Play Time

[masumeh]

Just wanted to see if POTS moms here (especially the severely symptomatic ones) have found good ways to stay interactive with small children. I find it difficult these days, as my daughter nears 4 years and her energy level is quickly overtaking my own. I'm trying to find ways to play with her laying down. We have a couple games, like tickling, bouncing her on my legs. Other than that, I'm feeling fairly useless on bad days. She is getting frustrated too...she hates it when I lay down, and she is often left alone to play if I get knocked out from whatever. I'm constantly having to shush her and ask her to play in her room when my stimulus sensitivity is high. Feels guilty...although I'm doing my best. Any ideas???

[pat57]

action fiqures, you can pretend with them a long time and still be laying down.

[nadine]

I had two bad episodes of CFS when my daughter was young and it was very difficult- that is an understatement. I had a tote bag next to couch/bed filled with books, simple puzzles, coloring and drawing supplies, activity books, small crafts-just paper, glue sticks, things I could do in bed- books on tape we listened to together, didn't have to read ,just listened together, pointing to objects and turned the page- she loved the I Spy books or things we had to search for

maybe some intereactive videos/dvds for children -when you can stand the stimulation, movies to watch together

she is young and probably wants to be active, maybe some yoga stretching together, kids exercise and dance dvds she can watch in your room- can be quite entertaining to watch them do these things.

creative play- teasets, playfood, dolls, leggos, lace up cards, blocks, lincoln logs,

When weather was nice and I could stand being outside, I would have a lounge chair and let her play outside on riding toys, playhouse,etc. It is so very hard.

My daughter is now a delightful young woman- she did ok. With this onset of illness- I now have several very young nieces and nephews. They climb up on my bed, which is in the living room and I have things we can do in bed. I have the same old puzzles, interlocking blocks, books and movies,coloring supplies.

On your good days be creative and think of a few things you can have ready for those bad days, weeks. For me it was months.

Can someone help with taking her out for physical activity to burn some of the energy when you can't?

[mattsmum]

Join them into clubs where they can participate in activities without you necessarily providing the activity. My son is now 5 but at 4 he did swimming and we had mothers groups/friends houses to take them to go play. Now he is doing drama,swimming and karate. He is very active and impossible to keep up with.

I ask my husband and other relatives to take him to the park and take him on a day trip on the weekend if possible. At this age they have so much energy even people with normal energy levels find it hard to keep up with little loan us POTS people. So just do the best you can thats all you can do. Oh I also forgot to mention at 4 I had him in daycare 3 days a week because I could not keep up with him. I felt guilty but at least he had friends to play with and plenty of activities much better than I could have done.

Julia

Mother to Matthias aged 5

[MomtoGiuliana]

I would not feel guilty about day care. As long as it is a loving environment children greatly benefit from time away from mommy and with a group of children and other adults.

Generally I have enough energy for my daughter (if I had two I think it would be a lot harder). But on days I don't, I sit and pretend to be an "audience" while she dances and sings, or I sit on the floor and play with figures or dolls with her. I try to stay away from TV, but sometimes she does watch TV to give me a rest. I think it is ok that a parent can't keep pace with her child all the time. Learning limitations is a great benefit for young children too.

Katherine

[masumeh]

THanks for all the great ideas and ready support!

It's interesting that 4 seems to be the age, the time when energy is high but the kid is still out of school. Day care isn't an option here in Saudia...but I think I might be able to make a more stable arrangement with some extended family. I always liked reading child care books to find the "right" developmental games and activities for my daughter...but now, it's just all different because -thank God- she has so much more endurance than I do. She likes dolls, and creates intricate games and scenes with her stuffed animals...I think that could be a time when I could play an act laying down (maybe I could be the mote of the castle?). Crafts sounds like something she'd really enjoy...although I am an ex-girl scout, and my mother was the GS leader, and well....can I say I do not like crafts! My daughter does have an art center in her room, and she is so used to independant play, she even cleans it up herself! Well...I have some more ideas now...and something to consider about creating a better support system.

Thanks again!

masumeh

[bttrflyamby1981]

I have a 3 year old so I understand!! He LOVES playing with playdough and board games. Of course both take energy having to clean up or show him how to do the game the right way. I have a 6 year old too and they will sometimes play nicely together. But the FIGHTING. I guess this is my fault since I know most of it is brought on by boredom.

Independent play can be good for a child, don't be hard on yourself. As long as our children know and feel we love them, what we are able to do doesn't matter.

Now if only they could give us a little of that energy! lol

[Guest tearose]

Wow, I do remember those days! My sons were little ones and I did not have the energy to get thru the entire day without a good long nap.

I purchase about 8 excellent educational videos of sesame street and about 6 other educational kinds. Every day when it was time for mommy to take a nap, I would lay down near the boys, on a blanket on the floor or on the nearby loveseat, and pop a "special" video in and they got use to watching the special videos while mommy napped. This worked out very well.

Today, my sons are grown and have fond memories of all that video time!!! They still remember the videos word for word and will sing all those silly songs with happy memories. They were not damaged by this kind of technology childcare and I got to rest!

I hope you find what works.

tearose