to want to stay in today with dc

[emsylou]

It is the end of the school holidays and the weather is not very good today. We have been doing outside activities all holiday and went to a caravan in cornwall last week.
I know any minute now the "what are we doing today" is going to start and I a tired, single parent of 2. My ds has high functioning autism and frankly I dont want to do anything today. Please help

[moreJellothanJlo]

oh God I bet you need a rest, can you stay in and watch dvd's?

[emsylou]

thats what i would like to do. do other parents do that? Children have a way of making you feel so guilty dont they? or maybe its just me!hehe

[TheDevilWearsPrimark]

Make rice crispy buns?

Do them a picnic lunch on the living room floor and let them watch as much tv as they like.

You deffo deserve a break!

[chamaeleon]

build a den. let them move all the furniture and cover it with sheets, then they will hopefully sit in it all day. allow them to furnish it with cushions etc and for some reason they love putting tins of food in there. you sit with a cup of tea and direct. thats my stand by emergency activity

[emsylou]

am so glad i posted, dens picnics and tins def sound good. they love making dens as well, had forgotten. rice crispy cakes, great, thanks so much. feel better already

[TheDevilWearsPrimark]

I hope you have a fun day!

[chamaeleon]

glad you are feeling more positive!

another thought - how old is your child with hfa? mine will spend hours on google and youtube researching whatever his current obsession is, he feels he has had a great day if he gets to do plenty of that. of course then you might have to log off mn for a bit so not all good i spose

[emsylou]

I think we will, kids over the moon, faces lit up with talks of dens and picnics. woo hoo, everybody is a winner. you all have a good day too :0

[emsylou]

my son also loves to do exactly that chamaeleon. will def save that for later after all other activities exhausted. It is hard to get him off once he gets on even with a timetable. We have lots of problems here with screen time, do you have similar problems? thats why staying in the house can sometimes be hard.

[TheDevilWearsPrimark]

If they get bored of the den get them to build a pirate ship or something like, then make paper hats and swords etc.

[emsylou]

pirates of the caribbean one of the latest phases so the pirate ship will def work well. Am actually feeling excited aboiut staying at home, thats a first!

[MingMingtheWonderPet]

First words out of my kids mouths every morning are 'What are we doing today?'
It can be very wearing trying to think of something exciting and not too expensive to do every day.
Will follow some of the suggestions above I think!

[chamaeleon]

yes we have exactly that problem! he gets so engrossed that he could literally spend all day in front of the computer and i have had to limit it which is easier said than done! he does like watching the clock in the bottom corner of the screen tho so i can tell him he has until such a time and he can usually get his head round that. or tell him 10 more minutes and he can use the clock to count it down.

[emsylou]

thats a good idea using the clock on the computer, will try that, thanx. how long is a reasonable time to allow them on it do you think. I know its an individual thing but I dont have much confidence in my decision making and am interested in what others do.

[cory]

We are doing the same today. Had holiday away last week and spent lots of time outside. They can watch dvds all day as far as I'm concerned. If ds gets bored I'll send for one of his mates. I really can't be fussed to organise anything today. In fact, I think they should make me a nice cake for teatime.