Do you ever think you 1+ year old is bored?

DD and I spend 2 days a week at home. I'm "working" so we can't go out and do stuff. Sometimes she's just following me around or walking from room to room. She's disinterested in her toys. I think she's bored.

What are some things I can do to entertain her????

Re: Do you ever think you 1+ year old is bored?

Yes. Thats my short answer. I think boredom in toddlers is part of what causes bad behavior.

Re: Do you ever think you 1+ year old is bored?

Re: Do you ever think you 1+ year old is bored?

Yes, I def. think DS gets bored.. We're having the same issues here. I have toys all over my place but all Nikolas seems to do is run around, from room to room (and yes follow me around too...which gets old fast )

He'll play with his stuff but rather run around. I try to sit down with him and play with him or read to him, etc, but my kid is Mr. Independent and likes to do his own thing, his own way when it comes to his toys He likes certain shows on Noggin but I try to limit TV, and even then he isn't really the type to sit and watch a show unless he's reallly tired..

So I don't really know what the answer is here , since for us the only thing that breaks the boredom a bit is that I try to get him out every day, even if for a short trip to run errands(I realize that I'm a SAHM so it's a little different, since you have to do your work from home..)

Re: Do you ever think you 1+ year old is bored?

sometimes....
she likes to watch me do things...
so she follows me and I just explain things to her..and she looks at me with wide pie eyes taking it all in....
then we go out to lunch sometimes and she likes restaurants- so that's something for her to do.

Re: Do you ever think you 1+ year old is bored?

I am not sure if DS is bored....maybe restless. I noticed he has 100 toys but rather play with the cordless phone! When I am home with him I rather take him some place because in the house he will follow me around, whine, throw temper tantrums.....the last week has been very bad

I am hoping it is just a stage. I want my fun happy content little boy back. Not this little monster he has become in the past week.

Re: Do you ever think you 1+ year old is bored?

YES! And I have no idea what to do for her. I work away from home 3 days a week so I feel so bad that she is stuck in the house with the babysitter on those days. Esp. now that it's almost winter and they can't go take walks. I am dreading the next few months. The days I work from home I take her to classes but when I'm not home, all she does is walk from room to room. No interest in toys at all. She'll watch certain shows on Noggin but I don't like her sitting in front of the tv.

Re: Do you ever think you 1+ year old is bored?

DS was like this. Then I realized that he doesn't get bored at my mom's house, which was really bizarre to me because she has way less toys than we have at home. Which got me to thinking...

He never really sits down and plays with is toys. He goes from one to the next, to the next, then he's done and he wants to just follow me around or stand my me. Which starts to get annoying ( dare I say that? ).

So what I did was put ALL of his toys away and left out 2 things. And it worked like a charm!!! He sits and plays for extended periods of time.

I think what was happening was he got overwhelmed by all of the toys being out at once. He didn't know what to play with, and if he found something interesting, he would sit to play then see something else, then go to play with that. Which then led him to be overstimulated.

Try limiting the toys she can play with and see what happens.

Re: Do you ever think you 1+ year old is bored?

OH, another thing I noticed is is if he starts getting into things, then I would start loosing my patience and getting short or yellilng at him. That wasn't working for either of us. Now, if I see he's getting into things and trying to "find" things to do, I do something REALLY fun that I normally don't do. That usually gets his energy out and after 10 minutes he's back to being good.

Some things I do is:

Run through the rooms while holding him so that he's "flying"
Turn him upside down and "shake" (Like salt and pepper shakers) and I "shake the fresh out"
Put him in a big blanket and swing him
Chase him and let him chase me

I know they are "rough" things but he really likes them and as I said it gives him a chance to expell his energy.