How much time does your 3-5 year old spend alone?

[Holiztic]

By "alone" I mean something like this (you adjust the meaning a little if you want):

Only person of any age in the room

No visual "entertainment" like TV, video game, etc.

It doesn't have to be in huge chunks, but I think if it's only 2 minutes at a time several times a day, maybe I wouldn't count that as an hour, KWIM?

Oh, and awake!

Also, love to know (in a post) how LONG at a time they tend to last alone in a room.

[Alyantavid]

Not very long. He'll play by himself frequently, but he's usually in the same room I am. Between him and puppy, I've got permanent shadows where ever I go.

ETA: he's 4 btw.

[emnic77]

5 minutes tops. He's 5. He plays toys by himself for a good solid hour often, but someone has to be in the room with him. He needs an audience.

[akwifeandmomma]

My 4 y/o is almost never alone. But he and his big brother (7) spend a ton of time, alone, together, kwim?

[Holiztic]

I figured siblings would be a major factor in this!

[mizzoh]

ds ( 4) is rarely alone. he may go into another room by himself for 5 min or so but 98% of the time he is in the same room as me or dh

[wookie]

My 4.5yo, if he`s playing with his animal figurines (that are his most imp. companions) and gets really engrossed in his pretend game can play alone in a room for abour half hr. ig i am in the room, an hour sometimes!

[greenemami]

My 3 will frequently play by herself-she loves to play dolls especially. I voted 1-1.5 hours, but this is split up into anywhere between 10 min and 30 min. chunks throughout the day. I should add that our house is really tiny, so even if she is technically alone in a room, she is still only a few feet away, lol.

[Grace and Granola]

At first I was thinking not very much. I have two boys 3 and 4, so there is not much time during the day where they are not together. BUT, they both have quiet time/nap where they have to stay in their room and either nap or play quietly. So, that could be an hour and a half if they choose not to sleep. Plus it's pretty much the same at bedtime. If they're not tired, they can read/play quietly....lately, that has been about an hour and a half too!

But I voted for one hour, because that's a regular occurrence in our house.

[velochic]

We have an only. She has always been fine with playing alone and it may *be* related to being an only. There are times that she wants to be with us, but also is OK with alone time. She's now 8 and sometimes when she can't go outside, she likes to just be in her room reading... and she'll do that from 9 to 5, taking a break only to eat. Sometimes *I'll* be the one that gets lonely and ask her to come out and "play". That usually means play some cards or help with dinner or bake some bread together or something else. ETA: I voted 2+ hrs. and that time has just gotten longer as she's gotten older.

[Mama2Bug]

My 5 year old DD will play with herself for very long periods of time- up to two hours, I'd say. There are a lot of factors that contribute to that, I'm sure. For one thing, she's an only child and home schooled, so she isn't used to constant playmates. I am a SAHM but I have an etsy store that takes up quite a bit of my free time. I will play with her some each day but she knows not to expect my constant attention. It's just been this way since she was tiny so she's very good at entertaining herself. She wanders in and out of wherever I am to ask questions, show me a drawing, ask for help with a fiddly dolly dress or ask if I will play a game in a little while- so I guess she isn't totally isolated or anything, but she doesn't expect me to entertain her.

[StrawberryFields]

Oops, I voted wrong. Even though I read it I missed the part where there could be no person of any age in the room. I was thinking more like w/o parents or adults entertaining them. Initially I voted over 2 hours, but he has a sibling and they are always together. So that would take it down to pretty much never. Our house is like 900 square feet and there are 5 of us, the older two share a room. I don't know if it is even POSSIBLE for him to be completely alone in any section of the house Unless maybe the other 4 people in the family are gone. Which would be illegal.

[eclipse]

I voted 1.5-2 hours, but I don't really know. He plays outside by himeslf all the time - my older two aren't as interested in playing in the yard. He will also grab a book and go sit on his bed and look through it, or get out his blocks and build in the playroom. He is with his sibs a lot, but he can hang on his own, too. Then there's also the time spent sneaking around doing the things he's not supposed to be doing .

DS will be 5 in September.

[earthmama369]

They generally split up and pursue their own interests for maybe 1/2 an hour to an hour each day (usually this means one wakes up earlier than the other in the morning and manages not to wake up the sleeping sib). Time spent playing with each other rather than requiring a parent's immediate presence is probably more like 4-6 hours a day now. They're 4 and 5 years old.

[ThisCat]

No sleeping, no tv, no brother, no me, or no dad would leave the time she is in the bathroom and even then it's not a safe bet she's alone.

[nextcommercial]

Mine is older now. But, at that age, she'd spend a couple of hours in her room alone. Or in the kitchen playing with something at the table. She also had free run of the backyard, so she'd disappear out there for a while.

I'd say she'd last for 30 minutes, to two hours playing alone.

(oh.. she'd spend an hour in the bathroom playing with "makeup" or making messes in the tub by herself)

[jeteaa]

we have a small house w/ a open floor plan. Unless you want to play in the bathroom, you are basically always "in the same room". Also, my 2 dc ages 3 and 5 LOVE to play together..... my oldest will occasionally ask for alone time, but its rare.

[madskye]

Mine is five, and I said 30-60 minutes. But, that's certainly not every day. Sometimes she's really happy to play in her room for an hour, sometimes she just wants to be with me...

She loves Polly Pockets and can play very happily with them for extended amounts of time.

[broodymama]

DD1 (turns 4 next month) will happily play alone for an hour at a time. She doesn't often get this chance, though, since she's one of four kids. My 5.5 year old DS1 doesn't like to play alone, though he will for about 45 minutes or so. Even my 23 month old DD2 will go up to their room and sit down and "read" books by herself for 30 minutes.

I think (with my kids, at least) the fact that they have siblings and are around them almost constantly makes my girls crave some alone time. DS1 is extremely extroverted and prefers constant companionship.

[Daffodil]

My 4.5 year old hates to do anything alone. He will sometimes spend a chunk of time doing something on the computer by himself, and will sometimes play or build something by himself. Occasionally he might spend as long as 30 minutes or even more doing something like that, but that's not common. He usually wants his sister or a parent to be doing an activity with him, and will refuse to do it alone even if it's something he really wants to do and could do by himself. Instead he'll just yell and cry and absolutely refuse all suggestions that he just go ahead and do the thing himself. When he can't get someone to do what he wants, he'll often choose to just sit on the sofa and sulk rather than play by himself.