How good is your 7/8 year old only child at entertaining themselves?

[SpotTheGreatPony]

By that I mean entertaining themselves without a screen (tv / iPad / games console)

Anyone?

I have a six year old and she’s not great at this, sometimes she will get into Lego and we’ll maybe get half an hour. Mostly though she wants us to play with her, which is ok but not doable all the time. She does use a screen more than I’d like, but sometimes it’s just so I can actually get things done, or have 15 minutes to have a cup of tea and decompress after I get home from work.

@SuperSugarHigh that’s exactly the same here. I’m struggling a bit and wondering when it improves!

My daughter is six and likes a mixture of interacting with me and doing things on her own such as reading or crafting. We spend a lot of time together in the same room but doing our own activities.

My six year old generally needs quite a lot of input but she is more likely to play on her own if I potter about doing jobs like putting washing away.

She goes to after school club so all she does when we get home is watch a bit of TV before tea. At weekends DH and I each have a 'day off' childcare so I don't mind being fully involved with DD on my day with her.

I know we need to start being more proactive with inviting children over to play.

My daughter is six and likes a mixture of interacting with me and doing things on her own such as reading or crafting. We spend a lot of time together in the same room but doing our own activities

That’s the dream @floraldawn

Mine is 9 and is really good at entertaining herself, mostly because she loves reading. When they start year t, kids at our school are allowed to go home on their own . We let her choose if she'd rather carry on with after-school club with her friends, or go home and entertain herself on her own (we work remotely but need to work till 5 so can't be disturbed) and she picked the latter. She goes straight home, makes herself a snack then reads. She tends to be lost in her book by 5 so rarely needs entertaining at this point.
She'll occasionally do some arts and crafts too.

I know we need to start being more proactive with inviting children over to play

@Ihaveoflate I’ve been soooo proactive on this front but only get back about 25% of what I put in, in terms of reciprocation. So I’m feeling pretty drained with inviting yet another kid round ……

Sometimes we also read side by side too

Have you tried putting an audio book on for them to listen to? My six year old will entertain himself with crafty type things and playing with toys if I'm pottering around in the same room and he has an audio book to listen to. Hopeless without.

@ALunchbox my DD would never ever choose to read.
She’s behind for her age and only reads when I tell her she has to.

Do you ever read next to her? We started by choosing a reading time and all had our own books to read. You can start small, just ten or fifteen minutes at first and then build from there.

Not all children will love to read so I can appreciate that this might not work in your household. It does account for a lot of the independent time in our house now.

Mine is 7 in a few weeks and can entertain himself for ages if he's engrossed in something (usually Lego/building something/crafting), but some days he just wants us to do everything with him. It really varies, no way of knowing how each day will go. He loves us to build with him or play board games.

He's not great at initiating reading himself, but if I sit and read my own book he's more likely to want to read his - it's a good way to get myself off my phone too!

DD was ok-ish at this until about 7, mainly she could be found drawing.

She got much better at 7+ when she got "into" reading, now she reads for hours.

But she's never been one to "play", either on her own or with others, she's much more into activities, crafts, reading, making.

DD was also behind when it came to reading until she was about 7, and it suddenly picked up. Between 7 and 9 she suddenly worked through all the reading levels at school and is now a "free reader".

A lot of it was finding books she wanted to read, many if which I didn't "approve" of (but I do approve of her reading)... things like Dork Diaries, Middle School Disasters, Lottie Brooks etc... once she got a taste for reading she started reading better books 📚

Pretty good. But I have to state 'No tablet' first or they'd gravitate to it. Other than that, they'll crack on with lego or something else. Most of their toys are educational (not because I feel they must have them, but bought to fit their preference) and they will happily play.

Thanks @BlueWorkDay @ALunchbox

I am hoping when her reading is better & she can read books she actually enjoys things will improve

If she’s absorbed in a book, a jigsaw, or a Lego kit, my 6.5yr old will disappear off for absolutely ages. I can’t remember when she got like this - I think once she could read. As a toddler she was on the “needy” end of the range. But we have a 3.5yr old so maybe when DD2 was a toddler and needed more attention, DD1 developed more playing on her own.

Not very but if I can't engage with her i toss her a book or tell her to practice on her piano . At a push she can watch TV for a bit but I don't like to do that. Deadly 60 on BBC iPlayer is our go to pass the time show as it's educational and utterly harmless.

I struggle with this. I need to cut right back on TV time. My 8yo doesn’t like reading independently - would never do that - and I think we’ve got into bad habits. I actually put her into after school club as much as to keep her entertained and off-screen as much as anything!

She'd spend all day on screens if I let her. But she very much enjoys drawing and crafting when she's in the mood. She'll also play with construction toys on her own, especially Lego. She's not a big reader, sadly, but will read a few pages to herself at bedtime.

Eurgh I was just having this conversation with my DH who says I give our DD (7) too much attention… he is probably right!

My DD could amuse herself for hours dancing, swinging on her gymnastics bar or watching TV but when it comes to crafts it’s a different story. And it takes her a while to be ok with amusing herself, a lot of ‘you never play with me’ (not true) and ‘I can never do what I want’ (not true) She has very recently got into sudoku so we often sit and do a separate book but on the sofa together and that is lovely but infrequent…