Every parent knows that kids might get sick occasionally. When a kid gets ill with the flu, pains, injuries, or viral diseases, s/he may miss going to school or playing outdoors with playmates. If the illness continues for several days, it can make the child unhappy, sad and bored. However, not many parents think about how to keep an unwell child cheerful.
Some parents tend to keep ill children busy with gadgets. During ailment, electric gadgets, like phones, tablets, or TVs can be more harmful to children. Now, except for allowing gadgets what can parents do to entertain an ill child at home? Here are some tips.
10 best tips to entertain an ailing child without screen time
New Toy
Your child could have many toys at any time during their growing time. But, a new toy can bring it joy, especially during sickness. Pick a toy that your kind would love the most to possess. It will make the child happy and give it a feeling of appreciation, which can aid in the recovery process. Besides, the small gift will rekindle your kid’s love for you.
Crafts
Seek out various options to entertain your unwell child. You can engage the kid in various crafts such as drawing origami, skill with clay, and creating crafts to decorate our rooms. It is a good idea to set up a table containing recycled paper, where you and your kid can draw or create origami together.
Such activities will not only help the child stay at home without getting bored; but also develop its imagination power. Thus, your kid can have a lot of fun. It will help the kid to overcome illnesses in a much more relaxing manner.
Indoor Games
When your child is sick, it is best to assist them in resting. When they feel bored staying at home for days due to illness, you can play different low-stress, indoor games with them. The types of games can vary depending on the age of your child.
If your child is below 5, you can play puzzle games with them or engage them in imaginary cooking games with their playing instruments. Children above 5 may like to play ludo or carom and you can accompany them.
Besides puzzles, baby cooking games, ludo, or carom, you can play traditional board or table games with your sick child to give him/her companionship and entertainment. You can also create board or table games to have a fun time.
These indoor games can provide an abundance of entertainment for a child who is too ill to go outside for playing with friends. Parents and other family members can also join the ailing child and play games together to enjoy a leisurely afternoon of fun at home.
Reading
When a child is sick, s/he may feel lonely or helpless. To make the kid happy you can engage him/her in a creative task like reading. If your child is unable to read, you can read for him or her. When your child can read, you can lend him/her a book and inspire him/her to read.
Reading books helps children to spark their imagination and give the parents a chance to spend quality time with them in a fun way. You can pick colorful story books, a rhyme, or a novel so that your child feels an attraction to read or listen to stories from you. If you enjoy reading, they will be happy and relaxed. However, make sure you choose the books that they would love to read or hear from you.
Practice Language
If your child is not much tired and getting better, you can play with them with language. For instance, you can give your school-goer kid a list of phrases and ask them to draw the definition of each word.
You can ask your under-five kid to sing his/her favorite songs to tell the names of different body parts or to express their favorite foods in English or other different languages. By engaging in these activities, your kids will have a great time without gadgets while staying at home.
entertaining ailing child home
Tips to cheer up an ailing child without electric gadgets (Representational Photo: Unsplash)
Writing & Drawing
For easy literary fun, let your kid write a story. Encourage him or her to start with a simple sentence and see how it develops. You and your unwell child can work together to write a humorous story about your family or a love song for your family pet.
Collaborative drawing is enjoyable for children of all ages. Begin with a squiggle, and make a series of additions to the lines on a piece of paper. Encourage the kid to join you in the drawing and then let the kid color the design.
The older kids can grab an uncolored roll of paper and some markers to trace their images or draw freehand. Teenagers can also dye T-shirts with permanent markers. Whatever works for the kid, let him/her try.
Coloring Own Room
Children love colors. When your child is ill and stays alone or lying the whole day, s/he may become sicker and feel uneasy. So, let the kid play with colors. Not to mention, an ailing child will be curious when you encourage him/her to color his/her own room. The opportunity of coloring his/her own room, will not only entertain the child but also make him/her feel easy and light.
Navigating Photo Album
Is your child bored from playing with the same toys every day? It’s time to pull your photo album. Look through old family photographs and let him/her go on a trip through time. These photos will allow him/her to recall memories of a gathering, birthday celebration, or excursion. The fun moments of watching the images will help cheer up your sick child and speed up the recovery.
Playing Hide & Seek
If your child suffers from an illness that doesn’t necessitate him/her to lay in bed for the entire day, you can play hide and seek with the kid.
Begin to hide objects from easily-reachable areas and send your child on a quest to locate them. Find interesting dark corners or nooks in your home that you can conceal, and then shout to your child so that she can be guided to the location and be able to find you.
Hide and seek games will enthrall your child and make him/her forget about the sickness for some time.
Do Light Chores Together
Obviously, every child loves to accompany his/her parents. When you are busy with daily chores, your unwell child may feel bored lying in bed alone. So, you can engage the kid with some light chores. The kid would also like to help you with your work. For instance, let your child give hand with you while folding clothes. It would be more fun if you talk with the kid while working together.
Bottom Line
You cannot stop your children from becoming ill sometimes; particularly when the weather doesn’t improve. Sometimes, the kid might get hurt while playing. Besides medication and resting, mental happiness is essential for healing. As a parent, you can try to make the ailment as well as the recovery period of your child joyous. You can turn the recuperation period into memorable moments and take advantage of spending time with your adorable kid.
Source: United News of Bangladesh