Do you let your children play alone very often? We feel guilty leaving Joe by himself since we have so little time with him as it is. He has no problem going down to the basement and playing by himself for a while, but we just feel bad if we don't go with him. Do other people feel the same way?

Dennis

How old is he?

Caiti plays by herself all the time. She is eight. The fact of the matter is that I cannot entertain her 24-7. I had to get her to learn to play by herself so I could get some work done. I was a single mom for the first 6 years of her life and for four of those, I was in college full time. Did I feel guilty that she played by herself? yeah, sometimes. But, she has turned out just fine so far.:D

He's 2 plus a few months. When he's older I don't think we'll mind as much.

Dennis

Jack likes to play with us when we are all together almost ALL the time. So when he does go off by himself and play, we leave him alone. When he wants us he makes it known, beleive me!

Jacob plays alone all the time, but it's not like our house is so big I can't take 2 steps and still see him :) He is very good at entertaining himself, and sometimes I think he'd rather play by himself as opposed to us "messing up his stuff"... :rotflmao:

We've been trying to get Matthew to learn how to play more on his own -- with little luck! He's younger (16 months), so we're still in the room with him, but we'd like him to learn how to entertain himself a little without constant interaction. I'd say, consider yourself lucky!

tony plays by himself all the time, during the week i only play with him when he asks me too. he is surrounded by kids all day at daycare so after work i let him 'wind down' and have some quiet time. if he wants me, i play with him (although he never lets me touch anything. i just have to sit with him and not touch :lol: )

I try to do a balance. His dad stays at home with him all week, so they play a lot, but I try to encourage him to give Matthew some of his own time. I play with him a lot on the weekends because I work all week. I still give him some time to play by himself then though. I have to get stuff done around the house and that's the time he plays by himself.

Julian is almost 19 months, and pretty good about playing on his own. I do feel bad sometimes that I'm not spending every minute of my limited time with him paying all of my attention to him, and I feel guilty for taking time to do things around the house while he entertains himself. But I know I have to do those things, and I do play with Julian a good bit, so it's not like he's always playing by himself. Still, the guilt is hard to deal with at times.

We're the same way... Ellen has so much stimulus at daycare that we give her space when we get home. We don't turn on the tv and make sure one of us is sitting on the floor or is near her at all times, so she knows we are "there," but we let her do her own thing. We are available for her to play with if she wants us, but more often than not, she really likes her time to play by herself, to unwind after being around 6 other kids and 2 teachers all day long. Usually by 7:00, which is after she eats dinner, she is ready to play with us, though.

tony plays by himself all the time, during the week i only play with him when he asks me too. he is surrounded by kids all day at daycare so after work i let him 'wind down' and have some quiet time. if he wants me, i play with him (although he never lets me touch anything. i just have to sit with him and not touch :lol: )

Wow - this thread makes me feel better. DH (home with the boys during the day) and I were just discussing this. I often feel sooo bad that I don't get down and really play with them when I'm home...but instead sit and watch them play b/c I am really stinkin' tired. THAT SAID...DH being home with them weekdays and then me on the weekends...we often try to get down on the floor and really play with them and they don't want us! Both boys (Aidan especially) really want to play alone or together without us. When they ask us to play, we oblige. (Okay, so mostly this means shooting pucks or playing goalie...or singing "Oh Say" for Aidan.)

I think it's great, but it makes me feel a little bad...so I'm glad to see I'm not alone!

Alyssa and I are together all the time (I am in College so I am gone about 6 hrs a week from her) We play together sometimes but most times she wants to play on her own. Our living room is huge and her playroom is the back 1/4 of the room..alone with the computer. So she and I are together. Especially if I am studying I love having her right there showing me her creations yet I can get my studying or projects done as well. When 4:00 comes around her 8 1/2 year old brother comes through the door and I am out the window :lol: She loves playing with him. Usually about 7:30 during the week we all sit together and read. It is our time. I let Alyssa lead. If she wants to play by herself then she does..if she wants us to play we do. She tackles DH at night when he gets home from work and the three of them play while I make dinner.

Jayne

I think 2 is probably a little young to be completely alone often. I'm usually always in the room where I can see Emily if she is every playing alone or most of the time she is actually playing with her big brother. a lot of the time my almost 2 year old daughter won't let me out of her sight and will come looking for me if she is alone too long anyway. Plus I don't trust her yet. My 8 year old son, however, has played alone very well most of his life since he was an only child for 6 years before his sister was born. :) they are two totally different types of people though. he can entertain himself very easily and always has been that way, whereas my daughter can not stand to be alone for more than a few minutes without attention.

I think 2 is probably a little young to be completely alone often. I'm usually always in the room where I can see Emily if she is every playing alone or most of the time she is actually playing with her big brother.
Faye, I agree with you. When I say Julian is playing alone, he's almost always in my line of sight. By "alone" I mean that I'm not right there sitting in the floor with him or directly interacting with him.