Aaargh! What parenting task do ^you^ suck at?

[NotQuiteCockney]

DS2 has the pox. He's a really easy kid really, and is easy today, so far, despite the pox. But we can't leave the house. WE CAN'T LEAVE THE HOUSE!

Well, we'll have to go pick up DS1, but still ... we need to keep all that to a minimum, as he's v contagious today, and really will be contagious for the rest of the week.

He's not really poorly, just very very spotty. He's watched TV, had a bath, played with lego, and is back on the TV now.

I on the other hand am going completely batshit. I want to leave the house!

I'll try to get domestic stuff done, maybe bake a cake, too. but aaaargh. I just want to go out!

You have my sympathy -DS had chicken pox a few months ago and I was climbing the walls.

As soon as DP came home from work I'd go running out of the door mumbling something about urgently needing to get x,y and z. Anything to get out.

In fact DS is unwell today (achey, high temperature and associated whinging [wink[)so instead of him going to nursery for the morning and me having a few hours to myself I'm housebound and its already looking like the longest day ever........

It's awful when you're housebound, my sympathies (and for your DS2 as well!).

I am rubbish at feigning interest in trains for more than 10 minutes.....always forget to cut toe and fingenails and get unnaturally upset if they mix the playdough colours up

most of it I suck at truth be told but mostly suck at the "wear 'em out games" like tag and balls etc, just not my thing

I hate jigsaws (they drive me insane with boredom) and am useless with vomit.

. There have been days NQC when both the dc were unwell, and we were stuck at home, and all I wanted to do was jump from the stairs for boredom...

As a crippled emetophobe, I would have to say I am useless at dealing with vomit.

Re being stuck in the house, I was in the same situation last week when ds2 was ill with a sore throat and temperature. What helped for me was allowing him to choose a slightly more grown up video to watch - one a day - and I then sat down with him and watched too. I don't know how old your son is NQC, but could this work? Not the usual CBeebies videos you understand, but something with a bit of adult appeal.

I can't cook.

Obviously watching videos with your son does not get you out of the house, but my point is that you try to embrace the fact that you are housebound and do something a bit different with your day.

That of get the sewing/knitting out.

OTOH, when my children had the pox, they weren't ill in themselves at all and I took them out (but have been frowned at on MN before for admitting this!)

I suck at cleaning out the car, particularly their bit. Honestly, where does all that...stuff....come from? Every time we come home I swear I'l collate an armful of usable gear from the mobile skip, and bin the rest, and everyday I manage to bring in, say, a trainer, a colouring book, and numerous pebbles and sticks. Doesn't really make a dent in it .... I SUCCCCCCKKKKK.

Is DS itchy? Mine haven't had Cpox yet, and appear to be entirely immune as it cut through the whole school in swathes this year, leaving pretty much only my two unblemished.

Can't you drive somewhere remote and unpopulated, up a hill, and release him to burn off some energy?

lol at franca on the stairs.....put mattresses down, make it a sport.

I don't drive, and live in London. I will go out with him on the bike later, as that's how we collect DS1 (thank goodness, I'd feel guilty taking him on the bus, all contagious).

I do need to embrace it. I've been playing video games, but will have to start knitting or decluttering or doing something vaguely useful.

Oh, he's two, so not great with adult videos, although he has watched Northern Exposure once or twice . Actually, he just wants to watch the first half hour of some Buzz Lightyear cartoon, and then ask to turn it off. He's done this twice. He's buzzing around the room very happily.

Not itchy at all. I have Medised to give if he itches. He's already had a bath with aveeno oil, which has got to reduce itching, surely.

He's actually entirely full of beans. And I've since found out that a total of four co-op kids have come down with CP today, so at least I know who to call for playdates.

Oh, I'm fine at playing ball games, doing jigsaws and trains, etc etc. It's just being stuck in that drives me mental. Oh, I do suck at order and cleanliness, but I don't see it as a parenting task, more a 'being human' task.

Yes, great idea, get round the other poxy kids! Problem solved!

Mine werent ill or itchy or lacking in energy either when they had it, although they were fully covered in spots. It is a pain when they are like that really as they don't understand why they can't do normal things.

Might the local park be empty at this time of day?

Ball games.

I'm too much of a girl.

I am bad at making bedtime last for a normal length of time (rather than the silly length of time it seems to).

I am useless at cooking.

I cannot get excited about reading information books (DS loves anything with transport in. I cannot summon up the enthusiasm these topics deserve).

Is there anything I am good at?

rubbish at putting my son to bed at a reasonable time

rubbish at making him eat foodd he doesn't want to

rubbish at potty training - he's 2 and just not interested in

I secretly hate reading them bedtime stories. I'd rather sit with them while DH does it. I suck.

I am rubbish at keeping my DS clean. He always has bogies and an orange face from having eaten a corn/carrot organix thingy. All the other babies I know are immaculate.

Do any of the other CP families have a big garden? I'd try and go there.

I am really bad at being tidy. And I run out of oomph by the end of the day lately. I also don't model the greatest eating.

Huge sympathy NQC, I was on house arrest all of last week with poxy 2yo. I didn't get anything done aound the house either, I just sort of pottered about listlessly resenting being stuck in. It's a bore.

General Maintenance - brushing teeth, ensuring they get 5 a day, making sure they've done their homework. That sort of thing I'm particularly bad at. I make an effort but then it slides so I vow to make an effort (repeat ad nauseum).

I'm also not great at Being Strong when they get v upset about things like going to school, fighting with friends etc. I always want to either sympathise massively or get very annoyed neither of which are constructive.

I am very good at cuddles though. And dancing around the house and singing very loudly. I think that compensates for all my failings.

After DS's last dose of Calpol he was quite perky so we went outside to do some gardening which worked well (until he got tired and now hes asleep, too tired to eat lunch).

Have you got a garden that you can go and do something in?

I had the real secateurs and DS had some plastic pliers from his tool bench as his pretend ones

i am rubbish at the painting/baking/making things stuff.
it bores me and makes a mess.

am very good at rough and tumble/cuddle and kisses/reading stories

being consistent when it comes to getting my own way with him. I'm getting better over time but DS has me wrapped round his little finger.

He's singleminded and willful!