Christinne Rudd, a mother with a disability, reminisces about how her own parents incorporated indoor activities in her play time as it was sometimes difficult for her to play outside. Christine gives advice on the benefits of indoor play not only for the child but the family as a whole.
“Considering the extreme limitations living with a disability placed on my mobility for a large part of my childhood, I don’t feel like I missed out on much at all. My family made sure I stayed as active as possible with games, toys, and playing “pretend school” so much it didn’t faze me all that I couldn’t play outside like other kids at my school talked about,” says Christinne.
Christinne believes having an activity plan with indoor activities can help a child’s development and foster independence. A few examples of indoor activities are reading, movies and camp outs indoors.
“The ideas you come up with will help you pass the time and gives rise to fun memories.”
Christinne admits that parenting with a disability can be overwhelming but it is important to remember that your child loves you because you are their parent. “All (children) really want to do is spend time with you in a loving and nurturing environment. The disability is secondary, if it even exists in their minds at all because they just see who you are,” she says.
Christinne sets up games like indoor bowling and golf which can be turned into early math lessons that can be used as building blocks for the future. She says you can do activities with older kids to work on their handwriting. You can even do activities to teach your children about meal prep to teach them to become more self-sufficient. Christinne states, “(Meal Prep) can not only can help them gain some skills that lead to increased independence but may help solve the problem of the picky eater. If kids have a hand in helping make the food that ends up being put in front of them when it’s time to eat, they might be more excited to sit down at the dinner table.”
Having an indoor activity plan can also give your child an idea of things to do when there is bad weather. It could turn a potentially scary experience into a more calm atmosphere. “Kids can gain basic skills and experiences, so they have an idea of what to expect when certain things like hurricanes, winter storms or power outages happen. It will help a potentially scary experience for a child not be so scary after all,” says Christinne.