Video chats

Jeannie young children have a short attention span so don't expect to engage your GD for long. Just have a bit of fun with her as part of a conversation with her mum and dad.

Maybe you could read her a story.

I have the same problem with an 8 and soon to be 11 y.o
Hi, boys how are you ?
Hi, nan, were fine
What you been up to ?
Not much........?

My 5 yr old grandson is the same, funny thing is when Im chatting to his mum and dad he will pipe up with " excuse me nanny I want to talk to you " lol he will chat for a few minutes and then go off and do what he wants. As Jeannie said 'a short attention span' .

Jeannie my grandson is 5 and we have the same issue. We solved it by making a brief video for him and his folks show him, sometimes we tell a silly joke, or anything to keep it interesting, but the video is addressed to him. He then makes a video in return, even if it is blowing a kiss and saying I love you. Or "stay in" or something. This is working well for all parties concerned. .

(Last week he progressed to writing a 'script' for his video and reading it out).

I realise your GD is a bit younger, but I hope my suggestion helps.

Use some props- teddy bears, real pets , puppets, dressing up, show them cakes you've made etc. to keep little ones interested.

I'm skyping my granddaughter aged 8 every day to do her maths school work with her to give her mum a break. She has what I call 'verbal diarrhoea' so there's never a break in the conversation; she could go on and on for hours!

JeannieB44 Who are the video chats for? Her or you? Young kids don't really care to be honest. They don't really understand why you are bothering to put yourself up on a screen and not come round to see them in person.

Putting a 4 year old in front of a screen and expecting them to be interested for more than a few secs is pointless. Too many distractions in the 'real world'

Just talk to mum and dad and if grand daughter wants to come on board, fair enough. I wouldn't make it into what you can do to entertain her, its kids, its their attention span, it isn't anything you are doing or not doing!