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Frustrated with 3yo constant need for me

17 replies

InvisibleDragon · 02/02/2026 22:03

This is really really getting on my nerves and I am feeling pretty overwhelmed, but I am not quite sure why I am finding it so hard, because it doesn't seem like it should be such a big deal.

My 3.5yo DS wants constant input and attention. He cannot stand to be bored.

He wants to be played with all the time. Whines and moans if no-one is playing with him. Gets anxious if he has to go to a room in our flat on his own. We are working a lot on independent play and making some progress but it is slow going.

If I am not playing with him, wants me to watch him playing - Are you watching mummy? Are you looking here? Did you see ... You didn't see it mummy!

If we are out and about, or if he's doing something he dislikes (brushing teeth, getting dressed, on the toilet) he wants me to make up stories for him. About a monkey who steals food or went on a bus or was mistaken for a toy or put in prison or whatever. And then is constantly asking questions - But why did you say it has a special tail mummy? What are those white bits on the wall? How did it get made? Will you tell the story Mummy? Does the castle have guns mummy? What if there was a thief in the castle? Did people a long time ago have police? Why are there little gaps in the steps Mummy? Why didn't the driver check our ticket? What does that sign mean mummy? And that green one? Tell the story mummy!

All while I am trying to get him to walk to the bus stop or pull his pants up or get his gloves on.

I feel like I am going bananas. I'm currently on mat leave with a 4mo baby and the days he is not in nursery my head feels like it is going to explode.

I do set limits to how much playing I will do, and how many stories I will tell and how many questions I will answer. And I do encourage him to think about things for himself. But the feeling of simultaneously being bored and overstimulated and never getting to finish a thought (about a monkey that I didn't want to think about in the first place) is making me snappy and really irritable.

Any tips for making it more bearable? Or for being a bit more zen?

OP posts:
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Parentingconfusing · 03/02/2026 02:25

I thinks it’s ok to tell him you need some rest or peace and or/ are really overwhelmed by all the questions and trying to do xyz.

My kids 4 but I go and sit outside for 10 mins (I can see them through the bifolds) and have a cup of tea once every few hours. They are welcome to join but this is quite time where we look at the trees and listen to the sounds and we can talk but the vibe is different and they mirror that really well. I get some great thoughtful conversations out of him at this time.

Disclaimer - would not recommend that if you have a knob turn lock! We have a key so I physically take it out the door and hook it outside.

Other ideas; turn it around and ask him questions. You tell me the story. Or atm our main thing is learning the numbers and learning sounds and phonics, or practicing handwriting and cutting so I have loads of activities for this and that tires his brain. 10 or so minutes of that and then when he wants a break he will go and play by himself.

Also tonie boxes or yoti boxes good, or I put alpha blocks or number blocks or nature programmes on in the background. This prolongs independent play I think as splits the brain power and if loads of questions or volume increases then I am like too much is going on right now let’s turn off the tv/ audio book.

Parentingconfusing · 03/02/2026 02:29

And I see you have the 4mo! Just get out the house to a playgroup 😅

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 03/02/2026 03:52

My dd was like this. Drove me spare. Constant stimulation all the time. Ignoring/boundaries just did not work.

Later diagnosed adhd.

Interested in this thread?

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endofthelinefinally · 03/02/2026 04:02

Parentingconfusing · 03/02/2026 02:29

And I see you have the 4mo! Just get out the house to a playgroup 😅

Surely this is a perfectly normal response to a new baby arriving? I don't think it means there is anything wrong with your 3 year old OP. It is tiring and hard work but patience and distraction is the answer.
It will get better.
As the weather improves (hopefully) get outside as much as possible.
I kept telling my 2.5 year old how lovely it was that he could run about, have a swing, have a drink of juice etc but his baby brother could only be in the pram.
We walked round the park, me pushing the pram and ds 1 with a large plastic golf club and ball from the early learning centre. Ds1 walked/ ran at least 10 times further than I did, which was excellent.

