Six year old wants constant playmate

[Anonymous]

I feel like I play with my daughter All. The. Time. Most of my waking hours on the weekend. I don’t really enjoy it but she gets very sad when she doesn’t have someone to play with. I don’t think I ever expected my parents to play with me like this but I don’t know how to break the pattern, especially with the pandemic. She is an only child. I’m going crazy.

[Anonymous]

Stop trying to make your child happy every minute.
Allow her the opportunity to experience sadness,
so she gets a chance to grow up learning how
to manage all emotions in a healthy way.
I don’t believe adults need to morph into
little playmates.

Find your child at least. one. playmate.
And allow her to learn to entertain herself.

[Anonymous]

Sorry OP. I have 3 kids and I only play with them when I want and only games I also enjoy. They play with each other constantly and it’s awesome!
That said, my house is a huge mess, everyone speaks so loud, screams fights etc. this pandemic is hard... we spend too much time at home with each other... I am sorry your DD (and you) is having a hard time... it’s not how things are supposed to be...

[Anonymous]

I have an only who learned to play alone and enjoy herself. You need to set aside set times of solitary play for her sake. So much imagination and initiative comes in those times.

That said, my youngest brother (five kids) could never play alone and had to have someone over constantly when we older kids were in school. He was diagnosed with ADD when he started school. I think inability to play alone is a sign. So there’s that possibility too.

[Anonymous]

Outschool has some cool classes where they kids get to meet up and socialize (these aren't the educational classes). They last about 45 min- hour and sometimes have a theme (e.g. Roblux, Harry Potter, Frozen, etc) so the kids have something in common. Just a thought that it could give you some free time back and keep her occupied every now and then.

I know this wont help every day, but also Valentine's Day is coming up. Get her some crafting materials so she can make her own to send to relatives or friends. Crafts that my kids can do without me are a lifesaver.

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry OP. It’s hard. We have twins, so they play together, but since being out of school I’ve found they need so much more attention. They miss all their friends and teachers. Does your daughter have any friends she can play with now? We have a few neighbor friends and that really helps.

[Anonymous]

Can you find another singleton and form a pod?

[Anonymous]

I was an only child and I had multiple ways to entertain myself. Find out what your child likes to do - dolls? Playmobil? Legos? Horses? I could play with my dolls and horses for hours, making up stories, reading books about them and then adding those facts to my stories, etc. I had tons of friends and my parents were super involved in my life, but I also had no problem coming up with ways to play alone. I have six-year-old twins now, but they are also able to play alone when they don't want to be together. One of them likes to go to the playroom and play with their toy horses and talk to them. The other prefers to read.

In this day and age it's easy to want stimulation ALL THE TIME because that's what's offered - on-demand TV shows whenever you want, iPads with portable entertainment, a zillion apps and games and things that are always available, books you can buy instantly and read without getting up from your couch, etc. Let your daughter be sad. Let her be bored. She needs to figure out how to entertain herself. If she doesn't learn now, she'll be one of those people who is always glued to their phone because they can't NOT be entertained for two seconds.