UrbanBaby - I cannot be in the same room playing wit...

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I cannot be in the same room playing with my 1 yo ds and 3.5 yo ds bcse the 1 yo only want to play with what the other one has and it's very frustrating for him. But then I'm in the other room with the baby and the 3.5 yo is alone. Any suggestions? It's been awful.
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05.22.09, 05:10 PM [ Flag ]
- What is it about what the 3.5 yr old is playing with that the 1 yr old can't be part of? I know there are safety issues (I have kids with the same age spread) but most of the toys we had at that time a 1 yr old could at least play with part of . . . If it's more about letting the older child have time with their own toys, in my experience, 1 year is not too young to start to explain that some things are for him and some things are for his brother. Just keep reiterating this, give the 1 yr old something age-appropriate and lots of 1-on-1 attention in that moment (reading a book, engaging, etc.). The good news is that the 1 year old will start to understand this differentiation and the 3.5 year old will soon turn into a 4 yr old who can 1.) share more easily 2.) play on his own in the other room without you having to worry. This may sound silly but I always try to give my kids the chance to understand concepts I might not expect them to understand yet (i.e. "you can't play with that, that's for your brother, this is for you - let's play with it together!"). Hang in there - I'm two years ahead of you and this part (at least) gets easier. GL!
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  05.25.09, 07:46 PM [ Flag | link to this post ]
- I have a 3 year old, twin one year olds and although it's really hard, I can't say that I really understand what you're talking about. You know that people have had two children two years apart through the ages, right? It's always hard. Why can't 3.5yo be in a room alone?
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  05.25.09, 08:05 PM [ Flag | link to this post ]
  - or why can't they play together? You are with them so it is perfectly fine for the 1yo to play with the older kid's toys.
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    05.26.09, 05:16 AM [ Flag | link to this post ]
    - still having this issue at 3 and 6..better to let them sort it out somehow
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      05.26.09, 05:24 AM [ Flag | link to this post ]
- OP: The problem is that the 3.5 plays with a lot of building things (tiles, legos, etc) and the younger one just wants to wreck everything, which I think is understandably frustrating. It doesn't matter if I also give the younger one some tiles or legos too. He just wants to crash the thing that the older one is working on.
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  05.27.09, 06:25 PM [ Flag | link to this post ]