Clingy 3 year old
Show your support
- Maybe ease away? Give them something they absolutely love that they can do alone (blocks/legos, water painting on the fence outside, coloring, etc) and back away. 5 ft. Then 10. Just sit. Watch from a distance. They see you there but you aren’t really engaged. Maybe you need to go grab something. Tell them I’ll be back. Take a minute then come back. Next time take two. Then five. Eventually they may be more comfortable. I know mommy is around. I know she is within yelling distance. My boy will yell from the other room and I’ll yell back but I’m not moving. Sometimes he wants me to come. Well no. Mommy isn’t getting up right now. There will be tantrums. That’s a given. He still likes to be up under me sometimes but often times he is fine being in the other room doing what he does. I hope that helps. 😬
1 reply
Is there a local indoor play area you can take them too? Give them a chance to explore and connect with other kids while you sit a safe distance away giving you both space to breath? I’m in Wisconsin and have several within an hour drive from me in several directions. I try to take my 1 & 2 year olds to each of them (we have 2 favorites) at least once a month. It gets us out of the house, new toys, people, etc. and especially for my 2 year old I let her venture a little further with keeping a pretty tight on her!
Oh I'd love this, unfortunately we live in an area where a LOT of people are unvaxxed, refuse to mask and I can FORGET about social distancing! So COVID is a very real concern. We have an indoor play place within walking distance, I cannot WAIT for COVID to calm down or a young kids' vaccine so we can check it out!
Totally! Thank you. I'm getting better with "I'll talk to you but I need to keep doing X right now" so I think these will be good strategies.