Playing alone in their room…

[Anonymous]

How old were your children when you began to have them play alone in their room? As some of you know, I’m having real problems with Sarah’s clinginess to me. She thinks I have to take part in every single activity she does throughout the day. I miss when she used to sit down and entertain herself!

Over Christmas she closed the door to her bedroom (I was in my room). She began knocking for me to come open her door (a fun game for her) and DH told me to leave her and see what would happen. After a few seconds she stopped knocking and got quiet. I bent down on the floor and was trying to peek at her under the crack (can you just picture it?!?! ) She had gone off and was just playing with toys in her room! It was GREAT!

Do you do this with your kiddos? Is she too young? Her room is baby-proofed and all her toys are accessible. I even have her video monitor in a position where it shows her entire room so I COULD even watch what she was doing. What do you think?

amy00132008-01-11 21:17:09

[Anonymous]

I know what you mean about the clinginess. I took my oldest to town which is an hour away and I got a call on my cell. Colton was throwing a fit and would not go to sleep for his dad. He was almost two when that happened and I knew that there would be more times that I would need to leave him. We started doing little things like even with me being home his daddy would put him to bed. Around 27 months he started to get more independent and he would play in his room. I think that if her room is baby-proofed then its fine.

[hellbennt]

make sure the dresser & heavy furniture is bracketed/attached to the wall…

anyway, I dont remember when Jonah would play by himself in his room…he was probably close to 2?

[Anonymous]

Isaac was about 18 months old and I just check on him alot. We still use a monitor too so I don’t worry too much about him having some alone time.

[Anonymous]

We put the dresser in the closet and then put those things on the bifold doors, so that Dylan (and now Carter) can’t open them. I have all the outlets covered and nothing plugged into them in their rooms. I only have a few toys in their bedrooms, but some of thefavorites so it is a treat to go play in their rooms. THey don’t spend much time alone up there on the second floor, but I can take a shower or soemthign if I need to and it will keep them entertained long enough. We also have a gate at the top of the stairs that neither one of them can open at this point so I know they will be on the 2nd floor.

I would say go for it, but just make sure you are super safe in her room and if she can get out that either you will know or she will be contained somewhere safe.

I rememeber Dylan being much more clingy than Carter, but I wasn’t the sole caretaker for the most part of Carter like I was for Dylan.

Hang in there. In a couple of years she will want nothing to do with you!

[Anonymous]

We don’t have her dressers secured to the wall, but they could easily be put into her closet. I hadn’t thought about the safety latches for bifold doors but it would be a great idea b/c her favorite thing to do in her room is open and close them! We also have a gate upstairs so often times when I’m putting laundry away, taking a shower etc…I know she is safely contained up there. I have tried taking several toys up to her room but they ALWAYS end up other places…either carried into my room or taken downstairs. It’s a constant shuffle of toys it feels like!

Thanks for the great suggestions…I think I’m getting closer to actually letting her play up there (with her door closed) to see what happens for longer than 5 minutes.

I am trying to be very patient with her clingy stage and realize how lucky I am to have her in my life…some days it’s just harder than others.

[Anonymous]

Amy, I know what you mean about the toys traveling. Ariella’s toys end up in weirdest places including the bathroom and the kitchen. IT’s great that Sarah’s starting to entertain herself. Ariella’s still at the stage where she needs to be entertained. Very rarely will she sit down and play by herself and that happens ONLY when we’re in the room with her.

[Anonymous]

Kaelyn and Alex both play in her room without supervision. I’m usually right in the next room folding laundry, getting dressed, etc. They do pretty well with it, we just try to stay close because they can go from playing nicely to trying to beat each other up in a matter of seconds.

[Anonymous]

LOL, Kim! We also have the same issue. Carter is usually the one beating Dylan over the head with the tonka truck!

[Anonymous]

My kids play alone too. But our house is super small, so it’s really only a few feet away from where I am, usually. However, Claire has started “babysitting” Ben for me while I take a shower in the morning. I shut them both in either her or his room, and they play together for about 5-10 minutes. So far, so good!! She is super proud of this accomplishment, and Ben loves playing with her and in her room with all of her stuff. She’s old enough to come running if something happens.

[Anonymous]

Dagney is super clingy too. Even between my dh & me she’ll reach for me a lot of the time, and I know it makes my dh feel a little sad. She’s just so sweet and fun, that we both just want to play with her all the time. A lot of the time she will play great with him too, but when she’s tired or hasn’t seen us for the day, she usually just wants me. When I’m home for the day, I pretty much have to be in the same room with her, or she’ll come looking for me very quickly. Usually Mickey Mouse Clubhouse can buy me a little time, but not much. It is sweet, and I know in a few years she’ll want nothing to do with me, but it’s hard to get anything done–even use the bathroom or try to throw dinner together!!

Speaking of toys in wierd places, I’ve found Fisher Price Little People in the oddest places!! I try to move toys around (between her bedroom on the 2nd floor, our living room on the 1st floor, and our family room in the basement) to keep things exciting for her. Dagney will play for a minute in her room while I fold laundry, but then quickly comes to find me. I left her in her room yesterday and shut all the other doors and locked the gate while I ran downstairs to grab something for her bathtime, and it was not a pretty scene. She was at the gate sobbing before I could get 1/2 way down the stairs, then I had to calm her down before she could actually take her bath!!

dfb052008-01-14 20:56:11

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