When does playing get better?
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My son’s 3 in a few days and he’s very much the same. They just don’t have the attention span at this age. He will roll play like doctors or something for 5 mins but then he’s on to the next thing. I really try to encourage what he likes doing, I love him climbing and things when we’re outdoors, i don’t find any of that boring. If you really want to roll play then try do it around what he likes… so if its car falling of the couch, could it be a mountain, how far can they fall, which one will go the furthest. Maybe they get stuck and need bigger cars to help them out. That’s the kind of stuff we do. So stuff is just boring and it can’t be changed, but I try to remember that’s he’s not me, he’s not going to enjoy the same things I did. There may be some overlap, but it’s about what he wants to do for the most part
My kid is 3.5 and I feel like the leap from 3 to 3.5 has been huge. Her engagement in the world has become a lot more purposeful in the last several months, like generally her actions both at home and out and about have a goal if that makes sense rather than the sort of aimless chaos vibe of younger kids🙃she is obsessed with role play, participating in tasks, all the stuff you're talking about. That isn't the give the false impression that she doesn't leave a trail of chaos and still is impulsive enough that sometimes playing means emptying entire bins across the floor, sticking toys under the deck etc. But overall the interest in focused activity yes and it is so fun!!
Around 4.5-5 they turn into so much fun to be around. I’ve been a nanny for 10 years. My favorite ages are 6-11.5, all the magic happens then. I completely understand what you’re saying though.i have an almost 3 year old and it’s extremely boring. We get maybe a minute of 2 of the “magic” or pretend play. Then back to destruction and mess 😂
@Katherine I feel awful saying boring but it’s the truth 😂 I found the baby stage so repetitive and boring too… now he’s just the same but he’s physically harder work too! Sooo looking forward to those golden years! I’ve saved so many TikTok videos where people have talked about magical things their parents did for them so I’ve got loads of ideas 🥰
Ooo Incognito, are you able to share some of those TT please if you don't mind? 🫣
@Sudanny✨ just tried to find it and a load of my saved videos are greyed out saying no longer available. It was essentially a girl talking about magical things she remembered from her childhood then tons of people in the comments had shared theirs or what they do with their kids. One was putting little party hats on their teddies the night before their birthdays. Making leaf crowns. Putting a dot of food colouring on a straw, into lemonade so it seemed like you’d magically changed the colour. Collecting shells on beach holidays then making a collage with them and framing it. There were loads more but I can’t remember them now 😭 she must have deleted the video after getting inundated with comments 😂
My oldest is 8…for him it was around 3.5/4. But it definitely is different for different kids…they mature at different speeds. My daughter just turned 2 in Aug and can focus for short periods of time on a simple craft or play “house” with her babies. Short periods of time still but she’s a bit more developed I guess you’d say then her brother was at the same age.