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How can I make my 5 year feel special and not left out.

6 replies

Naz2009 · 03/03/2021 20:28

My DD is CEV therefor she has beed advised to shield until 31st March and will not be returning to school on the 8th like the rest of her friends.
Today she got extremely upset during her remote learning as her teacher was telling the children during her online lesson. "When you all return you will all get a special surprise and it will be lots of fun"
The teacher has to encourage these 4/5 year olds and get them all excited about the return. But it's making my DD very sad.
Teacher does a countdown at the end and tells them when they will all be back in teh classroom.
DD tried her best to hold back her tears and said "I want to go play with my friends, I can't go, I have a condition"
I want to do something very special for her and show her she isn't missing out on anything.
I can only think of getting her a gift and wrapping it all up for her.
I feel it's not very special. What ideas can you think of and share with me. Anyone else in the same boat as me?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
ManchesterBees · 03/03/2021 20:32

Could you contact the teacher? Find out what the surprise is and relocate it at home at the same time?
I'm sure your DDs teacher would want her to feel included

BeetyAxe · 03/03/2021 20:37

Maybe on the day you could hide lots of little presents all round the house and give her a clue sheet to follow, and then a chocolate medal (think you can get them off Amazon) to award her for completing the treasure hunt too? Or if she likes dressing up how about on the day of back to school you and her both dress up in the fanciest of clothes, get her to do your makeup, tiaras on from the dressing up box (if she has them) and have a special breakfast lunch and tea?

FurrySlipperBoots · 03/03/2021 21:48

I think a treasure hunt would be a lovely idea, with a gift at the end. If you write really simple clues she can read them herself too which will help to take up some time.

Have a teddy bear's picnic. It can be indoors if too chilly out. Make teddy bear sandwiches with a cookie cutter (and biscuits too!) and have pom bears and things. Play the Teddy Bears Picnic song and let all her teddies 'join in'.

Have a living room disco. Draw the curtains, drape flashing Christmas lights around, get out torches or glow sticks or sparkly ribbons to wave and crank up the cheesy pop. You could let her dress up in one of your fancy tops, maybe paint her nails and do her 'makeup' (I'd never normally approve but as a 'once in a childhood' type treat it could be very special for her) and let her play at being a teenager going dancing.

Bake something ridiculously unhealthy! Chocolate fridge cake is a winner here.

Rearrange all the furniture in her bedroom, even if only temporarily. That can be so exciting when you're little!

Play schools. She can be the teacher and you and the teddies and dolls can be students. Maybe, like it's important for children who are worried about an operation to play hospitals, it will help her to process her feelings about missing school.

If you don't have a dog but she loves animals, maybe look on 'Borrow my Doggy', see if anyone with a friendly pooch is looking for someone to take him a walk.

If she's OK to be doing some rough and tumble, and you really want to go all out, place a double mattress at the foot of the stairs and then 2 or 3 single mattresses going up the staircase to make a mountain. She'll have great fun clambering up and sliding down for an hour or more!

Play a sort of lotto/bingo type game on a walk. She can decide before she goes what she wants to try and spot - a black and white dog, a man on a bicycle, an umbrella, a purple car, a postbox, a yellow flower etc etc... You could even help her find pics online and print/laminate them, and a piece of A4 with the matching pictures set out in a box - maybe 9 or 12 of them. When you go for your walk, as she spots things she was looking for she can take each picture and add it to her 'Found' pile. It can be as simple as swapping them from one pocket to the other, or you give them to her as she finds them. When you get home she can match them to the A4 paper and see if shes found all of them or if she need to keep an eye out another day. This might be good as an ongoing activity as of course she'll be off school for a while, and need distracting over the next few weeks.

Play at 'Going camping' - if you have a tent, pitch it in the living room complete with sleeping bags, pack torches and snacks, play forest sound ambiance and have an adventure. You could even camp in there with her overnight!

Would she like one of those 'colour in' cardboard playhouses/rockets/trains hobbycraft do? They were selling them for £10 when I was last in there. Should keep her occupied for a while if she likes colouring!

You could buy a bag of mixed gemstones, or little plastic penguins or dinosaurs, and freeze them in ice. It'll take a while to do as you'll need to wait for each layer to freeze before adding the next) and then set her the task of excavating them (hint, near a warm radiator, with blunt tools, salt, maybe a hairdyer to be used with careful supervision)

Make giant bubbles at the park. With the kids back at school would be a really good time to do it as otherwise they'll all come running up wanting a go. This is really good but you can make your own at home:

drzigs.com/products/giant-bubble-wand-age-7yrs-to-adult?variant=7355679473723&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=Cj0KCQiAhP2BBhDdARIsAJEzXlGA50zWWANmQv4OUgbsfO9hBMlkybnrg0PNkD4p3iZV5c3BqY5vGZUaAihCEALw_wcB

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Naz2009 · 04/03/2021 14:13

@FurrySlipperBoots thank you a million.
All those ideas are really very good and I hadn't thought of them myself.
She would love to go down the stairs on a mattress

OP posts:
Thatwentbadly · 04/03/2021 14:14

I would be talking to the teacher about the countdown that seems to be rubbing it in her face.

Naz2009 · 08/03/2021 02:27

@Thatwentbadly I did think the teacher could of asked us to leave 5 mins before the end of the online lesson and then carried on talking to the rest of the kids. Specially as Thursday she saw DD started to cry and I had to cuddle her in my arms
Silly teacher said "for the kids not returning back. "I have specially arranged homework pack for them" how would that make LO happy.
On Friday DD got upset again this time DD decided to speak up, trying hard to hold back her tears and say to her teacher. "I want to come back to school to". Teacher told her "soon you will be and I will call you on Monday and we can have a chat" made DD very happy.
Shielding for a 4 year old only child is extremely tough. Kids wants kids to play with and activities to do outdoors.
She is advised to stay indoors, not to go out for walk and even stay away from her dad as he is a key worker. Not share family towel and cutlery etc. It's very strict.
I have to keep her safe. For her the virus can be deathly GP has told me high chance she'll need hospital care if she was to get the virus.

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