Cancelled holiday, how can I cheer up dc?

[DakCien]

Today we should be on our “summer” holiday. We booked it last year and dc have been looking forward to it since they found out we were going. It’s the only holiday we would have this year due to work commitments, so it really has come as a disappointment that it’s had to be canceled.
Dc all woke up sad this morning and I want to cheer them up. I can’t think of what to do. Anyone have any suggestions? We had to cancel due to a family member having an accident so it can’t be anything too physical that we can do.

You should have gone, taken some extra activities for DD to enjoy and make the best of it.

Any activity you can do at home you could have done on holiday to keep DD entertained during activities she possibly couldn't do, but instead you've disappointed everyone and still don't know what to do with them.

Yes.

I am gobsmacked that you’ve cancelled a UK break for a 10yr olds broken arm.

Another yes, here. I would go and I have gone (happened with us a few years back). Plans are adjusted so that the person with the broken arm doesn't hurt themselves and sometimes that ends up being all the more memorable and fun as it is different than normal. And sometimes it is a little dull and the child has to watch the others, but that isn't a bad lesson in life, that "not everything is about you all the time". Especially as it was your only holiday this year, I think you were mad to cancel. Can you not go a day late or is it impossible now?

Surely you could have still gone.

Absolutely yes especially if it’s in the UK! What a shame you cancelled probably would have took her mind off the broken elbow and enjoyed it

I would still go on the holiday but adapt it.

This.

Yes as long as I wasnt in agony.My son at age 5 twisted his ankle badly the day before a holiday abroad. Dh carried him about on his shoulders.We also brought his old pushchair & all was fine. No two situations are the same & you did what was best for your family.

100% would have still gone if in the UK. Especially if it was a year in the making with no other holidays planned.

What was the reason for cancelling? Is she in a lot of pain? if so, any ideas given on here wouldn't work.

I honestly cannot see any reason you cancelled. If you have train tickets booked, sit DD near the window out of the aisle and just protect her getting on and off?

Did your daughter say she didn't want to go?

Depending on what the holiday was would depend on whether we cancelled and whether she had been given the all clear to go. Are you the only adult @DakCien as that might impact whether I would cancel as well.

So , I think you’ve got to juggle a few things, I’d imagine the one with the break will be tired and sore (so more chilled home based activities would work) and then it’s keeping the others occupied so they don’t knock / bang into them .

tricky

if you have a car can you go for a drive, and find a drive through for a slushie / ice cream thing, if you find a park for the non immobile ones to run about then great and tou could commentate with your other child on their antics - amusing and everyone is happy

Can you also call in favours - those without broken limbs have play dates out of the house and a calm friend in for the one in plaster

trip to a local Emmaus / tip/ charity shop and they each get a small piece of furniture to up cycle -like a bed side table etc with odd bits of paint (ask On a local free cycle site)

Get the ones not in plaster to create a show for you to endure / enjoy

local national trust - maybe ask for a motorised buggy thing if they are available - it’s new and exciting for your children and keeps the one with a broken arm safe

once it’s a bit more set and healed then t
yoh can do more normal things

why are people saying "oh I'd go" That's already been decided and its not their decision.

To be honest I wouldn’t have cancelled the holiday. We had to cancel an abroad holiday a few years ago when DS broke his wrist - operation, wire sticking out of the cast, unable to fly etc. We booked a last minute caravan in Norfolk instead and got a tight, plastic cover for his cast so he could still splash in the sea.

I think people are getting confused between a clean break with a cast on such as an arm and complicated joint break with surgery. We took my son to the Olympics 4 days after breaking his arm which was in a cast and it was fine and encouraged by doctors. A friend is 5 weeks out from an elbow break with surgery and can barely dress and wash herself yet. Very different injuries.

Uk holiday on a train - what’s difficult about that ?! Maybe abit more boring for your daughter but don’t think everyone should miss out - she would have still had a nice time being away from home and having some treats . You sound abit precious.

So OP, what activities are you going to do with your children without the broken elbow to make up for their holiday being cancelled because of their sister's injury?

After they've had their turns to choose dinner to make up for their disappointment, maybe you ask them what activities they would like to do. There's lots of activity holiday clubs (or indeed full holidays they can go without a parent eg PGL). Maybe they'd like to do watersports or gymnastics or dance or activity days etc

Maybe you could see which ones they would like to do and make it up to them that way. You can't make them only do things suitable for someone with a broken elbow all holiday.

