How to engage with a 2 year old who wouldn't sit still?

Question

My son is 2.5 years old, he's already talking simple sentences and tries to communicate with us (the parents): showing us a large bug, telling that a marker is orange and he wants it etc.

However when I (the father) try to spend time with him and teach him something he very quickly loses interest and wouldn't sit down to do stuff together like a jig-saw puzzle for kids ( 10-18 peaces ) or learn a child-song or even listen to me reading a children's book. Playing outdoors with a ball or a soft Frisbee get's no attention at all, he would not find joy in kicking the ball and go to his favorite slide or sandbox ( or chase pigeons ).

I'm working a lot and I only get to spend time with my son in the mornings ( I take him to the day-care ) and evenings 1h before he sleeps, this time is mostly occupied by feeding him and washing before sleep. And the whole weekend, although I don't feel that's enough. So I'm worried that it's not enough time that I get to spend together and I don't have enough chance to teach his something so we would have our own games that we enjoy and hopefully have a stronger bond.

Just a few notes: my child is healthy both mentally and physically, my wife has about same time that she can spend with him as we both work; finally I don't have an issue the child not listening to me or not caring about us. It's just hard to teach his something that involves complex rules ( simple kick-the ball or jigsaw ). Finally, I did try to tire him out by playing by his rules, after about 2h I were completely out of strength, he was happy but wanted MORE since it was fun for him to get lifted/tickled chased after etc.

Any tips how to engage a child with more intellectual activities? I really want him to learn at least first 5-10 letters of the alphabet and try to..."draw" them.

Answer 1

Your son will learn much more if you join him at his level and follow his interests. Maybe he won't learn the Alphabet yet (and 2.5 is really early for that anyway), but he'll learn social and physical skills that are at least as important.

At 2.5 most children are just discovering the very basics of playing together and still mostly play alongside each other, so forget about agreeing on or following rules, that's still a bridge too far. Just go with the flow here.

One thing I had some success with at that age was finding or returning objects in and around the house. It helps build vocabulary when you point to objects and name them, as well as act out using them.

For example: put two plates on the table, one with a bar of soap on it and a hairbrush next to it and the other with a book on it and pen next to it. Then propose that the two of you sit down to eat. This should elicit a loud protest and off you go, putting the objects back where they belong and getting the correct things to eat with from the kitchen.