Help please - 3yr old dd's demands are making me miserable & poor ds 7 doesn't get a look in!!

[Jemster]

I'm after some advice please as I'm at my wits end!
Taken 2 days off work for half term which has so far been a nightmare. DH is ill in bed, ds 7 has an ear infection on antibiotics and dd 3 has just started potty training. So basically we've been cooped up in the house for 3 days.
My ds would happily watch tv, play on his ds, or our phones, ipads all day long but I don't think its good for him so have been trying to get him to do other things. He is not interested in playing with his toys & just doesn't seem to know what to do if electronics are not involved.
Earlier I sat with him to try & do some things is his horrid henry annual which he likes but it proved impossible as dd who is 3 kept demanding I do things with her. When I said she would need to wait she started climbing all over me & trying to push ds away & shut his book which then made him cross. I tried to give her some colouring to do but she won't do anything unless I do it with her. Poor ds never gets any proper attention from me & ends up back on the electronics.

I just don't know how to give them both quality time & attention when we're at home together as she will not leave me alone for a second. I'm tearing my hair out, feel utterly exhausted & am surrounded by mess, piles of washing, and general crap as I can't get more than 5 minutes to do anything.
On top of that I have arthritis in my hands which has flared up & makes picking anything up tricky, especially a 3 year old! It is painful & I'm tired so I'm ending up shouting at them which upsets me.

Please can anyone with similar age children help & tell me how you manage this? I've had to escape to the bathroom for five minutes to calm down & write this!! I'm really not enjoying being at home with them & can't wait to go back to work which I think is very sad.

Gosh, I could have written this. My DS is 6 and my DD is 2.5 and I have the same problems. Whenever I try to do anything with DS, DD climbs all over me demanding cuddles etc...nothing can just be about him. I find it hard and feel bad that DS is missing out on my attention.

They do get on very well which does make things a bit easier and I do try and get them out of the house each day during half term...being stuck indoors sounds like very hard work.

Would also be interested in hearing how others manage this.

I do sympathize, but you are creating a vicious circle. You need to find something that you can do with both of them, so sit them both down at the table and sit in the middle of them so that you can help them at the same time. Baking is a great thing to do with them but choose a recipe that you just throw everything in a bowl as otherwise it will be a disaster. Mary Berry has some great recipes. You can make cupcakes and decorate them with the kids. Pizzas are another easy thing to do with them, just do all the chopping away from kids but they can put the toppings on them. Your dd has to learn to take turns, it wont happen overnight but you can help her learn this vital skill. Good luck op.

I sit down with the Lego ds7 likes showing dd3 how to build, maybe that would help ? We play games but that does end in tears ! 3 is a difficult age, but they just have to listen to you when you say get down, many tears here, but when they realise you can play together they generally start to have fun