Kids need alone time, too.

As parents, sometimes we feel the pressure to always interact with our children. My husband used to do this whenever he was home. “What are we going to do? What are we playing? Where are we going?”. Then he wonders why the kids never play on their own without him. The kids started to associate Dad being around to being entertained. And OF COURSE we should play with our kids. Watch our kids do all of their tricks. Read to our kids. But I’m here to tell you that kids NEED time to be alone. That’s how they will learn to be independent thinkers. Learn to entertain themselves and each other. Without time to practice social skills with other kids (even if it’s their siblings), they will be behind the 8 ball.

You might have a kiddo that knows they need time to be alone. This is our oldest girl. Throughout this pandemic time at home, she goes up to her room by herself to read, to sew, to watch her fish. She will tell you that being alone helps her calm down. Then there is our boy. He’s the “I’m boooooooored” kind of kid. “Let’s play soccer. Let’s play army guys. Can we go to the pool and you can watch me jump in?”. With this kind of child, we have found that when we tell him to go find something to do for just 10 minute alone, he often becomes so involved in what he chooses that he’s lost in play for way longer than the 10 minutes. Then there is our middle girl. She’s a mix of the two. She LOVES to play with her friends. She wants us to watch all of her “cool new tricks”, but when we tell her it’s time for her to play alone we get an “okay, Mama”.

The best part of teaching kids the wonder of independent play is that you, the parent, get some time to yourself. Win! Win!