when DD (then 2 and half) took advantage of my 3 minute absence to scale a 5 foot fence. I came out just as she was about to throw herself over the other side

One of my two year olds is obsessed with worms - one worm can provide up to 20 mins of really hygienic entertainment.

I find if I busy myself in the kitchen or with gardening they get on with things themselves. If I make any attempt to play I am done for and expected to dig in the sandpit for the rest of the afternoon!

I wish someone would "abandon" me in the garden .

give them a pile of mud - preferably with worms, wheel barrows and little forks.

also ride on car - preferably with trailors so they can transport said pile of mud to another location.

Oh I forgot last year I bought loads of little fairy ornaments from charity shops and car boots etc. I dotted them around the garden when LOs were in bed (In trees under bushes etc). DD1 loves finding fairies!!

wasnt telling anyone off where in myu post did it say that. i just saying houswork isnt important they are lttle for such a tiny amount of time you shoudl enjoy them before they laeave home.

Some people don't enjoy being nose to nose with whining toddlers small children for a huge proportion of the day. They create a huge amount of mess, and I do not wish to spend every single evening from 8 - 11 dealing with the housework just so I don't miss a second of my children.

Do you have one docile 8 month old, by any chance?

DCs are 5 and 3 and will entertain themselves ok for about 45 mins if I have played with them in the garden for a little bit. I don't leave them on their own in the garden though, I use the time for gardening.

DS is 4 now and will quite happily take himself off into the garden by himslef and ride his bike, but this is a recent development.

Last year he did a lot of digging in the mud, "painting" the patio with water with food colouring in it, and riding his tractor round and delivering things from the trailer (I had to participate in this slightly, but I participated from a sun lounger ).

Fabulous mum - you do sometimes have to do housework, prepare meals, etc. The odd ten minutes three times a day is an absolute minimum. Not only is it not damaging to your DCs it's also good for them to learn to play without outside help.

oh, about 6m...

if they fight, have you thought about having differnt things for them to do? (add a sandpit/rope ladder/mobiles hanging from tree/swing/teepee to your slide)

I saw some garden chalks in ELC last week. Has anybody tried them? Our normal chalks don't show up well on our hundred year old weathered wall and I wondered if they were actually better or just chunkier and a marketing opportunity.

Mine are 8 and 5 and still don't. All they do is egg each other and scream so that the whole neighbourhood can hear. They seem unable to actually play without an adult out there. But then my kids have always been demanding of adult attention. I thought by now it'd have gotten better, but no!

I am interested in those ELC chalks too, my dcs left all the chalks out last night and they got rained on and are now soft and squishy so I'll be getting some new ones on Friday.

oh and...

I would bet my new gorgeous pretty shoes (or cash equivalent) that fabulousmum is NOT NOT NOT Cod. Saw a couple of others suggesting that on larger families thread.

Not her style.

mine are 4 and 2 and they go out on their own.

it is vital that children learn a) that they are not the centre of the universe - other things can be just as important as their entertainment b) to amuse themselves - there's a lot of that in adulthood c) to play with other children without deferring to Mum, Dad, Teacher or whoever as a judge or mitigator.

there's a large patio and garage right outside the large kitchen window.

they go out there and i leave the back door open and work in the kitchen.

buckets and spade, watering cans, cheapo tent from IKEA and garden chalk are their pals.

fresh air and sunlight are excellent for the circadian rhythm, especially up here as it is not the brightest of places.

by the age of 4 i was playing out nearly all day when not in school.

The ELC garden chalks are great, as are the imitation tesco ones, hours of entertainment!

DS has been entertaining himself in the garden alone from about 3yrs for substantial amounts of time, but I am a notoriously boring mother so he's used to making his own entertainment!

I agree with expat too.

Oh and if fabulousmum was Cod, the remarks would be funny. It's defo not her.

at fabulousmum...... guess somebody has a cook and a housekeeper, either that or kim and aggie will be calling on her soon..... simply not possible to entertain 2 kids from 6am til 7pm and not leave them to play alone at any point. what do you do if you need a dump fabulousmum... just hold it in til the little dears are tucked up in bed?

i smell a piss taker... why are you so sure it's not cod slur? she's been known to play devils advocate before to stir things up!

I found sand and water were the key ingredients to garden independence
mud, grass, and stones are also helpful

if you put food colouring in a pot of water they can paint the fence for hours - it washes off.....mostly

have you got an outside tap that can be left on at a trickle? then they can refill their own buckets and squirters etc
oh garden misters are FAB
get them to squirt everything

a little area where they are allowed to dig is also tops but check for cat poo each time

DS1 (now 3.5) has been playing out on his own since he was about 2 - or possibly younger?

DS2 (14 mths, walking) is desperate to be outside every minute and so is sometimes out with his brother for 10 minutes or so but he does tend to fall over or down steps or sth.

Both would stay outside for up to 2 hrs unentertained if let.

Our secret weapon is....

chickens !

DS2 loves just watching them and DS1 chases them around the garden. We do have quite an "interesting" garden though, with lots of bushes to hide behind etc. But DS2 is happiest on the drive messing with stones and sticks and stuff.

I think they have developed these skills of self-entertainment due to lazy parents deliberately hands-off parenting.

There are some advantages to it you know fabulousmum !

"they are lttle for such a tiny amount of time you shoudl enjoy them before they laeave home." (sic) oooh - do you mean you'll be packing them off to boarding school when they're five? Cos otherwise those days seem pretty far off to me right now!

so why didn't my crossing out work?
lazy parents