How to Engage A Toddler While Waiting
You arrive at the doctor's office 10 minutes early with your toddler to make sure you have plenty of time to park and perhaps fill out paperwork, only to find out the doctor is behind schedule and the waiting room is full of patients who arrived before you. You play peekaboo 10 times and go through all the snacks. Your toddler is hungry and fussy and you need a plan to survive the next 30 to 45 minutes. You need a waiting room survival list.
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Instructions
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Pick up the magazine that is sitting on the corner table and make up a quick story about each page. "Look at the lady and the doggy. They are singing a song together!" Point out bold colors or shapes that you see and say the name of each one.
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Get out your cell phone and have your toddler call Daddy or Grandma. "Another camera trick that young children love," says Jennifer Reich, cofounder of Momosa Publishing, "is to take lots of photos of your child on your phone. The nice thing is that it will create a mini photo album. My sons love looking at those tiny photos of themselves. Now that my younger son is 3, I even permit him to take photos with my camera when he's completely supervised. This is a very rare treat and really keeps him engaged."
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Get out your small makeup mirror and let her admire herself; this one could buy you quite a bit of time because children love to look at themselves.
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Sing the "Name Game" song with him (or make up your own song), and use the names of all of his family, friends and even incorporate pets and stuffed animals.
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Sing the alphabet song and purposely forget one letter. Let your toddler help you figure it out.
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Put on a finger play. Make your hands and fingers into animals or characters and tell her a silly story.
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Take a small cloth, tissue or jacket and throw it over his head and wait for him to pull it off and giggle; repeat.
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Find a piece of scrap paper or a Styrofoam cup and let her tear it apart and put each piece into your open hand. Have her help you throw the pieces into the garbage can.
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Play a rhythm game with him. Quietly slap your legs twice and then clap twice while encouraging him to follow along. Chant along with the rhythm--nonsense words are fine if you can't think of real ones--to increase the fun.
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Pretend to style her hair in various ways and make up a character for each hair-do, complete with a name and silly accent.
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Tips & Warnings
If your toddler is not in a mood to play and nothing you have tried is working, take him on a short fresh-air break outside of the building.
Be mindful of others and remember that they may not want to be in close proximity of your toddler if she is sick.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Toddler talking on the phone image by DanielDupuis from Fotolia.com
