It’s cold and flu season folks! What’s a low to no screen mama to do when all the kids are sick and vying for distraction from the discomfort? Read on for my success tips for screen free sick days.

How to Deal
We do very little screens here at the Meyerstead. The kids watch a few movies, on the weekend nights, with popcorn and the whole shabang. Just so they can never say “my mom never…”. On second thought…. more often than not, that can be a good thing! Ha! Anyways, when the kids get sick, which is typically just a few times a year, I have a hard time dealing with the extra whine in the air, if you know what I’m sayin. They are usually pretty good at self-entertaining when we aren’t all working on school. So, you can imagine, it’s not an easy transition when they are laying around whining and crying because they feel poorly and are, quite frankly, bored. No one like to see their kids feeling sick, but I prefer to not immediately turn to the tv for the answer either. So. Here we are. What are our options so we can all get on with our day?
Screen Free Sick Days for the Babies and Very Young
Screen free sick days really do not apply to the babies and toddlers in our house. They really don’t become all that interested in watching cartoons or movies until 3 years old or so. This age is also so hard because they don’t have many interests that involve sitting or laying still. Besides, all they really want is mama anyways. I strongly recommend getting a good sling or carrier, that evenly supports baby so your back isn’t screaming at the end of an hour. Put baby in carrier and resign yourself to the fact that you’ll be holding, carrying, and comforting that baby all day. And try to enjoy it for what it is. You have the privilege of being the only thing that can make that sweet human feel comforted and slightly better. Being a mama is truly the greatest gift.
Screen Free Sick Days for Four to One Hundred and Four
Books – Paper and Audio
Some kids can read simple books at a very young age and THAT is a blessing! If you have a child in the 4-7 age range reading independently, be grateful! It’s such a gift to mom when kids hit that reading independently phase. I have had both very early and late readers. There are pros and cons to both, honestly, but for sick days, you can’t beat laying around on the couch all day with a few good books, regardless of your age. Reading remains my very favorite sick day past time.
If your kiddos are not quite there yet, don’t despair! Audio books are one of Gods great gifts to modern humans. In fact, my oldest daughter just got over being sick with a horrible headache. The only thing she really could do was listen to audio books, since reading made her head hurt worse.
My kids love to listen to; Adventures in Odyssey, the Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit books, Winnie the Pooh, and so many more awesome classic literature titles available for kids today. I know a lot of people love audible; we choose to use Chirp Books. There are several audio book sellers and carriers, just use the one you prefer and load your kids up on great literature for their screen free sick days!
Lacing and Stitching
The four- and five-year olds in the household will likely fall more in line with lacing cards than stitching or sewing. Lacing is a great prerequisite to sewing as it works heavily on those fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination. My littles have all loved lacing! These are the boards we use are no longer available, but I would suggest wooden options. Something like this would work well. My kids are pretty hard on their lace boards, and they have lasted through 3 of them so far!
Starting at six, I start moving them to a smaller sewing or stitching training pad. It’s basically just a thick plastic square with smaller square holes. Something like this would work well. From this stage, you can start teaching them different basic stiches, running stitch, whip stitch, etc. The older, more patient kids can start learning cross stitch from this same practice square.
Once they have mastered the cross stitch, I move them up to a simple kit and pattern to follow. There are a lot of these everywhere, but they are all pretty similar. My 9-year-old daughter has enjoyed these recently. She can sit for several hours, when she is sick, and work on these without getting bored.
Couch Activities
My Little kids don’t lay around the house. Once lessons are done for the day, they are generally outside playing regardless of the weather or season. When they are sick and couch bound, there is time for them to do some of the things they would not normally choose. Such as, coloring, drawing, doing puzzles, and telling stories. Sometimes, it’s fun to write their stories down in a journal or diary. These become treasures as the years pass and you can read them out loud and remember them at that age or stage of life. My kids also enjoy doing their Perla Beads, though it seems like they always get scattered everywhere so this tends to be a last go to for me.
Hopefully you have some new and improved ideas on how to get through a few more hours or days with your sick kids without having to sacrifice your screen time boundaries. Please share if you have more ideas that have worked well to keep your kids distracted from their misery!
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