babyproblems · 03/02/2026 04:35

This would have driven me insane by now so kudos to you for that. Mine was never like this and maybe I am clutching at straws and this is a load of rubbish - but is he bored of his toys??? Mine is an only so has had a lot of solo playing, alone. I made a huge effort to keep rotating toys and clearing out so he often had new (secondhand!!) things to play with and discover; and I very often set him up activities that give me a long time of him playing happily alone. Eg:

  • play trays with stones, trucks, sand, pasta, whatever you can think of to load into small trucks basically
  • ill spend ten mins making him a play scape - a road mat, cars, and I’ll ‘hide’ magic things eg coloured stones / blocks / anything a bit interesting that I have a few off - even smarties 😂 - in between plastic trees or inside the barn / garage / dolls house or whatever is in the plays scape - then I’ll be like ‘wow look all these cars have to find the smarties!’ And he’ll start playing driving around and collecting the hidden treasures.
  • I also do this either sand a bucket - hiding shells or anything and giving him a little spoon or something (one for outside!!!)
  • Brio is excellent for learning imaginative play. I make different tracks and then son plays with them for ages.

Does your child realise he can think of the stories himself??! Ask him to tell you a story- if he can’t, you then can say things like ‘well you said you wanted the monkey story - how do you know the monkey? Where is he from? Point out he ‘saw the monkey‘ in his head an encourage him to go and have ‘another look’ in his imagination- What colour is he? What did he do in the last story? And get him to look at his own imagination.

i also did a lot of imagination stories at bedtime - story only happens with eyes shut, any peeping and I stop talking - and I take is through a scenario like ‘we are at the beach and it’s a lovely day, we can see the Sea, the clouds, etc and we go on a little imaginative walk! I add in things like whales or sharks eating ice cream 😂 I think this also helps to build that pattern of imagining and then revisiting things you have imagined- it sounds to me like he hasn’t learnt this yet and so he is super reliant on you. I’d try to do more of these types of things so he can imagine more for himself and the solo play will come!! It’s also possible that he knows you have another baby now so is deliberately hanging on to you! He needs to find some activity that is more interesting than clinging onto you.
Good luck @InvisibleDragon xox

InvisibleDragon · 03/02/2026 15:09

Thank you, some helpful ideas here!

@Parentingconfusing Setting clearer limits feels like the way to go. I think because I often am happy to tell a story or answer a question, both me and DS aren't sure where the line is. So I am going way beyond my tolerance and then getting irritated either by one more question, or by some silly behavior that I would manage better if I wasn't totally frazzled already!

@babyproblems sadly I already ask him to tell me what happens in the story - he makes a lot of it up himself, but he still wants me to tell it back to him - embellished. With a fuss if I just repeat back what he said! I will definitely try some of these prompts to get him adding more for himself though!

OP posts:
InvisibleDragon · 03/02/2026 15:24

endofthelinefinally · 03/02/2026 04:02

Surely this is a perfectly normal response to a new baby arriving? I don't think it means there is anything wrong with your 3 year old OP. It is tiring and hard work but patience and distraction is the answer.
It will get better.
As the weather improves (hopefully) get outside as much as possible.
I kept telling my 2.5 year old how lovely it was that he could run about, have a swing, have a drink of juice etc but his baby brother could only be in the pram.
We walked round the park, me pushing the pram and ds 1 with a large plastic golf club and ball from the early learning centre. Ds1 walked/ ran at least 10 times further than I did, which was excellent.

I agree a lot of this is totally normal - I'm not trying to change him, just make it a bit less mentally tiring for me to manage!

That said, taking him out for a walk (which we do a lot) is just a trigger for another whole set of questions - Did your see that nee naw? Why did it put the siren on just now? But why wasn't it on before? Can ambulances go through red lights when they don't have their flashing lights on? My friend says they can but she doesn't know. How do the street lamps turn on? (And so on and so forth

OP posts:
InvisibleDragon · 03/02/2026 15:50

Regarding solo play, this isn't a new difficulty and we have made a lot of progress.

