Summertime Attention Seeking

Hi D.,

No matter how much attention you provide your 4 year old, they always need that reassurance that you're there. It is part of their development. When they feel that you're there to catch them, they wander off on adventures which they may fall from.

When I needed to get things done, I would tell my charges, (I was a Nanny), what I needed to do, and what they needed to do. This often worked. If I gave them tasks, they were focused on those tasks rather than what I was doing.

Good Luck.

R. Magby

He is used to other children to play with, since there are none you are his new playmate.. Try to go to the park or pool so he can play with other children. If you have neighbors with children his age, this is a good time for play dates..

Remember his attention span is only 4 minutes, so when he plays by himself, he will need to be redirected quite often.. He is a great age to help you.. Include him in laundry, gardening.. Go for walks, go to festivals, Roller skating, trike riding, movies.. Keep him as active as possible, but also expect him to want to play with someone..

I think it's just his age, seriously. I know that's the answer for everything, but he's reached the age where validation from others is a big deal, and you are the 'others' while you're at home this summer! You could try to funnel all of the requests to 'look at this' into big chunks, i.e., if he likes to draw, you could staple a few small pages together into a 'book' and get him to draw or color all the things he's done (how high he's jumped, how far he threw the ball, how long he held his breath, etc.) on each page. Then you can ooh and aah over every achievement at one time, as well as oohing and aahing over the book itself. If art is not his thing, you could still use the 'funneling' technique with something he enjoys.