Today many children’s surgeries are done on an outpatient basis and your little patient can be home the very same day. For the first day or so, your child may be tired, sore or sleepy from pain medicine and so on but then they begin to feel better. After many outpatient surgeries, such as a hernia repair, a child may feel well soon but not be allowed to play outside for several days or weeks. The same may be true for a child recovering from an illness who is alert but not strong enough to be physically active and getting bored quickly.
It can be challenging to entertain a bed-ridden, housebound child for days on end. We pulled out a new Leapster game cartridge, word find books, library books and a new movie. These were all great choices and entertained our post-operative son for about three hours with just 13 days and 21 hours to go. There is no magic toy for entertaining recovering children. The key is to have a good variety of activities and ideas on hand.
Experienced Parent Tip: Don’t pull out the big guns all at once or on day one. Here are some examples.
If you stocked up on ten movies, only pull out two at a time to choose from. A bed-ridden child could easily choose watch four movies in a row and then it would only be lunchtime on day one.
If the grandparents bought two new Leapster games, only offer up one every few days. Again, there will be something new when the first one becomes boring which happens fast when you are housebound.
All handheld toys don’t have to be electronic to be entertaining. Try challenging handheld puzzles like the Rubik’s Cube or fun handheld toys like the Magic Eight Ball that provides mysterious answers to questions.
Magazines:
Magazines can be a breath of fresh air for both avid readers and reluctant readers that are stuck inside or in bed. Highlights, Zoo Books, National Geographic Kids, American Girl and comic books are good choices for the elementary age child.
Activity Books:
Children this age can go either way. Some are totally over coloring books and others still love to color. Some colored pencils and notepads with plain drawing paper may be an even better more open-ended choice. Recovering children may also enjoy word find books, crossword puzzle books or riddle books.
Craft Activities:
It can be surprising what a typically very active child will be willing to try when they are stuck in bed recovering surgery. Consider sewing kits, potholder-making kits, knitting looms or origami kits to let kids who can’t get active get creative instead.
Other Entertaining Activities:
When a child is recovering and can’t go out to play, consider good “rainy day activities” like reading a novel to each other aloud, “writing” words on each other’s backs with fingers and decoding the messages, looking at the child’s baby books and albums together or working a jigsaw puzzle.
Recovering children deserve sympathy but days of being waiting on and cheered up can easily lead to “it’s all about me” syndrome. During this time have kids make cards for people you know who are sick or have been sick or housebound themselves for a long time. It’s a good time to remember the elderly shut-ins that you know. Perhaps your housebound child will be developing a new sense of empathy for others. Also have them make thank you cards for people who sent gifts, cards, flowers or even called or visited. Thinking of others is a good way to make sure the attitude is healthy while the body is healing.