The best success is if I set him up by playing for 10-15 minutes and then tell him I need to do something else. On days when he has nursery and that is the only time at he he has before we leave, he will usually keep playing until I come back to get him ready to leave.

If we don't have that external time pressure, he just gets whiny and follows me about. Then I set something up in the same room as me and comment on what he is doing. It's hard work but as good as it gets for now.

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 03/02/2026 16:14

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 03/02/2026 03:52

My dd was like this. Drove me spare. Constant stimulation all the time. Ignoring/boundaries just did not work.

Later diagnosed adhd.

Exactly the same for both DS1 and DS2 who were 10 years apart.

I used to think it was just normal 3yo stuff and then I had DS3 who is like on easy mode in comparison Confused and even he is referred to as "a little wildling" by some of the nursery staff! He is a dream though Grin he does absolutely need a daily walk, but it actually succeeds in tiring him out.

Anyway, um, given it's way too early to query any kind of diagnosis, what to do to actually cope... nursery is amazing so make as much use of this as you can.

Playdates are good, but you'll probably have to suss out the ideal length before he gets overstimulated and silly.

Brain games, as well. I think unlike DS3 who has an abundance of physical energy which can be exhausted, my older two both have an abundance of mental energy, and so many thoughts that they are spilling out of them at all times. So at 3 thinking about what kinds of things would work to help occupy some of this.

Marble Rush is great and a 3yo can build most of it with only a bit of help.

Simple lego sets starting around age 4 building up to a larger collection as they get older. Rebrickable website is great for rebuilding and creativity value.

Any kind of sensory play like dry rice/lentils in a tray to sift through - if you do this on a tuff tray or just a smaller tray inside a large tray on a towel, it simplifies clean up. Anything arty/with different textures too like cheap shaving foam and food colouring. If you don't have outside space, do it in the bath.

Wooden train tracks have been a huge hit with both of them as well. At 3 I would help build the track but then I'd leave them to it to play. As they got older, they started to build more elaborate tracks themselves.

If you have interested but geographically far relatives, try video calls. It relieves some of the chatting burden and it's great for their relationship so if/when they come and visit they have that solid base which is lovely.

An old phone (all other functions locked off) or cheap/kids' camera with which they can video themselves or what they are doing.

Books are good - although you have to read them, it's great to get them really into the idea of exploring books and it helps motivate them when it's time to learn to read and then if they can read to themselves, that's brilliant. We have never bit the bullet on the cost, but I think in hindsight a Tonie box or similar would have been really worth the money as well. Another thing we only discovered really late is those books you can buy in supermarkets and WHSmith, The Works etc which have little homework-type exercises in them. I probably avoided them because I felt they were for people who want to hothouse their DC but honestly DS2/3 absolutely LOVE these especially the ones which have an opportunity to get a star on each page and I probably should have embraced them sooner.

If you do screen time - just be very careful with it. Try to avoid the temptation to give them free rein, especially of things like youtube. I have found with DS2 it's SO MUCH better when I say OK, you can watch [1/2/3] episodes of X and then it's a set amount of time and it goes off. It's so tempting to hand them the TV remote or a tablet and then zone out yourself, especially if it's the only thing that actually makes them stop talking, but it's an incredibly hard habit to break and especially with a child who has this kind of 100mph brain and difficulty in self-starting, IME. I am not saying do 0 TV, because it is a blessed relief but I do wish I had been more intentional with it from the start. Or maybe we all start out like that and creep into bad habits anyway. I just know that I constantly feel myself slipping into letting it take over and then it's really hard to pull it back once they have got used to that as an expectation, but it is much smoother when we all have the expectation that screens go on for a specific activity for a set time period and then stop. On games - some games can be good and fulfil the "brain exercise" function but some can just be incredibly hard to tear yourself away from and also have features built in which makes it feel like "Oh but just one more...." and a 3yo can't fight this and even less so if they have struggles with attention control, so it's not fair to expect them to. Games like that are not age appropriate even if they are rated 3+.

