My 7 year old boy has no attention span whatsoever. He does read but during the day he cannot settle to anything for more than a couple of minutes. Because he cannot entertain himself he nags at me or sabotages his younger brother's games. I feel he had too much attention when he was younger and never learned to go off into his own little world. Does anyone have any advice about how to teach him to play on his own? Should I play with him, as I used to, in the hope he will start to do it on his own or will this just make him more dependent on company? Or should I just force him to be in a room on his own? I feel this will make playtime seem like a punishment. I would love some advice as I am very frustrated with him and it is affecting my relationship with him.

Hi Sarah,

I am having the same problem with my 5 year old son. As i am talking to you he has been sent to his room for talking to me in an unpleasant manner, as he went to his room he slammed his door and is now throwing things at it. Anyway, I feel that our children rely on Adult company too much. This is what i do, try and set him up with a task like painting or playdo, play with him for 5 mins then tell him you need to do something like hang washing out. Say "while I am hanging out the washing can you make me an elephant" then leave for about 8 mins come back and join in again for 5 mins, then do the same, leave again giving him another task and this time extend the time away to 15mins and so on. I have tried this and it seems to work for me. See how you go.

Christine

Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a go!

Just a thought. But that "men are from mars/ women from venus" guy has a book about kids temperaments called, of all things..."children are from heaven" In it he talks about a temperement that over time can be un able to entertain themselves, and then just mull around unable to focus on anything. I think his advice was to give this child lots of variety of many different activities and stimulus, and with a lot of patience and more patience on the parents part. And then over time he learns to develop focus, and slowly is able to entertain himself. Im not sure. I bought the book at amazon used for a dollar plus shipping.

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate it.

I am glad to hear that i am not the only one with a seven year old son who has the same problems. What is your son like at school.
I have tried sitting with my son and playing games but he will only play for a while .
If i find any information that is helpful i will let you know. Will you let me know if you find anything please.