Son broke arm tonight. Rethinking Christmas presents. Ideas please

[Livingthroughcrazy]

Hi there,
Spent tonight in A&E and it's looking likely he might need an op (they decide tomorrow). He's 10 and I bought only a few presents this year which will require two hands (metal detector, excavation kit, modelling kit) to do. Should I hold them back for his birthday next year and grab some stuff he can do one-handed instead? And if so, wtaf will that be?!?He's right handed and it's the right arm he's broken 🙈

What would you do / suggest?

If he's 10 it will only be a short time in a cast won't it?
If he has other 1-handed presents then I'd leave it.

He’ll work round it. DS broke wrist in May - managed to do most stuff with arm in cast including computer games, drawing etc

My ds broke his arm around this age, if your ds hasn't broken his hand he will still be able to use it. My son was building complex lego 24hrs after his operation to put a pin in.

Hope he is ok OP.

But kids bones usually mend so quickly, hopefully he could still use that stuff.

While he is resting it will he still have function of his hand? Computer games? Books? Clothes like trainers, hoody etc?

I broke my arm age ten. Only thing I couldn't do was ride my bike. (I broke my arm crashing my bike...)And they wouldn't let me be in the school play unless the cast was off (but would let me take part in rehearsals... No idea on that logic). After a couple of weeks I could write a little. I got out of end of year exams though... Well I did them, but they couldn't mark them as they were illegible.

I recommend a waterproof cast cover. Makes life a lot easier.

I would just stick with what you’ve got tbh. Within about a week the pain will be gone & he will be able to work round it.

DD1 broke her wrist in 2 places on Boxing Day one year. She had been given a gymnastics beam and mat, a ton of Lego and a ton of drawing stuff for Christmas. She broke her dominant wrist. I was gutted and was envisioning weeks of being bored and fed up unable to use any of her new gifts. In reality, the only thing she had to lay off was the gym equipment and even that was for less than a week. After that she just did different things on it until she was able to get back to doing flips, handstands, cartwheels etc.

Just give him the gifts and he’ll work around it. Don’t stress yourself out getting different stuff 2 days before Christmas for the sake of a few days

Well, I would not want to not hit the shops this late. I think he’ll be fine. I’m amazed at how well kids with broken arms do. (I’m a teacher)

He’ll work around it. Kids are completely different to adults! It’s actually good to use the hands, or do we were told and dd didn’t need any physio after so there must have been some truth in it. She even climbed the tree in our back garden with a cast. Got half way up before I spotted her.

Thank you everyone, it is really reassuring to hear each of your stories and get some perspective. You can probably tell this is my first experience with broken bones

I'm going to stick with the stuff I've got. He's pretty sore but that'll ease up soon hopefully. Wee blighters, never a dull moment