He's 4 and recently started reception. He's bright but quite lazy. The issue is that he will not do anything alone, ever. He's fine when we're out - really confident and very sociable. It's at home when the problems start. As soon as he's out of nursery, he asks where he's going. I dread answering this question cos I always get the same reaction. He doesn't seem to realise that our house is his home, where we live as a family. He doesn't play with toys ever. I've discussed this with people a few times and feel like screaming when they say 'yeah, it's very important you give them a chance to play alone', as though I haven't done that. He's an only child and I'm a single parent, so I've been focussing on it for years. I've tried so many different methods, but nothing works. I have depression and am often just very tired and can't physically cope with living like this. It makes me feel extremely guilty, but I can't entertain him every second of the day. Here's an example of what happened today- we went out to a class he goes to on saturday mornings, picked his friend up, went to a cafe for a nice bit of cake, brought the friend back home, had lunch, my boyfriend came over and played and then it was about 3 o'clock. As soon as my boyfriend left the house, he said 'Where am i going today?'. He won't accept that people have tea at their own house, with their family. It's as though he's constantly bored with me. As soon as he realises that we're not going anywhere, he begs and begs to watch tv or play games, but I don't want him to! That's all he'll do! I do play with him regularly and we go and do things and visit family/friends, but nothing is ever enough for him. I'm totally worn out by this. I can't really explain it, but I'm starting to feel like we have no connection at all and the house is a very uncomfortable environment. It feels empty and fake. I'm always hounded and always thinking of things i can do to make things a bit more bearable until bedtime. It's horrible. I hate living like this. I'm starting to dread spending time alone with him and I'm always just looking for ways to fill time.
It's quite difficult to explain, but other people around him notice it too. He's been described as very demanding, very talkative and exhausting. We all love him very much, but being alone with him for even a short period of time is draining. I feel that I'm really letting him down :( I just wish he'd pick up a toy or do anything at all. We have loads of nice things for him to play with, but he'll only do it if I pick it up and set it up and then he'll pretty much just sit there and whine at me to create all of the fun. If I go to an extreme length and totally ignore him to force him to play, it achieves nothing. He lies on the floor whining and kicking his legs. He doesn't give in. At no point does he just decide to play with something. Toys are totally untouched until I go to get them. He won't ever be alone in his bedroom. It's crap. I feel so crap.