Parents may feel helpless when kids are home sick. Yet there are many effective ways to beat the flu and encourage rapid recovery. Here are a few ideas adults can use to soothe, nourish, and entertain the sick children in their care.
Keeping Kids Cool and ComfortableIn the first stages of illness, physicians usually recommend that parents keep patients quiet and well-hydrated. Moms and dads can administer ibuprofen and acetominaphen. They can offer plenty of liquids.Other simple suggestions for keeping sick kids content include:
- Changing pillows and pillowcases often to provide a cool headrest for feverish youngsters.
- Offering a variety of beverages with kid-friendly "bendy" straws.
- Cleaning the patient's face, hands and feet often with cool, scented washcloths.
- Setting up makeshift beds throughout the house so sick children can be close to caregivers.
- Keeping lights dim and household volume low.
Providing Flu-Fighting Nourishment
As children convalesce, getting them to eat becomes a parent's biggest challenge. Appetites will shrink and interest in food may wane. First, caregivers can start with a soft diet. Herbal teas, broths, jello, and popsicles provide hydration. Homemade chicken soup is the ultimate comfort food.
Allowing recovering kids to "play" with food may spark an interest in eating. This muffin tin meal is a playful way to introduce nutritious foods back into the diet. Youngsters may also enjoy fingerpainting with pudding before eating. Drawing faces on soft-boiled eggs and then cracking, Humpty Dumpty-style, can be a fun mealtime activity, as well.
Kid-friendly flu-fighting foods include:
- citrus fruits
- yogurt
- berries
- chicken
- turkey
- almonds
- sweet potatoes
Entertaining Kids With Flu
During the final phases of recovery, children are not healthy enough to go to school but often become bored with the sickbed. At this stage, providing gentle entertainment is a caregiver's most important task.
This is a wonderful time for recruiting help. Willing grandparents, aunts and uncles can bring favorite books and movies from the library. Recovering children will enjoy storytime with someone new. Neighbors can lend gently-used puzzles and board games. The novelty of a new activity will help time pass a bit more quickly.
Older children may enjoy some simple craft projects. The bed or family room sofa becomes a makeshift creation station with the use of a TV tray or even a large baking sheet. Molding clay, watercolors, paper dolls and model building are nice alternatives to electronic entertainment.
Kids of all ages enjoy making snowflakes and decorating for winter holidays. Painting windows with glass-writing pens is a quiet indoor activity. Making homemade books, then sharing with family members provides a two-fold distraction for recuperating youngsters.
Parents needn't feel helpless when kids have the flu. Simple homemade comforts, healing foods and educational activities will help most sick children make a rapid recovery.
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