I've experienced the same thing, because coming home from a long day at work and a stressful commute to become fully engaged in Daddy Time all evening/weekend can be just as draining as being there 24/7.
Some other people have already chimed in with different parts of how I dealt with it, so I'll summarize for reinforcement:
- Don't be afraid to set availability boundaries, ie: "Mommy needs to do this now, go find something you can do on your own."
- Don't be afraid to set play boundaries, ie: "Mommy doesn't want/like to play that, let's do something else." I've always tried to avoid playing things I hate, because if I'm miserable, I'll end up making DD miserable, too. If we find something to play where there's common interest, it's way more rewarding for both of us.
Yeah, my DD7 could hit a whiffle ball at 3, then played Jedi with the bats, learned about fixing the washing machine, made fighting robots with legos (and then fought them), and I make no apologies. If she wants to play dolls or kitchen, she has a mommy (and these days, friends her own age). I'll play kitchen with her once in a while, in small doses, but I have a strict no dolls rule. In following her lead on some of these games/activities, I've actually managed to walk on my hands for a few steps, and I'm quickly closing in on mediocrity with the guitar. I've also added, "Daddy's little personal trainer" to her long list of nicknames, because she exercises me pretty well.
- Don't worry too much about screen time, because gifted kids are the exception to every rule, including the one about too much screen time. Anyway, there's a big difference between the child who gets more than 2 hours of TV versus the kid who watches all day and gets no adult engagement. There's also a lot more high-quality content for toddlers than there was in our days.
