How will two little ones cope if both parents get sick and have no help? Make a plan

[whatisit12345]

I have two kids 7 years and 2 years and no help whatsoever. My biggest fear is what will happen if both of us parents get sick at the same time. How will the kids cope? Clearly no help is coming from government. So I have been thinking of planning for that situation. Firstly I have been training my 7 year old on how to run essential machines/turn on off heating/ give milk to little one etc. Planning to keep accessible easy to assemble food for them to feed themselves.
Keeping medicines close to the room we will be testing in while riding out the virus.
Following an hourly schedule written on paper so kids have rough idea of what to do when.
What do you think? Am I driving myself mad or wise? Any tips. If nothing else the older one will come out of this smarter and self sufficient.

Unless you both have underlying conditions, you are not going to both be so ill at the same time that you can't do very asbsolute basics.

When dh was away and I was throwing up with a sickness bug, I had a 5, 4 and 1 yr old to look after. I lay on the sofa, cbeebies on, directed 6yr old to made 3 X bowls of shreddies for their tea. She did it and was so so proud of herself that she'd made tea for her siblings.

You'll muddle through, if there's 2 of you, that's a bonus. Writing lists and trying to make the household function as it normally would won't work. What is an essential machine? Is it really essential? Will you not survive without it? If it happens, just roll with it and do what you need to do to get through it

Surely this is a reminder to us all to build a 'network' of friends, neighbours, acquaintances etc so that help will be available - and you can help others if possible.

When I first had my DS we had just moved 200 miles away from family and friends and knew no one in our new community - I had to make new contacts, it was a great opportunity to build a new network of friends, I joined groups, committees, went to local functions etc etc. My DS was born with medical issues and I received such care, help and support from my new friends, it was truly humbling; I never forget what it was like to be 'new' and not know anyone and I try and show the same kindness to other 'new' people, I've since moved again and found it really easy to make new friends.

teach 7 year old to change the 2 year olds nappies

I think that’s a lot to put on a 7 year old

I think you need to calm down. A few years a go me and my husband got flu with a 8 month old baby and 4 year old. It was awful but we coped. We had some rows about who was getting up to baby in the middle of night though! God it really was tough but the kids survived it, we managed to keep them alive, fed and watered. Can't promise they wore clean clothes and house was a tip after a few days, but we all were ok in the end. As will you be.

get some kiddie ready meals that you can put in the microwave. you can get the annabel karmel ones from sainsburys for your 2 year old (store in freezer and write in sharpie how long to microwave for. worst case scenario, your 7 year old can do it) for your 7 year old, the sainsburys own brand ready meals can be cooked from frozen too. teach them to tip the meal onto a plate, and stir it, then WAIT before eating. otherwise it will burn their mouths.

teach him how to make a basic lunch. you can freeze sandwiches, so teach him to take them out of the freezer after eating his breakfast so they can defrost. then eat fruit and yogurt with sandwich for lunch

breakfast can be cereal

as i said though, this is the absolute worst case scenario. you could do the above to make it easier for you if you get sick (but can still move etc) so that you have easy meals

All those people saying the OP is overreacting, you realise 10 per cent of people who get this are needing hospital treatment? If you aren't a single parent then hopefully you won't both be seriously ill at the same time - but it's possible, especially if you both catch it from the same person.

Cereal bars are great. They don't take up much room to store, do not have a short use by date, and are easy for kids to fetch and just eat.

But it is very unlikely that both of you can't do anything at all.

A poster on another thread mentioned teaching basic food hygiene. I’ve taught mine

• to read bbf dates
• that wet food can be stored in the fridge for 3 days
• dispose of wet food if you haven’t put it back in the fridge
• dry food must be wrapped up and put away.

(Broad strokes but they’ll do for starters)

I’m also getting them to cook their own meals in oven/microwave. I’ve made a step by step guide, including making sure you know where to “land” the hot tray before you even open the oven door, standing back from the whoosh of hot air, checking the door won’t swing in and burn you, checking everything is turned off.

They’ve been practising making calls on the landline and video calls on the laptop. And we’ve run through basic first aid (small cuts, bruises and burns) and when to call 999.

Mine are a little older but I’d think that a 7 year old might manage a fair bit of that.

I like the idea of frozen sandwiches. Will make those. I will see if I can get ready meals but for now I have some good ideas of meals. Toilet training is on ... child can tell when poi's and wees.
I will put all the required things in the bottom cabinet. In the end I will compile and post a list of things I am doing so someone can use it if needed.

To others - we believe it will be flu - could be could not be and be worse. Like I said I can't take a risk.
My thought was if we are sick, friends won't be able to take kids in as kids will be infectious for sure. What do you think? Is it stupid to think so or not?

@HotPenguin
Unless they are both immunosuppressed, above 60 and/or chronically unwell with certain conditions, the chances of them both being in the 10% of people who are seriously ill is very low.

I don't think there's anything stupid about making plans. Hope for the best but plan for the worst.

@whatisit12345

Are you and your partner over 60, immune suppressed (e.g. from cancer treatment) or do you have a chronic condition that’s been deemed as high risk if you were to contact Covid-19?

This disease does not come on overnight, it takes a few days. It's highly unlikely both parents would be totally incapacitated at the same time.
Definitely make plans with friends/family nearby to help each other out but you may need to isolate kids as well if you have COVID.
Keep the fridge/freezer stocked at all times with easy prep foods the kids will eat-it won't kill them to have beans on toast etc.
Toddler proof the living room and be prepared to lie on the sofa and let them have a lot of screen time if need be.

