To ask single parents

[Matronic6]

Or anyone with experience, what do you do when you are sick but your toddler is well???

I need all the tips so here for traffic. I feel awful, terrible headache, temp, my torso feels super sensitive any touch feels sore, nausea, chills (despite the temperature) just had a bath at 38' and it felt cold.

Problem is DC 3 is with me on Thursdays and DH has a very important presentation/conference so is leaving at 6am and won't be back till Friday evening. So I'm completely on my own.

Any advice on easy keeping busy activities are welcome.

Well honestly I used to lie on the settee and put the Tele on for however long I felt poorly for and let her get all the toys out she wanted

It worked ok because it didn't happen often and she wouldn't normally watch hours of Tele so I guess that helped 😂

Before your husband goes make sure he makes sandwiches/ an easy to warm up meal etc ready to make things easier.

Take all the paracetamol and ibuprofen you can, lots of lucozade or isotonic, lie on the sofa and have the TV on for the toddler. Easy pic-nic meals for them like cold meats and cheese and cucumber sticks etc.
Don’t do anything; just rest and get them to play and watch TV. Do the best you can. Your husband can go shop before he leaves and pre-make all the food and snacks so you won’t have it that hard.

screen time and snacks are your best friends until you feel well enough to get off the sofa xx

You medicate yourself, sleep as much as you can before in preparation. Lots of TV time or colouring in or similar. Or you source childcare from a relative? Get dh to prep all he can before. Have very low expectations of yourself. Sometimes I put ds in bed beside me to watch TV and I doze beside him.

For a toddler on your own, some easyish activities are getting out bowls of water, some jugs and some toys and letting them pour the water around with the jugs and see which toys sink or float. Though I'd recommend that was done on a mat or a tiled floor. Playing with torn up newspaper (my DD used to love that as a toddler). Crayons and some paper to scribble on. Those were my go to activities if I was too ill to leave the house but she'd had enough TV and enough of toys! Hopefully you'll feel better tomorrow.

This is when nursery/pre school would be useful.

whether you're a single parent or not you need a village to raise a child, I raised dd on my own however I also had childcare in place, local family and friends to help.

Otherwise yy to lots of snacks and tv!

Make the living room area as safe as possible, bring all the books and toys in to that area, plenty of easy to reach snacks and drinks, lots of TV, films, duvet snuggles. You will get through it, may be tough but you will - alternatively, call someone to help!!

You can frame it as a “movie day” just a pure lazy day, films, snacks, if you have a garden give them a run around whilst you sit by if youre up to it.
like others said just lay up on the sofa get books. No need to change from pyjamas etc.

any mess etc can be cleared up at a later date or time so dont even think about what needs tidying away whilst unwell.

get a justeat deliveroo etc for dinner. If a toddler sees a happy meal come through the door it will be their best day ever anyway.

Bowl of water with cars to wash, tipping and pouring, washing up liquid for the bubbles.
Bubble machine- can pop with fingers, clapping hands, give them a spatula.
Colouring in, play doh.
Bath time with glow sticks.
Lying on the sofa, bed or floor and they have to put as many object as they can on you.
Bluey dance battle on YouTube, my 2 year old was obsessed and ny 6 year old. That then led on to other similar YouTube videos where they are energetic and the presenter leads the kids.
Films with snacks.
Lots of screen time- but my kids have never been good at sitting for long periods with screens so I break up each film with an activity so they are more likely to sit and chill for the film.
If you have a Trampoline then watch then jump.and oo and ah.
If you can get husband to make sandwiches and something easy to reheat for dinner (or order mcdonalds to be delivered).
Travel mug for your tea.
Make sure you have ALL the meds, vicks, paracetamol, everything.

Get all the meds in that’ll make you feel somewhat better.
Then I’d get a list of films/short films/series for 3 year-old and have a movie day with snacks.
Try Blippi / the Julia Donaldson films on Prime Video etc.
Chopped up apple with Nutella or variations of fruit, raisins, some treats like chocolate buttons etc. (don’t hand them all out at once).
Pull some chairs together and put some blankets or bed sheets over to make a fort, put some teddies inside.
Get some colouring organised.
Shut all the curtains, go on YouTube and put “cosmic yoga” on, when I was a TA in Reception, the teacher would put that on for 30 minutes when the kids were overwhelmed and it would completely focus their minds.

