Bad days happen.
You know they are going to happen. You know it is inevitable. You dread those days.You wake up to all your symptoms in overdrive. Maybe, depending on your particular variation of Living Conditionally, you hurt all over. Maybe you can't think straight. Maybe you are going to be incapacitated all day... What do you do?
While everyone's situation is different, there are some things we can all do to make these days have as little negative impact as possible.
The hardest thing I had to deal with was getting my kid taken care of. The first part was the hardest, on me personally, on my ego. I had to explain to my kid, in terms he could understand, that I would sometimes have days when I couldn't be the best mom I wanted to be.
The hard part past, I moved on to making it work.
Plan ahead.
Here are a few tips for parents of school aged kids.Do as many things the day or night before as possible. My son and I would pack his backpack the night before. Then we put it near the door with his shoes and coat.
Make a Get Ready list and tape it on the wall. List every little thing in the order it should be done. If you are planning for a pre-reader, use charts that have pictures to go with them.
Plan their clothing. I would put entire outfits on one hanger. Matching shirts and pants, under clothes, socks, everything. There are a variety of ways you can do this, but the easiest is to hang the pants and shirt in the usual way and hang a grocery bag with everything else from the hanger too. Before he learned to tie his shoes, I bought shoes with Velcro instead of laces.
Plan easy meals and teach your kids how to manage them on their own.
Breakfast: My son loves cereal. I made sure his favorite (but still healthy) cereal was where he could reach it. I bought half gallon jugs of milk so it was small enough and light enough he could pour it himself, if necessary.
Lunch: Sandwiches are easy. Cans of soup with pull tabs are easy too. Add a bag of baby carrots and individual cups of applesauce and you have a super simple meal. If your child using a butter knife to make a PB&J makes you nervous, keep lunch meat and sliced cheese handy. No knife required.
Dinner: For my worst days, when I couldn't get up at all, I had microwavable frozen dinners in the freezer. My son considered them a treat because he loved chicken nuggets and fries. They came with dessert too. For less severe days, I had easy meals I could make. Shake and bake pork chops, macaroni and cheese, and green beans are still a favorite meal.
Do what works
Do what works for you and your family. You don't have to be SuperMom or SuperDad to be a good parent. Love and communication go a long way.Share tips and tricks you use to deal with FIC days in the comments below.
