OT entertaining a 6 year-old?

Friday a beloved relative had foot surgery and died from a blood clot. He
was only 57. We are stunned and hurting. His 6 year-old granddaughter has
asked to come stay with me during the church and cemetery rituals. It's
pretty tough to put our grief aside, let her parents and grandparents grieve
and try to shelter the young one at the same time and good that she thinks
I'm a comfortable person to visit with.
Hard to put all that into a preamble . . . but - I have a few ideas on
keeping a 6 year-old occupied - cookies, drawing, learning some simple tune
on the child size piano. Will probably let her drive the golf cart in the
pasture. The pickup truck quilt is underway and she can choose some faces
from my I Spy stash for looking out the truck's windows.
Help me. Our youngest grands are in their twenties and I am badly
wanting reminding of the attention span and needs of one this young. What
do I do for distraction and/or comforting? Polly

On Oct 3, 10:13*pm, "Polly Esther" wrote:
Friday a beloved relative had foot surgery and died from a blood clot. *He
was only 57. *We are stunned and hurting. *His 6 year-old granddaughter has
asked to come stay with me during the church and cemetery rituals. *It's
pretty tough to put our grief aside, let her parents and grandparents grieve
and try to shelter the young one at the same time and good that she thinks
I'm a comfortable person to visit with.
* * Hard to put all that into a preamble . . . but - I have a few ideas on
keeping a 6 year-old occupied - cookies, drawing, learning some simple tune
on the child size piano. *Will probably let her drive the golf cart in the
pasture. *The pickup truck quilt is underway and she can choose some faces
from my I Spy stash for looking out the truck's windows.
* * Help me. *Our youngest grands are in their twenties and I am badly
wanting reminding of the attention span and needs of one this young. *What
do I do for distraction and/or comforting? *Polly

Polly, I am so sorry for your family's loss. The same thing happened
to
my grandmother. All they were doint was putting a little pacemaker
under the skin of her knee, which wasn't healing well after a previous
surgery.

You sound like a dream babysitter though, my gosh! I'm betting the
golf cart
will be a big hit. One thing I do remember about 6 year old girls also
is
that they love to play dress-up, and if there's costume jewelry or
mardi gras
beads involved, all the better. Does she like dolls? Bet she'd love to
sit
with you and help create simple doll clothes or blankets. (but it
seems not
all little girls play with dolls nowadays).
Do little girls still play Candyland? Naw, probably not. They probably
have
Ipad versions or something.

Sherry

How about a little finger painting? What I used to do with my kids was
make a bowl of instant vanilla and a bowl of chocolate instant pudding.
Put an old T-Shirt of dad's on them... gave them each a cookie sheet and
let them "paint away". Licking fingers was not a problem. Make a
picture -- then erase it away and make another!

Always kept them quite busy for a while.

Have fun! And I'm so sorry to hear of the loss of someone close to you.

--
Kate in MI
http://community.webshots.com/user/K_Groves



"Polly Esther" wrote in message
...
Friday a beloved relative had foot surgery and died from a blood clot. He
was only 57. We are stunned and hurting. His 6 year-old granddaughter
has asked to come stay with me during the church and cemetery rituals.
It's pretty tough to put our grief aside, let her parents and grandparents
grieve and try to shelter the young one at the same time and good that she
thinks I'm a comfortable person to visit with.
Hard to put all that into a preamble . . . but - I have a few ideas on
keeping a 6 year-old occupied - cookies, drawing, learning some simple
tune on the child size piano. Will probably let her drive the golf cart
in the pasture. The pickup truck quilt is underway and she can choose
some faces from my I Spy stash for looking out the truck's windows.
Help me. Our youngest grands are in their twenties and I am badly
wanting reminding of the attention span and needs of one this young. What
do I do for distraction and/or comforting? Polly

Thank you, Sherry. I do have some fun jewelry and wigs: Cleopatra, Ronald
McDonald and Cher. Since I can ( sort of) do photo/computer . . she might
enjoy dressing and doing pictures. Good idea. Yes. Polly

"Sherry" wrote in message
...
On Oct 3, 10:13 pm, "Polly Esther" wrote:
Friday a beloved relative had foot surgery and died from a blood clot. He
was only 57. We are stunned and hurting. His 6 year-old granddaughter has
asked to come stay with me during the church and cemetery rituals. It's
pretty tough to put our grief aside, let her parents and grandparents
grieve
and try to shelter the young one at the same time and good that she thinks
I'm a comfortable person to visit with.
Hard to put all that into a preamble . . . but - I have a few ideas on
keeping a 6 year-old occupied - cookies, drawing, learning some simple
tune
on the child size piano. Will probably let her drive the golf cart in the
pasture. The pickup truck quilt is underway and she can choose some faces
from my I Spy stash for looking out the truck's windows.
Help me. Our youngest grands are in their twenties and I am badly
wanting reminding of the attention span and needs of one this young. What
do I do for distraction and/or comforting? Polly

Polly, I am so sorry for your family's loss. The same thing happened
to
my grandmother. All they were doint was putting a little pacemaker
under the skin of her knee, which wasn't healing well after a previous
surgery.

