I have been tossed into a pickle of a delima. My son;s nanny ( who would pick him up from school, keep him until I got out of work) was in an accident. A replacement nanny is not a good option since we only need the person until the end of may or until my parents get back to town. So my boss has allowed me to work from home instead of taking FMLA for this week and next. He is in school in the mornings, I pick him up at 11:15 and I work until 3:30. He no longer naps. So I am looking for things that he can do by himself while I work, this it a temp situation. The rest of this week and most of next week. I choose not to take him out of school for the two weeks becuse school is helping him (adhd and sensory). So I need things for him to do by himself (in the house , which makes it harder) while I am working. Any new ideas?
THanks.
Sadyl we live in a condo, so there is no yard :(
I am not going to put my son through another nanny/sitter except family at this time. My parents will be back in town after next wed. By the time I post something and interview, they will be here. I have tried tradtional daycares, and he has been kicked out. He has been through 4 different situations this year, this last peron was great for him, but her accident has put a wrench into things. Hence, I will not do another one for him. My mom will watch him until he is out of school, then he will go to his sisters daycare for the summer. Yes, I realize the perfect thing would be to have a nanny it is just not working out for us. I had to fire one, one left for more hours, one sitter gave us a dear john letter while we were on vacation and this one had an accident.. I will not subject him to another failure at this time.
I work from home and frequently have grandchildren around while I work. DVD's or watching movies on the laptop, small trampoline that they can bounce on, books, coloring, legos, making matches with dominoes to make a pattern, playing with cars or trains.
This is my life. I work from home full time and I have a 5 year old who attends preschool for three hours in the morning three times per week. The rest of the time, she's at home with me. Here are things that have saved my tush and allowed me to get some work done. The biggest saving grace for me is that I have flexible work hours, do you have that option? Regardless, some ideas:
-- even if he doesn't nap, (neither does my daughter, really) we always have an hour rest time where she goes into her room and listens to a story book for an hour on her ipod. It gives her a little down time and me time to work.
-- get him a water color set and let him paint the bath tub. Heck, let him paint the tile around the bath tub too if you have it. It cleans up fast. This little project keeps my daughter busy for an hour. Sometimes more.
-- learning games on the computer. If you have another computer that you can sit next to yours, or if you have a laptop and can move it next to another computer in your house, you can get him hooked up with games on sesame street.org, or pbskids.org. I'm not a huge fan of letting my little one play video games a lot, but these are educational games that keep her busy while I'm busy. Plus, she really has learned a lot from them.
-- workbooks. You can get them at the dollar store and let him work on handwriting, numbers, reading, whatever. They're cheap, and you can sit him beside you while you're working at the table or desk and help him when he needs it.
-- have other friends over for play dates. At 4, my daughter was so much more independent and so were her friends. I could invite a friend of hers over who she plays well with and they'd disappear for hours. I'd keep my ears open for any issues, but generally, it kept her busy and happy and I was able to get work done.
-- send her to another friend's house for a play date. Do you have any stay at home mom friends? Usually, they're more than willing to allow you to do a kid swap. You send your son over to their house for a few hours one day, let their child come to your house for a few hours one day. My friends have been so incredibly helpful to me. Even if you can't swing taking their kid during the week while you're working, you could always repay them on a Saturday or with date night babysitting.
-- do any places around town offer day camps? Our Rec Center offers little day camps for kids where they can go play sports and hang with other kids for a few hours. You might look around and see what the options are. Usually they're very affordable.
-- Are there any mother's day out programs you can send him to?
--Are there any kid friendly places around your town that also have wifi? We have Going Bonkers here where I can take my daughter and a friend on a random weekday morning, they climb, and I work.
-- Make play doh with him and then let him play with it while you work. There are a lot of great play doh recipes online. Here's my favorite: http://www.easy-kids-recipes.com/play-dough-recipes.html
-- Here is a link to some other things you may think about too: http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/01/101-fun-easy-and-c...
-- As a last ditch effort, I'll turn on a movie for her. But I don't like to do that. Though my daughter doesn't have any condition like ADHD, I feel like too much electronic stimulation makes her crazy.
-- Make a treasure hunt for him in the back yard. Go outside one evening after work when he's busy doing something else and take pictures all over the yard. Then, give him the pictures and a bucket and tell him to go explore and find each thing in the picture. Give him some sort of fun treat at the end when he's done. Tell him that if you help him, it doesn't count, so he needs to put on his thinking cap and really look for the pictured stick, leaf, rock, plant...whatever.
