My parents call every evening at 7 to see our son, who is one and a half. He looks at the screen, says something that might be 'thatha', and leaves to push a chair around the hall. They're hurt, even though they say they're not. Is there anything that keeps a toddler on a video call for more than a minute, or do I just let them watch him play?
Let them watch him play! When my younger one was that age we propped the phone on a shelf and carried on with the evening. My in-laws enjoyed that far more than the forced 'say hi to Dadi'. They got to see her real day. Ten seconds of attention is normal at that age.
give him a job on the call. show thatha the ball. show thatha the chair. worked with ours for about a month 😄
The 'show thatha' trick is good. When our daughter was small my father sang the same two rhymes on every call, and she came back to the screen for those and nothing else. Grandparents learn a toddler's attention span faster than we expect.
Will try it at tomorrow's call. Tonight he showed them his foot without being asked, so he may be ahead of us.
Keep going
More from the parents who were here.