I think people are underestimating how ill they might feel with a fever. I had a bad tummy bug with a fever a couple of weeks ago and spent a day in bed drifting in and out of sleep, with terrible aches and pains and an awful headache. Luckily DH was fine and could supervise DS. I don’t fancy feeling like that for several days and looking after a child as well. The second day, I just felt unwell with a mild fever, but the first day I really couldn’t get out of bed.

‘Clearly no help is coming from the government’

What do you expect the government to do? Send a nanny and a nurse around to help every family?

I had flu, proper flu not a cold age 30 with a toddler and no support, Dh working in Europe and no parents nearby.

I literally took us both to bed, dragged myself out of bed to get food and water and paracetamol and to change nappies then fell back into bed. We survived on water, toast and Telitubbies (90s] for two weeks.

I survived, because I had no choice and survival kicked in.

I had no plan, a plan is good. Mine happened without warning.

If you have prepped you will be ok. Love the idea of emergency numbers, medication and food.

My mum had cracked ribs and Pleurisy whilst my dad was away (long term) with work, I was 7 my sister 5. She got me to get breakfast for both of us, tv on and off, basic washing dishes etc. we were walked to school by a local friend and she stocked up on easy, shove-in-oven dinners.

My dc are older than yours, but I have still thought about what would happen if I were to become ill and prepped for that. I’ve bought extra cereal, lunch meals that I know they will eat and are easy to prepare, tinned stuff (beans, soup, Tinned meat/fish, spag Bol) and made sure there is bread in the freezer and also some jarred sauces that can go with the meat ive out in the freezer. I appreciate your dc are much younger, but I think you need to look at what they can do and prep accordingly. Cereal, brioche, breadsticks, individual cheese portions, raisins, cereal bars, crisps, popcorn, yoghurts, pots of custard/rice pudding/jelly and don’t forget easy to sort drinks (the dreaded fruit shoot is fine!). Keep on top of buying stuff like sausage rolls/ham/other fresh stuff that is easy to sort and dc will eat. It doesn’t matter if their diet is crap for a few days. Do some batch cooking for the freezer so you can pull out a meal and reheat And give the dc a meal with very minimal input.
Make sure you have paracetamol and paracetamol suspension in for everyone just in case.
The chances of you both being really ill at the same time are low I imagine, but you are wise to prepare for it just in case. Let’s face it if you are just getting over the flu and your dh is coming down with it the last thing you want to be doing is cooking for the dc!

It does not have to be as good as beans on toast. Cereal, fruit and biscuits is fine. And lots of TV.

You can’t just ignore your children. U less you are so sick that you aren’t lucid you’ll just have to take care of them.

Blimey seems a bit overkill. Frankly even with full on flu, if you're a parent you WILL just manage. Single parents get ill and manage. Yes you'll feel like death and your children will eat crap get very grubby and watch tv 24-7. But you'll all survive. I remember several days when dh and I had flu with a 6 month old and a 2 year old - we did an hour long rotas. It was truly utterly awful. But we got through it.

I’m on my own with a 7yo and a 4yo and I have an existing health condition. Absolutely no one that could help if I get ill. We’ve got enough food in for a couple of weeks (not stockpiled, just general stuff in the cupboards). I’ve been teaching 7yo how to use the bread maker but other than that he’s fairly capable. He can do toast, cereal and sandwiches. I know it’s probably overkill but it puts my mind at ease a bit.

I've been a single mum most of dds life and had a couple times I was extremely unwell and had to find workarounds.

Sensible to plan, but chances are you wouldn't both be equally unwell at exactly the same time.

As several pps convenience food isn't going to kill them for a short spell (or even medium to be honest)

That said there are healthier things that require little to no prep and are easy to eat, for perishables bear in mind keeping on top of use by dates etc.

Ready prepped veg that can be eaten raw:

Carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, peppers, salad leaves, cucumber, celery, mange tout, baby corn, broccoli (yes really)

Fruit of course - we tend to favour fresh but remember dried and tinned fruit contains good nutrition too - just alongside a lot of sugar! Sainsburys do very child friendly dried fruit snack packs and also sell the whitworths ones - there's a little notch to make it easier to open. I love the apricots best but there's also usual raisins plus pineapple, pear, raisin and craisin mix.

Milk is also good nutritionally, your youngest I suspect still has a lot of milk but has your eldest veered away? If so might be good to get them to love it again. Yogurts are good too and of course very easy to eat.

Fruit juice and smoothies - again not ideal choices normally as a regular thing due to the high sugar but in a pinch they do also contain nutrients AND could help mitigate the erm...clogging effects? of an otherwise less healthy diet at such a time.

In terms of organisation I'd maybe look at the older ones time telling skills as a foundation? Little ones can find it tricky.

Nothing wrong with having a plan and talking it through with your child even if it's fairly unlikely I'm in my own with a 7 year old and we've agreed: a cupboard within easy reach with food he can manage himself, he knows how to ring/FaceTime people and has a list of people to call, we'll have a little plan of activities for him to follow so he doesn't get too bored, he knows how to take care of the cats, he knows how to make a 999 call if needed.
I've stressed that it's unlikely to happen but nothing's impossible.