SURVIVAL MODE…that’s what it’s been around here for the last week or so. A miserable night praying down a fever over 105, a trip to the pediatric ER, a low-grade fever (praise the Lord it came down) for several days straight, and one worried mama. Come to find out, the flu has hit us hard. E has never been this sick in her whole little life. And I know we aren’t the only ones either. I hear it’s going around like mad all over the country.
E has barely budged from her place on the couch for six days straight. A couple of those days were pure misery. But most of them have miserable enough to lay in bed all day, but well enough to be bored. So we’ve been using every hack under the sun to keep her preoccupied and feeling comfortable while she’s in bed. Here are our best ones.
Food
- HAVE FROZEN FRUIT ON HAND. Needless to say there hasn’t been much of an appetite around here. We’ve been living on smoothies. We have just been keeping it simple with frozen fruit, water and stevia. But I’ve also been trying to sneak in some vitamins and protein into the mix as well.
- MASTER REAL NOURISHING BONE BROTH. (Not the store bought kind.) The Instant Pot is a life saver when it comes to having a batch of bone broth ready in less than two hours, but you can also make it stovetop. I always keep a whole chicken in the freezer ready for bone broth (and shredded chicken) or leftover bones from a rotisserie chicken. Having at least one of those on hand is essential for when someone comes down with something. Here’s a recipe you can follow, but I usually keep it simple and just add the bones, water and vinegar.
- HOMEMADE ELECTROLYTE DRINK. Being sick is miserable, but we have somehow got to replace all those nutrients that are being lost without all the sugar. Try this simple homemade Pedialyte substitute! Here’s a recipe made WITH coconut water. Here’s a recipe WITHOUT coconut water. Our favorite salt to use is Redmon’ds REAL salt.
- KEEP MEALS SIMPLE FOR THE REST OF THE FAMILY. Forgive yourself for not making an elaborate dinner for a week or so. Keep it simple enough for a quick dinner, and tasty enough that it might tempt a sick child to take a few bites. E had no appetite this week, but she did take a few bites of a taco, so that was a win!
Mom’s Schedule
- RELAX YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR A FEW DAYS. As a mom, I’m sure your daily checklists are just as long as mine. The work will still be waiting for you when your child gets well. Surprise! Surprise! If I have a day packed with things that I know from the beginning I won’t be able to accomplish, I start feeling overwhelmed, stressed and frustrated. Avoid that stress and relax your expectations for few days and take care of your babies. What works best for me is putting only one or two items on the day’s checklist. It works wonders, and you’ll still feel like you had a productive day while keeping your mental state in tact.
- ASK YOUR HUSBAND FOR HELP. (Or other family members.) Sometimes there are things that just can’t wait…like the dishes that are piling up because you haven’t been able to get to them for three days. Set a timer for 15 or 20, and ask your husband to help you. This relieves so much stress and helps the house stay somewhat in order.
Media
- THROW TYPICAL MEDIA TIME RESTRAINTS OUT THE WINDOW. (Wisely of course.) We are in survival mode over here. Our typical media time-restraints have bit the dust in order to keep our sick child comfortable and to keep her mind off of how miserable she feels. We will resume them AS SOON as she is well enough to be out of bed.
- UTILIZE FREE TRIALS. This is the best hack EVER! We do not have TV and we have very limited access to shows and movies (and even books) because we are not willing to pay the extra money for them. But when someone is sick, you better believe we are going to try out a few free trials so we can have unlimited access for the next few days. Just DON’T FORGET TO CANCEL!
- MOVIES AND SHOWS. There are a couple of shows E has enjoyed on Amazon Prime that only have a few episodes available for free (or sometimes none available at all). Free trials have allowed us to have access to a couple different shows. When you go to watch something on Prime, just click “try for free with PBS kids” (or whatever the channel is) instead of purchasing the episodes. E’s been enjoying Dinosaur Train (Make sure your kids are grounded in their beliefs about creation as there is evolution in this show…mainly to the effect of millions and millions of years ago) and Buzz Bee. (Just a note, neither of these shows are our typical movie and show diet, but they’ve been fine for getting us through the flu.) You can also get free trials of Pureflix, Netflix, Frndly, etc.
- AUDIOBOOKS. Audiobooks have been our go-to this past week. E has probably listened to 8 or 9 of them in the last several days. I have given her free reign to any audiobook that I approve of. She’s been listening to a lot of Boxcar Children, Freddy the Pig and Mary Poppins. We ran out of borrows quickly on Hoopla, so we took advantage of the free 30-day trial of Scribd. And of course, if you don’t already have Audible, you can also try the free 30-day trial of that as well. You can find a list of my favorite Audible titles here.
Busy Activities
- PAINT BY STICKER AND BRAIN GAMES. E loves these in general, but these are a nice easy activities for sitting up in bed. You can browse several different options here.
- WORKBOOKS. Since E is in school this year, she has had plenty of school work to keep her preoccupied, but she also has several other workbooks that she can pull out for fun too. The Big School Zone and Kumon Workbooks are some of our favorites.
- PAINT. This may be a little more messy, but E also loves these paint with water books. If your kids are a little bit older and feeling well enough to sit up at a table, they might enjoy these Watercolor With Me art books as well.
- ART FOR KIDS HUB. E loves drawing! She actually has drawn a lot this week without Art for Kids Hub, but this is where she gets most of her creative ideas for drawing from. They offer easy step-by-step drawing for kids with loads of options to choose from.
- COLORING. Along the lines of drawing, these interesting coloring books also offer some easy entertainment. Try this easier version here for ages 6-12. For something a little more challenging, try these Querkles coloring books.
- For other busy activity ideas that we haven’t gotten around to this week, please see Altogether Lovely’s Amazon Storefront where several more ideas are listed. Find under “Busy Activities” as well as “Learning Resources.”
Most of the links here are Amazon affiliate links. If used to make a purchase, I will receive a small commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you! So THANK YOU!