You sound like a dream babysitter though, my gosh! I'm betting the
golf cart
will be a big hit. One thing I do remember about 6 year old girls also
is
that they love to play dress-up, and if there's costume jewelry or
mardi gras
beads involved, all the better. Does she like dolls? Bet she'd love to
sit
with you and help create simple doll clothes or blankets. (but it
seems not
all little girls play with dolls nowadays).
Do little girls still play Candyland? Naw, probably not. They probably
have
Ipad versions or something.

Sherry

Ummm, good. I like that. My cookie sheet surfaces are not really
deplorable but certainly scratchy. A taped on sheet of parchment ought to
be a good artistic surface. Thank you, Kate. And thank you for your
sympathy. We will have to put out own grieving aside for a while. We'll
care for the little one first and then deal with our heart aches. Polly

"Kate in MI" wrote in message
...
How about a little finger painting? What I used to do with my kids was
make a bowl of instant vanilla and a bowl of chocolate instant pudding.
Put an old T-Shirt of dad's on them... gave them each a cookie sheet and
let them "paint away". Licking fingers was not a problem. Make a
picture -- then erase it away and make another!

Always kept them quite busy for a while.

Have fun! And I'm so sorry to hear of the loss of someone close to you.

--
Kate in MI
http://community.webshots.com/user/K_Groves



"Polly Esther" wrote in message
...
Friday a beloved relative had foot surgery and died from a blood clot.
He was only 57. We are stunned and hurting. His 6 year-old
granddaughter has asked to come stay with me during the church and
cemetery rituals. It's pretty tough to put our grief aside, let her
parents and grandparents grieve and try to shelter the young one at the
same time and good that she thinks I'm a comfortable person to visit
with.
Hard to put all that into a preamble . . . but - I have a few ideas on
keeping a 6 year-old occupied - cookies, drawing, learning some simple
tune on the child size piano. Will probably let her drive the golf cart
in the pasture. The pickup truck quilt is underway and she can choose
some faces from my I Spy stash for looking out the truck's windows.
Help me. Our youngest grands are in their twenties and I am badly
wanting reminding of the attention span and needs of one this young.
What do I do for distraction and/or comforting? Polly

I have a 6 yr old, loves to play games on the internet. Of course
certain websites that I've all ready checked out.Although the only one I
can think of right now is lego.com. But you can also search printables.
Does she like dot to dot, and puzzles and games cuz there are tons out
there that you could print before hand. Baking any kind of cookies of
course. That's all I can think of right now cuz it's late and I'm tired.
Good Luck
Joanna

On 10/3/2010 9:13 PM, Polly Esther wrote:
Friday a beloved relative had foot surgery and died from a blood clot.
He was only 57. We are stunned and hurting. His 6 year-old granddaughter
has asked to come stay with me during the church and cemetery rituals.
It's pretty tough to put our grief aside, let her parents and
grandparents grieve and try to shelter the young one at the same time
and good that she thinks I'm a comfortable person to visit with.
Hard to put all that into a preamble . . . but - I have a few ideas on
keeping a 6 year-old occupied - cookies, drawing, learning some simple
tune on the child size piano. Will probably let her drive the golf cart
in the pasture. The pickup truck quilt is underway and she can choose
some faces from my I Spy stash for looking out the truck's windows.
Help me. Our youngest grands are in their twenties and I am badly
wanting reminding of the attention span and needs of one this young.
What do I do for distraction and/or comforting? Polly

What a lovely time it must have been to have to go to bed with the chickens.
I can't imagine trying to entertain a 6 yr old.

So sorry for your loss.

