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[quote=Anonymous]I actually played a fair amount with my children when they were younger because my parents never played with me. I used it as bonding time but don't think every person needs to play with their children to be good parents. 
To introduce solo play, I started really slowly.... I read that playing alone is a skill that children need to learn and that they are not necessarily born with the ability to do so. 
So I would get set up a specific activity for her and say you work on this for 5 minutes and then I will come over. It was typically an activity that would keep her busy for much longer if I was involved and something she enjoyed and was able to do independently. We upped the time slowly. And then started introducing things she wanted to do. 
We also introduced room time instead of nap time to where a timer was set and she was to spend some time in her room either playing quietly, reading or napping until the timer went off. 
It's hard and I felt mom guilt backing away from playing as much as I had when she was a toddler, but it has been a really good learning experience for both of us. We do have a standing weekly date to do a craft on Wednesday afternoons so sometimes she looks on the internet for craft items and things that we can do on that day. 
I still do stuff with her and play occasionally but it is not nearly as often as I used to. Good luck. I know it's hard[/quote]

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