It is natural for parents to want to play with their children, we remember our parents/carers playing with us and we want to do this with our little ones. However, different children want to play with different things, and not all of these are toys, e.g. some children are interested in spinning objects, hitting radiators, pressing switches on plugs. When this happens, it can be really difficult for parents to know how to play with their child and attempts to introduce “toys” can be met with fierce resistance and end up with the child crying and the parent feeling confused and upset that it is so hard to play with their child. This situation can result in a situation where the parent tries to interact with the child, but is not successful, the child does not respond in the way they hoped, and the parents feel de-skilled and do not try to play with them as much. It can make parents feel unconfident about their parenting and it can affect their relationship with their child. It is a very difficult situation.
My video is about what I do when I am in this situation and I hope it will help you and give you some ideas about how you can play with your child if they are not playing in the way that you expected them to.