My oldest fell off her bike and broke her elbow. Yesterday was her first day home from the hospital (Saturday night- late Sunday, they had to operate). By 3 yesterday afternoon, she was bouncing off the walls. I need her to remain chill for at least a week, but she is super active girl. She usually does soccer twice a week, and judo three times a week. She also swims once a week, and then spends about 2-4 hours everyday outside running around, riding bikes, etc. In short, she gets high intensity exercise almost every day for at least an hour, with multiple extra hours of just plain old activity.
I need suggestions as to what to do to keep her from destroying my house with all her energy!
Her doctor told me she could go on the swing with adult supervision after about 1 week. But that doesn't utilize a lot of energy! I was hoping I could take her swimming, but since she has pins, they won't allow a waterproof cast until 3 weeks.
So, for those of you who have been in my shoes, what did your kids do to expend all their energy when they had a broken bone?
My daughter is a very active, high intensity 6 year old. (a sensory seeker too!)
I am going to try to take them on a lot of hikes and walks and things, but what can we do around the house to use energy?
thank you
At six, she is old enough to understand that she simply cannot do everything she wants to do right now. It sucks, but that's the way it is.
Ouch. That must hurt! I've only broken my pinky toe. My boys haven't broken anything - yet. I'm sure it will happen one day. I'd like to hope not though.
Instead of appeasing her and her energy, why not parent her and tell her how to behave? I have four boys, I understand energy levels. What your daughter needs is for you to tell her to sit down and not do anything to hurt herself again. She's six. She should understand that.
What does her doctor say she can and cannot do?
Other than her cast, does she have any other limitations?
If she doesn't want the doctor to have to operate on her arm again or worse, another part of her body.
I love the idea of duct tape!
one word..ducttape! if the bone heals crooked, the child will end up with a crooked arm!! been there. done that! no swimming, no nothing that could re break the arm!! trust me, kid..you dont want an arm that looks like it got slapped back on off kilter!!find something to do with her that isnt high risk..take her to a different museum every other day, on the "odd days" find something at home for her to try...quilting, baking cookies , crochet..anything low impact that wont risk re injury! K. h.
Go to the library and get a book on elementary science experiments. Not high energy but could be distraction enough to keep her busy for a bit.
J.,
I think at this time? I would ask the doctor for meds!! LOL! Sorry.
In all seriousness - I don't know what to tell you - when my son broke his clavicle in April - we had an interesting week or two - especially since it was Spring Break.
I would tell her if she wants the cast off as quickly as possible that she needs to be MELLOW....if she can do jumping jacks or other things like that? I would try it...not sure how the cast limits her and what she can and cannot do.
If it were me I would ignore the doctor. She can't fall on it, probably shouldn't vigorously move it. Maybe call him back and get the specifics.
My point is if it were one of my kids I would make it clear mess it up they will have to operate again! No kid wants that so they tend to listen very carefully to instructions with the caveat, don't listen and you back at the creepy place with the bad food!
It worked with my kids and I would bet they would make yours look calm at that age. Do you have a stationary bike or an elliptical in your house? My youngest has loved my elliptical since she was five, great way to burn some energy.
So call the doctor, tell him this isn't working, get more information, go from there. If she is bouncing off the walls, yes I know not literally, she is going to do something impulsive that will hurt her. Less restrictive activity is going to be less risky. Can't control the wind, you can only guide it.
When he was younger, hubs used to walk his family's dogs, a westie, a king charles cavalier and an alsatian to the park. Some days the dogs would run and chase, on others they would be busy sniffing. In any event, they would come back tired.
Any chance you can find some low energy, but challenging/ engaging things for her to do? how about doing some sort of mosaic craft, painting by numbers and similar such things.
Best,
F. B.
no wiggly 6 year old will lie on the couch for a week. mine was lower key than yours, but when his wrist was broken it was really hard for him to abstain from all the funs. she can probably still engage in modified versions of her usual activities- work on judo kicks, practice some soccer drills, and still run around outside so long as she's not super-wild. and at 6 she's old enough to understand that if she re-injures herself she'll be on the sidelines long-term. if you see her getting out of control, reprimand her sternly.
and you'll need to have a few above-and-beyond-the-norm tools in your coping toolbox. let her watch more videos than you normally would. plan to spend an extra hour reading to her every afternoon. get the other kids engaged in let's-pretend play with her, maybe where she's an injured lioness and they're the vets. have her practice painting with just the one hand.
good luck, hon!
khairete
S.
I would say that you can allow HER to decide what she's up for. Of course the doctor is telling you she can't do anything. If he said, "Yeah, let her do whatever she wants!" and then anything happened, he might be sued. So he plays it safe and says she can do basically nothing. My youngest is high-energy also, so I know that sitting around and doing nothing is a total no-go. ;)
There was a girl at my daughters' ballet studio who broke her arm and had a cast up past her elbow. She was back to ballet shortly thereafter (against the doctor's orders, apparently) and actually she was totally fine. She was taking 2 hours of ballet per day, no worse for the wear. I'm not saying your 6 year old should be doing that, but I'm just saying that if she hurts, she will stop. If she doesn't hurt, then there's probably no harm in doing whatever she's doing.
And... maybe you could engage her interest by reading a good book to her? She's probably too young for Harry Potter (although, maybe not?), but something along those lines might entertain her.
Find out from the doc if she can go to the Y or someplace like that. Can she walk on the treadmill or sit on an exercise bike. There are many things a person can do that doesn't require arms. I'd see if the doc will let her do anything at all.
Maybe something like this would be an option?
http://www.target.com/p/stamina-instride-cycle-xl/-/A-108...
When I was about 8. a friend broke her arm and needed surgery with pins put in. There is a difference between breaking an arm and getting a cast and breaking an arm and getting pins. It is easier to do more permanent damage. That is probably why the doc says she needs to be more calm the first week or so.
I cannot imagine how it would be if my 6 yr old broke something and could not get out and run all over. She is currently grounded and is driving me nuts in the house. Feel like I am the one punished. anyway, maybe she could ride an exercise bike or something like that. Also, if your library has an activity hour, she might enjoy it.
My daughter broke her arm at 3 and once the cast protected it from being bumped not much slowed her down. I'd keep offering things to do and places to go - zoo, aquariums, walks and see if you can find a game to distract her.
My daughter is now 16 and had a bad sprain this year during basketball season. Her plan was she'd miss two practices and then play in the game. She wouldn't use her crutches, she wouldn't put her foot up during the day and she wouldn't ice it during school. I finally had to keep her home as her toes were so swollen they were losing circulation. She's a strong-willed child who wouldn't listen to the pain signals from her body and she's always been that way so I do understand your struggle with this. Just try to keep her mind occupied to expend that energy.
