It's important to play with your children, but also important that they are able to play on their own. Here are some tips to help you help your child to play independently.
- Make it gradual and don't expect long blocks of independent play in the beginning. Shoot for five minutes at a time and build up from there
- Prepare your child for what's coming next. Say, "I can play with you
for five more minutes and then I have to fold laundry, but after that
we can read a book". If it doesn't come by surprise that playtime with
you is nearing an end, your child will be more likely to accept it. - Schedule times in the day that you will play with your child. Perhaps right after breakfast and then again before snacktime. If your child knows another playtime is coming soon, he will be more likely to happily play alone until that time comes.
- Model independent play. No this doesn't mean that you ignore your child because you want her to ignore you, but when you do play with your child be sure to sometimes play alongside her as opposed to with her. You build a tower with your legos and let him build one with his. This will make sure that your child is not dependent on you to play. If all of your playtime is made up of things that require your presence, he will have a hard time finding things to do when you aren't available.
Photo by annisat
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Great great tips! I've definitely seen the "start with 5 minutes" work very well. But I love the idea of modeling independent play, too. We're definitely going to be doing that!