Anybody isolating for 12 weeks with a high risk DC?

[AshGirl]

Just wondering if anybody else got The Text yesterday to say that DC has to stay at home for 12 weeks as part of the shielding policy

DS is almost 3, and has been mostly really well for almost a year. I had sort of forgotten that he might qualify as part of this 'extremely vulnerable' group.

We are lucky to have a garden but we are used to doing lots of normal toddler activities with him - soft play, swimming etc so it is quite daunting to have to manage him at home for such a long time. He has complex SEN as well so I am worried that he will be missing out on the support he usually gets from his pre-school and other inputs.

Oh, and DH and I will also be working from home, so we've got to manage that as well!

Would be good to hear what other people are doing to manage DC during such a long lockdown.

Yes two of them! 2 and 3 years old and daddy is working from home. We knew we were going to fall well within that group so are a week in anyway.

It hasn’t been as bad as I thought so far TBH. Like you I was stressing we usually do pre-school sessions 3 times a week, therapies 3 times a week and are a very out and about family too.

We have been spending a lot of time in the garden in the nice weather. My boys are very different one very sensory adverse and the other massively sensory seeking. I have been trying to do an activity all together in whatever way they can manage, then some independent(ish) play with toys, then 20 minutes of 1:1 time each whilst the other plays. We made a trifle yesterday which was lovely, DC1 enjoyed cutting up the sponge and mixing the jelly DC2 enjoyed wearing the jelly and cream!

I am finding a little bit of structure helpful. It is not ideal, we do a fair amount at home anyway but were not set up for a long stretch and don’t have the time or the resources to massively expand. It is not ideal for anyone though and I am enjoying the time with them.

Try not to be too hard on yourself, we all just have to muddle through.

Hi @SFCA, lovely to hear that you are managing well so far.

I agree that structure will be key. I am thinking about creating a timetable and different 'zones' for different activities eg TV in the living room, therapy activities in his bedroom and the garden for making a lot of mess with his water table and bubbles!

The nice weather has been an absolute life saver and I am dreading the April showers!

I think I will also need to plan roughly which activities we will do each day, so that we don't just drift through each day watching loads of TV.

PS We are getting speech and language therapy via video conference so we are trying to keep going with his therapies as much as possible