Hi all.
After years of being an active, outdoorsy parent I'm really struggling to find things I'm able to do with the kids. They are 11 and 13.
My symptoms are very similar to those of many others here. Small walks are my limit. Unable to throw, kick or catch a ball, ride a bike and have absolutely no artistic skills.
We cook and bake but that's starting to wear a bit thin too.
Any ideas.....please?!
Scavenger hunts or treasure maps in the garden are always fun. Set up clues and so on. You don’t have to run around. Just set it up and then watch 
Learning bush craft skills like making a fire or a den is always cool. Or make a hammock with them if you’re feeling really inspired: ropesdirect.co.uk/blog/how-...
Obstacle courses in the garden that you set up for them and time them doing. Crazy golf set for home.
Setting up a vegetable patch and growing stuff.
Art doesn’t always require lots of skills. You can do clay modelling. Marbling. Abstract pictures. Duct tape art (Google this).
Loads of tutorials for all of these things on YouTube too. Hope that’s of some help! x
Hi Wolsey. I was in your position many years ago but I do remember reciprocal play dates worked for my two girls. They kind of all entertained themselves and all I had to do was provide lunch and snacks.
The next time they went to the other house and I got best part of the day off.
Good luck. Xxx
I hear you loud and clear - my two are 10 and 12! I was very active prior to my car accident and then having subsequent difficulties. It has been the hardest thing to adjust my level of involvement in all the fun activities; I feel your pain and frustrations; I too hate the way life has changed for us all. I watch movies, help with school work, read with them even play video games (very badly but I try!)! I bake but that can be draining. We started growing veg last year when lockdown first hit and it was a great success so we are expanding this year and including some flowers! They are the muscle and I point and give advice! We go for walks with our puppy - sometimes limited no two days are the same we have to take each day as it comes! Did you ever play boy girl country colour fruit/veg that is always a hit! Lockdown has limited the options too, we used to have plenty of sleepovers, parties, play dates but that has to wait until things ease! We also play board games and have themed evenings just for a change!
Love to you and your children
Regards
Braveheart
Thank you. And to you and yours.
Lots of sensory ideas here on this site, sensorytrust.org.uk/resourc... I've done lots of them working with kids and have had fibro for many years. Enjoy.
Just to add something to this from the charity perspective. If there was a collection of resources from the community that would fill a content gap like this i.e. helping fibro parents source activities that would help them pace better and keep kids engaged then that's something that we could share wider. As a website article or electronic leaflet that people can access when they need it.
The benefits of destressing the parent, keeping kids engaged and reinforcing the bond with more parent child time is a great element and reduces parental stress which could negatively impact on the fibro.
The stress is the worst part....like we need any more....
I can remember going from playing football with my boy periodically and for short periods of time, taking him to matches to doing less and less of it and feeling guilty. It increased stress levels that did not help me.
Having been the child in this situation, I can honestly say I didn’t see it like that at all. I never felt like I was missing out. I loved spending time with my Mum whatever we were doing...even just sending Maltesers down a marble run and then eating them 😂 So as much as I can totally imagine it stresses you out, it’s also a question of perspective x
Agreed. I think more resources to help people get through the practical and emotional side of fibro would be great.
I’m not a parent myself, but I am a child of a disabled parent. Mum could not do any physical activities with us (no sport or walking etc) but we still had a great time doing many of the things I suggested above! She was awesome at setting up treasure hunts with cryptic clues. And we did a lot of art, which was not her forte but it didn’t matter in the slightest. It’s the experience that counts, not the result in many ways.
The journalist in me feels like some ‘Top 10 Ideas’ lists would be good, as opposed to long form articles. Maybe even some infographics
Also content on ‘Fibro and Relationships’ would be good. This seems to be a hot topic for people on the forum. And ‘5 Ways to Cope with Fibro at Work’ etc etc
There's a lot of exercise programmes online these days for kids. You could just supervise!
Hi Woldsy
Sorry this has taken awhile to write, not been good, just found out I have Myeloma (bone marrow cancer) as well as my other conditions, anyway I have had fibro since 2009, I loved doing things with my granchildren but I struggle to do outdoor stuff, as I am bad at walking. When they stayed with me for the weekends we would do things in and around the house. Some of the things we did:
- Grow seeds for their Mum and Dad's garden
-Make a bee hotel using an old food container/jar/tin and dead sticks, grass, leaves
-Paint the bee hotel with flowers, ladybirds and bees
-Make and decorate bee hotels for presents for parents, teachers, aunty, uncles etc
-I got some cheep old terracota pots for painting and for planting up some spring bulbs to give as Christmas gifts
- Inside they would make bracelets with plastic beads as friendship bracelets for their friends (the boys liked this as well as the girls) they could also use wool,thread. string. leather strips to make boy bracelets.
- We decorated candles with stick on art stuff like, stars, flowers,pictures of cute thing like rabbits, birds, babies, unicorns etc.
- we did French knitting with a dolly peg (it makes a long wool tube) and when the knitting/tube was long enough they made costers and dinner mats with it by curling it around and stitching it.
There are so many easy, cheepish and free crafts and things on the internet to give you ideas that will keep them happy and engaged and away from their tablets.
If they didn't fancy making things they loved sitting around the diningroom table together with me playing board games. Ludo, monopoly, dominoes and then there is always playing card games. We would talk, laugh and enjoy each others company. The best game they liked was Bingo, playing for custard creams. 1 custard cream for a line, 2 for a house. I have 14 grandchildren and not one of them does not like custard cream bingo. On special occations we might even play for 20p a line, 50p a house.
These are just some of the things we did together, children generally love being creative or just playing the old games. I have also done this with their friends and my brothers granchildren. You don't have to be artistic - its about having fun and who knows you might uncover a hidden talent that they have. 1 grandchild (he is 6) wanted a plastic greenhouse of Father Christmas. Now he has his own little garden at home that he looks after and grows on little flowering plants as well as cactus plants in his bedroom- move over Alan Titchmarch, there is a new kid in town.
Importantly - With all of the above, if I am not so good all I do is supervise. When they are creating they use their own ideas and imaginations, it has really helped their confidence develop. And I find my love for them grows and I'm sure their love for me grows. It helps me feel less useless.
Their smilly faces and laughter might not take my pain away but it does brighten my day and help me to cope and the children and I have all made lovely memories. Keeps me going in the dark hours on nights I cannot sleep. By the way, children can understand you when you are not well, they will love you just as much as they did when you could kick a ball.
I really hope this helps you, it is obvious that you love your children very much and the bottom line is that is all they really need, love from their mum, love and hugs hubby Elaine xx
What a lovely, cheery post with great suggestions. Wishing you well with your recent diagnosis. I used to be a myeloma specialist nurse and there are lots of successful treatments to manage symptoms if or when needed. I am going to pinch some of your creative ideas when I next look after my friend’s children!😊😊😊
Work related activity group.
Work? children, Left side pain and having a rant!
Under active thyroid blood test 
Attacked on my mobility scooter by a gang of children
Sleep activities 