I agree it's hugely helpful to put boundaries in place early, before you feel resentful. If you notice that you are getting resentful, try to note down what you noticed about it afterwards because it will help you figure out patterns which will help with where to draw the line of where the boundary should be. I found Janet Lansbury incredibly helpful with this. Also, if his emotions are very intense, try not to rescue him from them. It can be really difficult to avoid sort of "picking up" their emotions when they are intense. Something I found helpful with this is an approach called Conscious Discipline. They have a website/social media or there is a social media guy Mr. Chazz who talks about the different tips in short videos. One tip is that taking three long slow deep breaths is grounding enough to shift you from the reactive/emotional state into more of a conscious and rational state, and if you take the deep breaths face to face with your child, they will often naturally mirror you and this is more successful than asking them to breathe when they are angry. There is also an amazing book called When Your Kids Push Your Buttons which I found extremely helpful, it's about 99p on kindle. And if you like the How To Talk books, there is an app which costs about £3 (it's the one by Mythic Owl) and you can escape to the bathroom and quickly look up on your phone what to say/do which also helps a lot.

A set of sand timers from amazon can be really helpful - you can use them to show the amount of time you'll be unavailable or the amount of time you want them to try something before asking for help etc.

For no nursery days when you don't have another parent around to tag team with, I found it helps to have different lists of activities I can choose from rather than have to think up activities from scratch and I divide them up based on the amount of input I need to put in - fully involved, partially involved (e.g. set up or available to help periodically) and not involved (e.g. I can just watch or be in the same room doing something else). Then try to do at least one activity involving me more when I have the energy to do it, so I can lean on the others where I can be a bit less directly involved more for the rest of the day. Dividing the day up into sections a bit like a nursery/school day can also help a lot especially if you include transition jobs like clearing the table together after eating etc.

endofthelinefinally · 03/02/2026 16:35

InvisibleDragon · 03/02/2026 15:24

I agree a lot of this is totally normal - I'm not trying to change him, just make it a bit less mentally tiring for me to manage!

That said, taking him out for a walk (which we do a lot) is just a trigger for another whole set of questions - Did your see that nee naw? Why did it put the siren on just now? But why wasn't it on before? Can ambulances go through red lights when they don't have their flashing lights on? My friend says they can but she doesn't know. How do the street lamps turn on? (And so on and so forth

Well for me that was normal too. Those questions are easy to answer, but it is exhausting.
Some things you can just say that you don't know but you can find a book about fire engines for bed time, or whatever. Ask him what he thinks? Can you distract by counting red cars or who can be the first to see a cat?
Honestly I am not trying to underplay how challenging it is, but IME it gets better and easier.

InvisibleDragon · 04/02/2026 08:00

@BertieBotts Thank you so much! This is probably the most helpful response I have ever had on Mumsnet. 100mph brain, difficulty self starting is exactly it - I feel seen!

Will try to make a longer reply later. But just wanted to say thank you in case I don't have time!

OP posts:
stickydough · 04/02/2026 09:34

Aw, it is all so overstimulating! I now say to my older kids ‘I’m having no talking time so I can focus’ and they know they can only speak to me during that 10 min if very urgent. But that is not yet possible for you. I agree toddler groups and activities being the way to go. How is he at socialising? Maybe some of the other kids can take a bit of the strain?! Can you pay for a class that he goes in himself for a wee break? Mine went to a language playgroup for an hour once a week at that age.

And I kinda hate myself for saying this, as I know it won’t really help you as it wouldn’t have helped me when I was in it. But I can’t help but saying, while I get the utterly draining relentlessness of it, it sounds totally charming and adorable from where I sit looking back; I’d love to trip back in time and enjoy my bright and curious DD who was just like this too. As when I was in it I was also busy being driven demented and ready to kill people who said ‘just enjoy it, it goes so fast’.

