This is a great article that I just want to save for myself (as well as have every other parent read it!) about independent play - starting from newborns up to young children. I'm linking this with the background that Norah greatly struggles with independent play. It is a principle I learned in Babywise and I started implementing it with her as a baby. Unfortunately, I was inconsistent with it, especially due to our moving overseas and back, and staying with family in between. Sometimes it wasn't feasible for me to set aside a time or find a place where she could play by herself each day. Plus, since she wasn't crazy about it anyway, I didn't pursue it too hard when it was inconvenient. She did however always have alone time at the beginning or end of her naps when she would (does) read or play with little toys in her bed. But now as a 2 year old, when I tell her to go in her room and play with toys for a little bit, she gets very upset. Today, she was quite overtired from a few late nights we had (that's another topic - oh please don't let your child get overtired! Not pretty!!) and that combined with me telling her it was time to go play in her room led to a huge tantrum. She's not a tantrum thrower, and this was an all out scene. Needless to say, after recovering from that that I fed her and put her straight to sleep.
Back to independent play. With our next child, I intend to implement it right away so the baby is used to this. I am working hard on restoring it with Norah as I know it is healthy for her and will be helpful for me having a new baby.
Please check out this link! Independent Playtime Overview - from Chronicles of a Babywise Mom.
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