Independent playing
Hello ladies. My one year old baby us clingy most of the time and won't play on her own. I do take her out on frequent walks/ soft play areas but she won't play on her own when I'm with her in the house. How do you all entertain your babies ? How should one encourage independent playing? ( since she starts crying for attention when I leave her in her playpan)
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I did a quiet play mat time thing. Started at 1.5years old. Basically baby is set on the mat with a toy that needs imaginative thinking. Sensory toy or books or a bunch of different things and I explained to him that this is his quiet time to unwind and play some toys then leave him to do so. Start at 10-15 minutes a day slowly increasing it. There’s probably lots of resources online that will explain this better. Also we never used play pens or closed the door on him. If he needed to he could always come out and find me. Now he is 4 years old and will play by himself for anywhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours at a time even sometimes saying he wants to play alone for certain toys like a doll house or car garage.
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Don’t entertain your babies… let them use their imagination. Let them explore. Let them be bored. The biggest mistake I see a lot of parents making is “how do I keep my baby/kid entertained?” You don’t. Yes of course spend time with your child. But it is not a parents job to entertain their child all day everyday. Crying is okay. Whining is okay. Figuring out how things work on their own is okay. The real world doesn’t entertain 24/7. Let them use their brains. It’s so good for them. It’s normal for babies to want mama all the time but stop thinking you have to pick up baby every time they make a noise. Every time they’re un happy. Let that baby figure out how to entertain themselves!