Do I need to be my kid's play partner?

[40somethingPat]

Hi,

My son is 3.5 years old now. He's an only child and very smart, but he really never tries playing by himself. When we're not taking him on play dates with other kids, he expects mom and I to play with him constantly, and he throws complete tantrums when we try getting him to play alone. We've tried modeling to him how to play alone, encouraged him... but it always turns into a huge battle with screaming and tears. Any ideas or suggestions? We love him, but we're not going to play with him for every minute of our free time every day, lol! In fact, we don't - and the evenings are usually unpleasant around our home as of late.