Holidays are so tough. I'm lucky I'm a teacher as I can be home with my two children (6 years old DD and 10 years old DS).However, these are the issues:
- my son is autistic, has a very limited range of play and would spend the whole day on Minecraft if I wasn't heavily involved.
- he's never been interested in playing with his sister . It's such a shame as she'd love that.
- he's saying no to every single activity I suggest. Sometimes, I'll strike gold with a Minecraft themed activity like making a list of the Minecraft characters, or drawing a map of it...
- my DD needs a lot of involvement from me again when we're "just" at home otherwise she finds screens are her "go to" activity
- I still need to go shopping, clean and tidy (nothing crazy here, I do what needs doing that's all), deal with our admin, and of course plan meals they'll eat ,cook and the rest.
- there's no family to help us around
- we're on a fairly tight budget
I try to.plan for activities outside the house every day. We sometimes do things with my daughter's friends and their parents. Very occasionally, I'll take our son and one of his two friends somewhere. Very occasionally, the favour will be reciprocated. My son finds social anything very difficult, even with close family (when we see them) and friends. All of these "playdates" are mostly organised by me. It's tiring, and makes me feel lonely.
My daughter likes crafts, drawing, baking, playgrounds etc...She plays non stop when she has a friend here. However, we can't do that everyday and I feel like I'll go mad trying to organise everything so that everyone is happy. I'm taking myself out of the equation really. I run on very little most of the time and holidays can be tough.
I'm looking for ideas I've not thought about yet (possibly). How can I encourage them to do things independently when they're "bored" (not screen related), knowing they won't play together.
Thanks