[blparent] Encouraging Preschoolers to Entertain Themselves

[Jo Elizabeth Pinto]

Hi.  I really enjoy the time I get to spend with Sarah, and I feel lucky that I've found a job I can do from home so I can set my own hours and be a mom when I need to be.  I gained some time for working now because Sarah goes to preschool two mornings a week, four hours each time.  But she's also stopped taking naps lately, so I've lost my "me break" in the afternoons.  Sarah can be quite demanding as an only child, wanting me to play with her.  She's getting a great imagination, and I learn a lot about her through our interactions.  But I'm kind of concerned that she doesn't seem willing, or always even able, to entertain herself without me.  Have any of you found good ways to encourage preschoolers to play by themselves for short periods?

Jo Elizabeth

"How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong.  Because someday in life you will have been all of these."--George Washington Carver, 1864-1943, American scientist