Entertaining a Sick Kid

For the past week Parker hasn’t been feeling well and I’ve stayed home from work to take care of him. It got me thinking; what do you do with a sick kid? You can’t send them to school, daycare won’t take them, so unless you are fortunate enough to have a retired or stay-at-home relative in the area or be a stay-at-home parent yourself a parent has no choice but to stay home from work.

The up side of all this could be that the parent gets to spend some one-on-one time with the sick child (if there isn’t a younger sibling lurking about that is).

Here are a few things you can do to get through the day together:

Cuddling – there is no better medicine than the human touch! Plus as kids get older they want to cuddle with us less so it’s smart to take the opportunities to do so when they come up.

Games – play a board game or card game. It takes little energy and can entertain a bored child for a bit.

TV/Movies – cuddle on the couch and watch a favorite show together.

Books - read a book together. If your child is old enough a chapter book would be a great way to entertain them. You can put it down and pick it up again later.

Fresh Air – go for a short walk. Fresh air and exercise is good for you even when you’re sick. And in this case it might have the added bonus of relieving some stir-craziness.

Nap – forget about getting stuff done around the house while your little one is down for a nap. Get some rest too; you’re going to need it because, as you know, sick kids tend to be up all night.

Fluids – you’ve heard it before, make sure to push lots of fluids. Why not make this fun? Prepare a smoothie together, or add some food colouring to water to make it your child’s favorite colour or buy one of those looping straws.

How do you keep your sick child entertain? Have any tips you’d care to share?

~Sarah

Cooking for a Toddler

We are pretty lucky. Parker is a good eater and he will try just about anything. So for the most part he is eating whatever we are eating. However there are still times when he doesn’t want or like what we want for dinner. For example, we like spicy curry and while he’ll eat a curry he won’t eat anything that has any spice to it.

Instead of having to cook two different dinners on the spot I’ve made it easy on myself by freezing a few of his favourite casseroles into toddler meal sized portions. This way it only takes a few minutes from freezer to plate and it is completely stress free.

Here’s what I do:
1) Cook up a casserole
2) Let it cool
3) Scoop into a muffin tin lined with silicon muffin cups and place in the freezer, let freeze overnight.
4) In the morning, pull muffin tin out of freezer and place each portion into a big freezer Ziploc bag, labeled with the recipe name and date.

*Note: remember when using the toddler meal sized portion you are reheating not cooking so reduce your microwave to 50%, make sure to stir and test for temperature before feeding your child.

Here is a great healthy casserole that freezes up well and Parker loves. The recipe made enough for the three of us to have dinner one night and make up six-toddler meal sized portions for the freezer.

Veggie and Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:
• 1 box (500 mL) CAMPBELL'S® Cream of Chicken Easy Cooking Sauce
• 3/4 cup (175 mL) uncooked long grain rice or Quinoa
• ½ tsp (7 mL) chili powder
• 1 tsp Herbes de Provence (you can buy this or make your own)
• 1 cups (250 mL) chopped onion, red and green pepper strip mixture
• 1 cup (250 ml) frozen mixed veggie (peas, carrots, corn)
• 4 (about 1 lb/500 g) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions
1. Mix cooking sauce, rice or quinoa, herbes de provence and chili powder in shallow 2 qt (2 L) baking dish. Spread evenly with vegetables.
2. Top with chicken. Sprinkle chicken with cheese. Cover.
3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) until chicken is cooked through and rice or quinoa is tender – about 50 minutes. Remove cover and broil until cheese is golden and bubbly – about 3 minutes. Stir rice and let stand 5 minutes before serving.


Enjoy,
~Sarah