Whenever we're alone, every 10 seconds is a constant repeat of "Mommy, play with me." And if he doesn't get what he wants from Mommy, he goes around the room with Daddy and KTDID. Today, he played with MacTroll through breakfast, and then while we were getting ready to go to Peoria to visit MacTroll's parents, he played the Sesame Street computer game. MacTroll went to the potty, X-man got the trackball turned the wrong way and starts screaming at him for help. "Get off the potty and help me!"
Whine, demand, whine, demand, whine, demand. You can try to reason with the monster, but all he does is continue to whine. You can ignore the monster and it still goes on. And as I'm rushing around doing dishes and laundry tonight to try to keep the boat afloat, he's carrying on the whole time. Never mind the hours we played with Little People and balloons at his grandparents' house. Never mind the "go fish" game we played in the car. Never mind the bike shop fix it game that his dad did with him in the driveway, or the walk his mom offered to take him on with the dogs.
He just keeps wanting more, all the time. And every time he whines, I have pangs of guilt. But at the same time, I need to take a shower. I need to do the laundry. I need to take out the recycling. I need to scoop the cat boxes. And although I'm a pretty good multi-tasker -- I can't do those things while I'm playing Superman and the Firefighters or while I'm playing playdough or while my child is being air traffic control.
I remember when he was younger how we'd comment about how well he played by himself. Now, he seems completely unable to sit alone 10 feet away from us without demanding attention -- even when we're on the pot. Even at his friends' house, he whines at them to come play his game or with the toy he wants to play with -- over and over and over again. And let's face it, I love my child, but he's not the best socialized player these days. You have a conversation with his firefighter because he wants you to talk with his -- and you get told you're asking the wrong questions. You build with blocks and you get told you're using the wrong colors... You get a baby dressed, and he tells you it's suddenly bathtime.
It's annoying, the whining, and the demanding and the dictating. And it's a terrible habit he picked up on bed rest.
2 comments:
We have two methods for dealing with the "play with me"s. The first is I agree to play whatever game they want for a set period of time. I set the timer on my watch and when it goes off, I'm done. They can whine until their head falls off and it won't matter. The end of the time is the end of the time. At first, they would whine non-stop forever but slowly they got better and now they deal with it pretty well.
The other method is to tell them that I have XYZ to do and they are welcome to "help" me do whatever and that I can't do anything else until I get done with my work. If they would rather not help, they are welcome to watch a show or entertain themselves but I won't play until I'm done. Again, the whining went on for a long time but eventually, as long as I kept saying it and meaning it, they got over it.
We hear ya, Loosey! Seriously! You should see me scramble when I get 10 minutes to myself. I'm like a kid in the candy store.
And good suggestions, Freak! Any suggestions would help.
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