Dose yourself up and lie on the sofa in your pj's with a blanket. Let little one watch tv and play with toys on the floor beside you. Easy meals of toast, cheese and crackers, cucumber, yoghurt etc. Don't do anything but rest and try and get little one to nap with you in the afternoon if possible. Hope you feel better soon 💐

You just have to manage. The worse times for me was looking after a 2 and 5yr old whilst lying on the floor in agony as my appendix was rupturing. Had to drive myself to the hospital too. Also had to look after the DC alone twice in the early stages of acute pancreatitis. So managing when I have a cough / cold / sickness bug was a doddle compared to those! Thank god they’ve grown up now.

Probably a bit late in the day to post given the time of your post @Matronic6 but hopefully you've powered through and are feeling a bit better by now?

Single mum here, my DC if not at school are with me and honestly you just do whatever you have to to get through to bedtime. Unlimited screen time, crap food (ie toast no carefully selected veg etc or go really wild and give them a bag of crisps or chips!) If you are lucky you can also get them into the role of doctor/nurse and have them help 'look after you'

They won't turn out to be obese/malnourished/unable to socialise and addicted to screens if you have to drop your usual rules and routines for a few days. You drop your standards to a level that gets you through the waking hours and pray it doesn't last too long. Don't let anyone judge you, if your DC is safe who cares if they are a bit stinky and don't get a bath, sure you can give them an extra good scrub once you're better.

I hope you survived @Matronic6

All the tips were much appreciated. We got through the day. We did screen time, downloaded a couple of learning apps which kept her busy for a bit, all the toys were out. Great tip to have DH prepare her lunch in advance. DD was actually very caring and understood I was poorly so was very understanding and give me lots of hugs. She also by some miracle took a 2 hour nap, which she hasn't done for at least a year, which meant I got a 2 hour nap. She is just in bed, will likely take a while to go over thanks to long nap, but she seems happy to sing to herself.

Thanks to all!

Stick them in front of the TV. Plenty of educational or semi-educational programmes they can watch. Not ideal but no real choice.

Other potential alternative to beg for a play date with a friend.

SP for 4 years. Lots of screens.(and I’m quite strict on screen time generally). Used to beg my mum sometimes if I was very desperate. This is one thing that does get easier as they get older.

Laid in bed on my back with my arm wrapped around ds's waist whilst he sat watching thomas the tank engine! Easy food, beans on toast, nuggets and chips, pizza.

Not ideal but he's alive.

Sometimes we just need to do the bare minimum to get through and that is not a bad thing. We're allowed to be ill, we're allowed to do what it takes. And a couple of days of crappy food and tv won't kill your child.

TV. CBeebies is a mix of education and entertainment. It won’t harm them for a few days. Do what you need to do.
if they do puzzles/those water colouring books use those. And early bed times all round

Mainly you hope they don't get sick too ;)

I remember vividly, lying on the settee feeling terrible, with DS2 lying on me watching TV. Him lifting his head, suddenly getting a weird look on his face, making a groaning sound, and throwing up right on my face.

Fantastic way to spend an afternoon when you're already feeling bad - washing vomit from your hair, off the settee, and a sick toddler.

I managed to get glandular fever when my youngest was coming up for 3 (I was ill on his birthday) and DD was a bit older. DH was working in another country and I felt dreadful. A neighbour took DD to school and brought her back, I lay on the sofa as much as possible watching DS play and using CBeebies or DVDs when needed. Went to bed as soon as they were asleep for the night (thankfully they were good sleepers). You just muddle through the best you can

Just got to do the best you can, minimal input, it's for one day it seems?

The days before we had technology, how are parents/grandparents managed...get some advice from them. Xx

The few times I’ve had the flu when mine were under 10 yo, they had earlier than normal bed. I would lay on the sofa and CBBC would be on and they’d be pottering around. You get through it. They cope and so do you.