Sometimes it's hard for families to cope because their child is feeling the effects of treatment or the illness. Families stop playing and having fun together. Play is very important in a child's life. Having fun is an important bonding tool, especially for siblings. But how do you help your sick child to have fun with siblings who may have higher energy levels?
You can adapt some common card games to increase the fun quotient. You can use a regular deck of cards, minus the jokers. In Go Fish, the players try to match two of a kind by asking other players for cards they need to complete their pairs. The dealer deals seven cards to each player and places the rest of the deck on the table. The player to the dealer's left starts. If a player asks for a card from another player, but doesn't get it, he or she must pick from the pile. As soon as a player has all four of a kind, he or she puts it down. But what if you add a challenge to the game? Why not require the player to do a fish impression before he or she asks for a particular cards? Why not require that a player "swim" around the group before setting down those four of a kind? Your sick child can participate from his or her bed, by pretending to swim.
Crazy Eights is another game that can be adapted to create more physical fun for the group. The object of the game is to get rid of all your cards first, by playing off of the other players' cards. The dealer deals five cards to each player (seven if only two people are playing) and the rest go into a pile. The dealer turns up the first card on the pile and the player to his or her left must play a card of the same number or suit. If the two of hearts is the first card, the player may play a two or a heart. If a player has an eight, he or she may call for a new suit. In your version, you can require that the player who plays the eight has to do a silly dance around the group to announce the new suit. If it's your child's turn, but he or she doesn't have the energy to get out of bed, your child can pick someone to do the dance or your child can sit in bed and do a modified version, even using a puppet to make it sillier.
Why do these kinds of activities with a child in cancer care? Very often, the first thing to disappear from the home when a child is seriously ill is the laughter. This is often devastating to siblings in the family, but it also affects the sick child. When parents let go of the stresses and worries of caring for their child, and they engage in fun activities like playing children's card games in a silly way, they encourage the family to laugh again. Laughter is a very important bonding tool. Being able to have fun together means you're still a family, in spite of the cancer. Card games don't really take very long to play, but if you can enjoy them as a group, it sends the message that you can work together while your child is sick. And having the chance to move, even if it's a goofy dance, lets go of some of the tension that builds up in the body, especially if the family is sitting for long periods of time in a hospital room.
For more ideas on family fun, visit my website:
https://sites.google.com/site/thepracticalcaregiversickkids/
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