Sickness preparedness is a key reason chaos taming is such a priority to me as as a home-maker and homeschool mom. I struggle with migraines and auto-immune issues, so it takes a little extra stewardship of my time and energy to ensure I can fulfill the responsibilities God's granted me.  I try to think of health and sickness as Joseph regarded feast and famine, finding ways to store up resources in times of plenty as insurance against leaner times when health challenges slow me down.  

Below I'll touch on five areas that help ease us through sicknesses: 

Life Skills Training:  We train the children in the tasks essential to keep life flowing, jobs that aren't their regular duties, but ordinarily are my tasks.  They love learning these "grown up" jobs!  They thrive on competence and the assurance that they can contribute in such important ways should I need their help.  Of course, should health prevail, they've learned skills and confidence in themselves that will serve them their whole lives.  Unlike monetary insurance the investment pays off in one form or another no matter what.

A six or seven year old can learn to change a baby's diapers.  We waited on this until the baby was three or four months old.  Big siblings "helped" with the newborns but weren't allowed to fly solo.  As the baby got a bit older, a changing pad on the floor (or even a towel) worked well to enable big sisters to help safely. )  

A four of five year old can learn to sort laundry, switch loads from washer to drier, and pair up socks or fold napkins.  (We keep a step stool in the laundry area. So they can join me and "watch the waterfall" when I turn on the washing machine.) 

In the kitchen, "peanut butter roll-ups" can be a child-friendly, speedy lunch.  Tortillas aren't as delicate as bread and stay together as the child spreads on even the chunkiest peanut butter.  The first "meal" my children learn to prepare consists of peanut butter roll-ups, milk, and carrot sticks.  Now the older children make a variety of more sophisticated dishes, but peanut butter roll ups are still a favorite, and the five year old has proudly added it to her solo-cooking repertoire. 

Little ones can unload dishes, stacking things that go in high cupboards on the counter.   They can also rinse dishes and load them into the dishwasher.

The catch is that these things need to be trained over time, working, playing and laughing together as they learn.  The time investment for training is significant, but the child's job satisfaction alone makes it worth while!  It also builds a sense of family unity.  They like knowing that they can "help mommy.  Just as I like to "put hands to my prayers" the children enjoy being able to give in their own small (and large) ways. 

Routine: When sickness hits any member of the family we try to keep at least a skeleton routine.  Sometimes minds and bodies are weary and figuring out "what do we do next" would be a burden.  On days like that we find it a relief to fall back on auto pilot routine.  We scale back from our full schedule as much as needed, but there's a skeleton of routine that remains to give support to our day, and comfort and familiarity to the whole family.

Meals: Healthy freezer meals, or other easy 10 minute meals, help nourish a sick family with wholesome, health building foods.  Like the tips for other categories, it takes advance planning.  I keep a little notebook of my fastest recipes, and try to keep a few meals in the freezer at all times "just in case".  (For more meal chaos taming, see my article from last week!)

Independent Study: I typically am very involved in my children's schooling, but we have a few things each child does on their own.  These assignments are things they continue if I'm sick or tending a sick child.   Whether it is typing drills or math facts on the computer, reading their literature assignments, or working on an essay topic, it seems to help to keep a scholarly rhythm.

Entertainment: I like to have a few games, unread books and a movie tucked away for "rainy" days.  We don't do television, but there's something about snuggling on the couch for a good wholesome movie to take our minds off sickness!  The rub is that when we are sick I don't want to trek out to rent a DVD.  I try to keep a surprise DVD hidden away at all times.  (Gently used copies of the  family friendly classics are almost as inexpensive as a rental--and then we can resell it when we are done!) Knitting, handcrafts, or even a new coloring book can help a sick child fill the hours.

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