I'd suggest you sit down in the evening sometime and brainstorm a list of things for him to do for the 4 hours you need to work. When he gets home from school, he'll eat lunch, then make a good combination of creative and learning activities that he can do around the house. Take your computer out into the back yard and let him play outside for a little recess time under your supervision. Realize that he's 4 and playing by himself for 4 hours is hard for any kid, let alone one that young. If you can, take small breaks with him and run around or read him a book, etc. It'll be good for you to get up away from your computer too.
Hope this is helpful!
Good luck,
Hilary
Puzzles
Play- doh
Coloring
Blocks/ Legos
Cartoons
Books
Trains
Don't feel like a bad parent for popping in a movie. Desperate times call for desperate measures!
My son (5) LOVES to help clean, so if I need to do something I will give him a wet paper towel and the Swiffer and let him go to town. It sounds odd, but it buys me (usually) about 20-30 minutes.
I would suggest that you look into temp daycare. not so much a nanny as just a sitter. is it possible that the school has before / after care that he could stay at? once into a routine of sitting in front of a tv all day it is hard to drop it. and at 4 he needs attention not just sent to play.
Try to start your work day a bit earlier so that you don't have to be on the computer so much in the afternoon. After you feed him lunch, see if you can get him to watch a movie or perhaps arrange a playdate.
Things To Do.
1. Have lunch, but you eat before he does (or after) so you can eat at the computer and work while he eats.
2. Crafts at a table in the area where you are working. You can interact with him while he works but still get things done.
3. Play dates. Either in your home or somewhere else. I have traded time with other WAHMs. Even when DD has a friend here, I can get more done with two kids around because they're occupied.
4. Occasionally, a movie or TV. I have sometimes had to pop in Lion King 1 and 1/2 to have a GoToMeeting. My boss understands.
I don't know the nature of your work but if you can make it so you are not always working when he is up, you can tag-team when your spouse comes home and get some work done then, or when your son is in bed.
I worked from home the summer my kids were 4, 6, and 8. I still sent them to daycare, but I let them get up on their own, take their time, etc. We weren't rushing anywhere. The days they wanted to stay home they did, but they had to leave me alone.
You've been given some great suggestions here.
Do you know have 2 weeks of leave saved? Or even one week so you can work while he is in school and not while he is home?
It's darn near impossible to take a child who has had a nanny and activites and expect them to let you work...kids just aren't built that way. Maybe even take 15 minutes every hour and give it to him. That would be time you'd be chatting at work, going to the bathroom, smoke breaks (or in my case, fresh air breaks), etc.
The one activity that hasn't been mentioned so far (I think) is dress-up. My son loved that, and it had an unexpected side benefit whereby he learned to dress himself in the morning without realizing he was even trying.
He can play. Build things, look at books, build roadways, color. It's temporary so TV can be your friend too. Just explain that you have to work n he needs to behave. It is only four hours. Not a long time.
Seriously, you still need a nanny. You can find someone short term through an agency. You might also try one of the sitter agencies since it is so short term. Is this work that you can do after DH gets home from his job or after your son is in bed (or early in the morning before he gets up)? There is no way I could have gotten a solid block of work in when DS was 4.
ETA: I meant a nanny WHILE you are home with him. Since it will be so short term, it would be a lot to have a whole new person to be alone with. I don't think it would be a biggy for him to have a nanny to occupy him but know you are still around.
Put a tarp on a hard surfaced floor. Put a water table on it an fill it with sand. Give him little bulldozer trucks, little scoops and a bucket. My 3 year old will play with sand for a long time. Yes, your house will get messy. They have this set up (minus the tarp) at my daughter's preschool and the kids all love it.
Let him play in the bath for an hour with lots of bath toys. He'll be one clean kid. If you can work on your laptop right by him you can keep an eye on him. My daughter will play and play for a long time in the bath. She loves her toy animals, empty bottles, a little washcloth, etc.
Invite over a friend. Both my kids are completely occupied with their friends when they come over. It's like a nice break for me.
Get a giant cardboard box he can crawl inside. Add a couple windows and a door. Stick it on a tarp and let him paint and decorate it while you work.
