Since having my baby boy I have been completely convinced that boys are in now way like girls. At all. They are so different it is unreal. My girls were so much calmer. They would sit for a while. Of course they liked to climb the stairs and empty the bookshelf but I could leave them for a short time, without feeling like they were going to kill themselves the moment my back was turned. My baby boy is a liability. We didn’t use stairgates with the girls but have had to put one on the lounge door to stop him from escaping. It is getting a lot harder to entertain a 10 month old at home and I’m reluctant to install a climbing frame for him!
The thing is, no matter what anyone says you do need to get few things done. I’m well aware the days are long and the years are short. I realise that a lot with my children, as my firstborn is hurtling her way through key stage 1! But there are only so many days you can spend cuddling your baby, watching their every move as they crawl around your lounge and reading 10 billion books to them. I have washing. I have tidying. I have emails. I have life admin. Most of all I have two older children who need feeding, watering and their homework doing.
I need to be able to entertain a 10 month old at home. I need to be able to leave him for a few minutes to do a few tasks.
Entertain a 10 Month Old
I’m well aware my 10 month old only has the attention span of a gnat and I know whatever I set up for him to do, he will not be playing with for a long time. However, it may be enough time for me to put a load of washing on, or empty the dish washer. With kids, I swear your days are literally in 5 minute windows. I don’t know how the heck I will concentrate for 8 hours when I go back to work.
I’m also aware a lot of things you set up to entertain a 10 month old at home involve noise and making more mess but hey! Life is about compromises eh?
Here are some of the ways I entertain my 10 month old when I’m desperate to get a few small jobs done.
– Use the high chair and provide something to chew and play with. This could be one of their toys, it could be a fromage frais pot and spoon when it comes to my lad. Bottom line he is happy for a while whilst I potter in the kitchen. If I throw in a Ritz cracker or some blueberries, I have even more time.
– Things to bang. This is a good one. My little man loves to make noise and is so happy with pots and pans and a wooden spoon. Perfect again if we are in the kitchen and he has had enough of the high chair.
– A safe drawer. This is one in our kitchen which is filled with plastic tubs and cups. He can empty it and play. We just have to careful he doesn’t trap his fingers! My eldest also loved this and it used to keep her busy for ages. It is a pain tidying up but gives you a small window.
– A box to empty. My little boy has this toy basket we fill with fake foods and little fake food boxes.It can keep him entertained for ages, emptying it and chewing everything.
– An old computer keyboard. My little boy is always trying to get my laptop so he loves playing with an old keyboard. Another thing to bang of course. My middle child used to love her old keyboard, she used to go to bed with it! I am not kidding at all.
– A basket of clothes. My little boy loves nothing better than to empty a washing basket. If I have a tonne of clothes that have just come out of the dryer, I let him empty the basket…multiple times! Can you see the pattern here? Emptying and mess.
– An old phone. All babies are obsessed with getting hold of a phone, probably as we are on ours too much! My lad is not happy with an old one that is switched off but a SIM free one he can chew and see light up, he loves! This always buys me a little more time.
– A balloon. My eldest came back from her school fayre with one and my little man was obsessed! It was one on a small piece of elastic you could bounce. Of course we couldn’t really leave him alone but he’d be happy to play with it where I could see him and a get a few things done on the laptop.
You have to speculate to accumulate with kids and this may mean letting them trash the place and make a little mess does mean you can get a few jobs done. This stage is a hard stage. You need to have eyes in the back of your head but they are learning, exploring and having fun.
As long as you can get a few jobs done at the same time, then we are all winning!
We had a safe drawer too, with all the tupperware and unbreakables. It got emptied several times a day!
Some very imaginitive advice here! Boxes, clothes and phones are all fun real world items that little hands can feel great about getting to play with.
Just goes to show that children this age really do love the more simple things. Who needs toys when you can give them a box to empty out!
Love this post. It’s amazing what children will find entertaining. Mine used to love the old phone we gave them. They pretended to talk to people just like mummy. It was soooo cute!!!!
These are all very useful ideas, the pots and wooden spoons where a big hit with my girls along with the colander which was used as a hat lol! My friends have boys and they literally don’t stop running and jumping!
Oh keeping a ten month year old occupied is always so much fun, isn’t it! My little one loved poking straws through a colander and pulling them out again. A great distraction when you’re cooking dinner.
I remember that stage well. We used to have toy baskets which would keep them occupied for ages
Erin used to love sitting on the kitchen floor at this age and playing with the pans. I didn’t appreciate the noise but at least I could get a few things done then.