No, when I said I went to a wedding just after surgery it was a full operation. My elbow had broken into several pieces and they were wired together during the surgery.

I can’t believe the responses on this thread - they should try - trauma for a broken joint - General anesthetic- and orthopaedic surgery. I had all of them at a similar age as the OPs daughter.
I still remember sitting on the floor of a bus vomiting from pain. Because my family tried to carry on as normal. I was trying to stand on a crowded bus - slipped and jolted myself. Did not end well.

Getting public transport is not always easy and calm. I think loads of posters have no real understanding of going on holiday by public transport. - or the nature of the OPs DDs injury.

Poor OP only asked for some ways to cheer up and entertain her DCs in the circumstances . Fuck stake - mumsnet at its worst.

right my rant over…

ideas for entertainment - look into making cyanotypes - it’s arty but doesn’t need any dexterity - just order the chemicals from eBay and use the sun to make pictures.

Thank you for understanding. This trip would have involved multiple trains and at least one of them would have been full so probably we would have been standing. I checked the train operator website and it confirmed all carriages minus 1st class were full. Seat reservations don’t mean a lot when you have to wade through a carriage full of people and luggage to get to them to see someone’s sat there already!

I trust I’ve made the right decision on this one.

Unless the hospital had warned against it, I absolutely would not have cancelled the holiday.

But what's done is done. There are still so many things you can do. Are there any alpaca walks nearby? They are great fun.
Aquariums, zoos, steam train rides, the circus, the theatre, eating out...

This. What a good idea!! Letting each of the other children get a day where they get to choose what happens that day/where everyone eats!

Everyone having a go at the Op, have you considered that Op might be a single parent and that the holiday booked might have been a Center Parks type holiday with loads of physical activities booked for the DC, where parents have to be present at those activities. She can't split herself in two and that would have meant either dragging her injured DD along to hang about while her siblings have fun or just cancelling all the booked physical activities. In which case there was no point going. And if one of your DC is not feeling 100%, it's always easier to look after them and manage everything and everyone from the comfort of your own home.

Op didn't ask if you all agreed with her decision (although you've made it plain that you don't), she just asked for a few ideas of what she can do to try and cheer her disappointed kids up.

Op is obviously already feeling fed up and disappointed at the turn of events, can we please stop putting the boot in and making her feel even worse.

Thanks

having been in a very similar place I also cancelled a booked holiday. Did not have any insurance but on hearing the circumstances we were offered a refund if they could relet the booking. We had the money back.
DD had surgery and internal fixation bolts. It was very painful and took far longer to heal than a simple break that did not need surgery and bolting back together. There were also the endless extra trips to the orthopeadic post surgery clinic on top to juggle.

Unless you have seen a complex fracture that needs surgery and internal fixations it’s hard to imagine or factor in the extra pain from post op pain from surgeons pulling bones back together, from surgical incisions, screwing metal work into place on top of fractures healing. DD could only manage being out and about for a few hours and then only with extra pain relief. She was shattered and in pain from a one hour trip out to McDonald’s.

DD could not face meals so we took lots of smaller snack breaks and one day did a tour of a town via most of the accessible coffee bars between stops at parks, shops she fancied and free to enter sites.

Her siblings agreed cancelling the holiday was sensible and whilst they grumped a bit at the beginning on seeing the X-rays they went on to do what they could to help out. It got horribly complicated and it was two years before we could think of going on holiday as a family again.

Have a look for places with spaces she can sit down and rest if pain is an issue for her. think of how easy are they to get round and how busy….being bumped into made my DD cry and she is very stoic. Think what each child likes doing and ask yourself if there are ways to compromise so your DD also has a chance to enjoy it.

TBH most places that I contacted in advance about access for her that were geared up for kids went the extra mile to find ways she could be safely included. might be worth explaining the type of fracture your child has and seeing if any options might be workable for your DD

(My DD rearranged her femur and hip and needed a lot of pinning so was in a wheelchair and could not be jolted about)

Which family member had an accident? Why can’t you and the kids still go on holiday??

Why not just drive instead? It seems odd to cancel a U.K. holiday over it.