ThatMintMember · 04/02/2026 09:40

My DS is the same age but rather than the why questions it's how 😂 he wants to know how everything works! Luckily I can suggest we ask his dad or find out later but he's very chatty. I'm glad he's at nursery 3 days a week but the days he's with me i usually play with him a while and then make myself busy, tell him I'm doing X and then I'll come and sit with him again. Also, we love Maddies Do You Know on BBC iPlayer, it's his favourite program and explains how things work and how they're made. A couple of episodes a day help him learn but give me some time to sit quietly haha

shakercream · 04/02/2026 09:48

No advice but am in the same boat, new baby due any day now and my son seems suddenly incapable of doing anything without me, even coming down the stairs in the morning and insists I play the whole live long day. He independently plays fine with my husband if I'm not there or with his grandparents!!! I am thinking it's a reaction to new baby x

InvisibleDragon · 11/02/2026 15:29

So I've been trying lots of the things suggested here and it's been pretty successful:

  • Noticing when I need a break from questions, stating that and sticking to it helps a lot. I will have a look at Janet Lansbury for extra ideas.
  • I'm limiting the storytelling to when DS really needs a distraction (teeth, dressing, long bus ride) rather than as a substitute for conversation. That way I'm not already frazzled and frustrated at those pressure points. And my creativity lasts longer!
  • Brain workouts are very successful. I already knew he liked eg Thomas magazines with stories / mazes / puzzles. I got a preschool literacy book and have been giving him a few pages each night after nursery - matching letters, drawing lines, odd one out etc. He loves them. I've also got the free twinkle account for a month to get more of this stuff. And will knock up a few of my own with the felt pens too. It's just a few minutes each evening but it's definitely meeting a need for him
  • Playdates are great. Or meeting somewhere out so there's less possessiveness about toys.
  • He loves Lego and his ability to build models (either freestyle or following a kit) has really improved. We spent the weekend sorting and rebuilding various models that had got mixed up (he actually helped too!) and he's been playing with them a lot. Planning to keep the model kit pieces stored mostly separately from the general stuff now so that he can do them more independently. If it's not too complicated, just need to turn the pages and say "and where does that bit go?" And he can do a lot of it himself.
  • I've booked trial sessions of a few preschool hobby classes over the coming weeks . He wouldn't do one without a parent there, but they will hopefully add a bit more structure to our home days!

Things I'm still working on:

  • Sensory play - he loves gluing stuff and making collages etc. At nursery he's always bringing home little threading activities he's done. I need to organise our collection of art materials and sensory stuff so that there are small activities to hand that I can get out for him to do.
  • Screen time is always very controlled. We have 20 minutes as a set part of the day morning and evening. I'd like to reduce it a bit tbh because on nursery days when I'm not on mat leave this cuts into his at home play time too much. And there's always a bit of fuss about choosing what to watch. But it's working ok for now and the stuff he watches is all cbeebies and a couple of Amazon shows so nothing too toxic. No tablet games, all supervised.

To @BertieBotts and @ArseInTheCoOpWindow comments about possible ND, I'm really not sure about this. I do think he has certain traits around sensory needs, repetitive behaviours, need for routine, social/separation anxiety that could suggest that. But he is also very sociable, popular with peers at nursery and generally gets on well with other children and adults. So I think it's a case of wait and see whether difficulties increase or resolve, and working out what works to support him for now!

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 11/02/2026 18:02

Oh yes, absolutely at 3 it's too early to call. Really glad that you've found some things which help. We have all our Lego instructions kept in an A4 ring binder in poly pockets divided into halves and quarters, as they fit the instructions perfectly. I bought the pockets on ebay. It prevents them getting lost or damaged. If you don't have too many sets, you could possibly put each set into a sandwich bag or similar and label them with the set number, which is on the book so it's easy to find the corresponding one, or print out a picture of the finished model and tape it on.

dizzydizzydizzy · 11/02/2026 18:23

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 03/02/2026 03:52

My dd was like this. Drove me spare. Constant stimulation all the time. Ignoring/boundaries just did not work.

Later diagnosed adhd.

I was going to say exactly the same!

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