How much time do you spend playing with your 8mo?

[Hobby2014]

DS is 8 months.

I do spend some time playing with him but he enjoys playing in his own and spends most time doing just that.

I can get his toys out and leave him to it and he'll play, crawl about, climb to stand, play with toys some more.

Should I be glad he plays on his own or should I be spending more time with him?

mines the same i do try to play with her but she will usually roll away after a minute or so. I just make the most of times in the highchair or pram or nappy or bath and enjoy the sort of piece i get while she plays.

My DS is a great one for playing on his own, he sits and bangs things together, places things inside others, chews stuff and fiddles intensely with tags :) he can't crawl or pull himself up though so he just sits and fiddles and occasionally rolls about! I talk to him all the time and swap toys and sing, and clap with him, I sit him on my lap facing me and we chat and he jabs and gouges my face while I tell him what's my nose, mouth etc! I roll a ball to him a bit. But I am trying to encourage him to move a bit more! He's really happy playing with his toys alone and I think it brings him on as he's working stuff out for himself rather than me doing it for him. As long as I'm in the room he's got my attention if he needs it!

Thanks both.
Makes me feel better.
Just don't want him to start not wanting me to play with him if he gets too use to playing on his own. Does that make sense? He's just quite happy, like you say, working stuff out for himself.
Will make sure I play when he's up for it even if that's not often!

At months DS wasnt crawling so mostly we would sit him on a mat/in a nest in the garden with some toys and he played on his own, sometimes MIL would sit and talk to him. We were painting the outside of the house so could see him but generally not that close by. But with nappy changes, feeding, bottles, baths etc you still have lots of time to chat to them and let them know you are still there.
I'm glad we enjoyed/used the time while we had it before long he was moving and needed much closer and faster monitoring than MIL can manage.

Have a look at Janet Lansbury's blog it has lots about promoting independent play, you'll find lots of info there about why your ds playing independently is a very good thing!