--
Di
I'm creative! You can't expect me to be neat too.
Vic Australia

"Polly Esther" wrote in message
...
Thanks and no thanks. The little one has gone to her grandmother's. We
had a happy, busy time. I am Killed. No one mentioned the energy level
of the 6 year-old. Someone should have warned me to take a nap before she
arrived and to get help. I think I'll go to bed tonight with the
chickens. I may go before that. Polly

Can't help with any ideas for entertaining this precious child but know you
have my heartfelt sympathy in this time of sorrow.

Love and hugs,

Leslie

"Polly Esther" wrote in message
...
Friday a beloved relative had foot surgery and died from a blood clot. He
was only 57. We are stunned and hurting. His 6 year-old granddaughter
has asked to come stay with me during the church and cemetery rituals.
It's pretty tough to put our grief aside, let her parents and grandparents
grieve and try to shelter the young one at the same time and good that she
thinks I'm a comfortable person to visit with.
Hard to put all that into a preamble . . . but - I have a few ideas on
keeping a 6 year-old occupied - cookies, drawing, learning some simple
tune on the child size piano. Will probably let her drive the golf cart
in the pasture. The pickup truck quilt is underway and she can choose
some faces from my I Spy stash for looking out the truck's windows.
Help me. Our youngest grands are in their twenties and I am badly
wanting reminding of the attention span and needs of one this young. What
do I do for distraction and/or comforting? Polly

Polly, I'm so sorry for your loss, but you are so blessed that this 6-year-old chose you to stay with. We know
you're pretty special, and apparently she does too!

I've been trying to remember what entertained my niece and nephew when they were around that age, and believe
it or not, it was the sewing machine! They couldn't reach the pedal or really do much on their own, but as
long as they were in the sewing room with me, they were happy. Of course, it helped that I had a TV in there
to draw their attention when they got bored with what I was doing. We mostly made little doll blankets, but a
couple of times I bought a pillow form, and we made covers for them. They loved that!
--
Louise in Iowa
nieland1390@mchsi dot com
http://community.webshots.com/user/louiseiniowa



On 10/3/2010 10:13 PM, Polly Esther wrote:
Friday a beloved relative had foot surgery and died from a blood clot. He was only 57. We are stunned and
hurting. His 6 year-old granddaughter has asked to come stay with me during the church and cemetery rituals.
It's pretty tough to put our grief aside, let her parents and grandparents grieve and try to shelter the young
one at the same time and good that she thinks I'm a comfortable person to visit with.
Hard to put all that into a preamble . . . but - I have a few ideas on keeping a 6 year-old occupied -
cookies, drawing, learning some simple tune on the child size piano. Will probably let her drive the golf cart
in the pasture. The pickup truck quilt is underway and she can choose some faces from my I Spy stash for
looking out the truck's windows.
Help me. Our youngest grands are in their twenties and I am badly wanting reminding of the attention span and
needs of one this young. What do I do for distraction and/or comforting? Polly

On Oct 3, 11:46*pm, Sherry wrote:
On Oct 3, 10:13*pm, "Polly Esther" wrote:

Friday a beloved relative had foot surgery and died from a blood clot. *He
was only 57. *We are stunned and hurting. *His 6 year-old granddaughter has
asked to come stay with me during the church and cemetery rituals. *It's
pretty tough to put our grief aside, let her parents and grandparents grieve
and try to shelter the young one at the same time and good that she thinks
I'm a comfortable person to visit with.
* * Hard to put all that into a preamble . . . but - I have a few ideas on
keeping a 6 year-old occupied - cookies, drawing, learning some simple tune
on the child size piano. *Will probably let her drive the golf cart in the
pasture. *The pickup truck quilt is underway and she can choose some faces
from my I Spy stash for looking out the truck's windows.
* * Help me. *Our youngest grands are in their twenties and I am badly
wanting reminding of the attention span and needs of one this young. *What
do I do for distraction and/or comforting? *Polly

Polly, I am so sorry for your family's loss. The same thing happened
to
my grandmother. All they were doint was putting a little pacemaker
under the skin of her knee, which wasn't healing well after a previous
surgery.

You sound like a dream babysitter though, my gosh! I'm betting the
golf cart
will be a big hit. One thing I do remember about 6 year old girls also
is
that they love to play dress-up, and if there's costume jewelry or
mardi gras
beads involved, all the better. Does she like dolls? Bet she'd love to
sit
with you and help create simple doll clothes or blankets. (but it
seems not
all little girls play with dolls nowadays).
Do little girls still play Candyland? Naw, probably not. They probably
have
Ipad versions or something.

Sherry

Do little girls still play Candyland? Naw, probably not. They probably
have
Ipad versions or something.

I was never a little girl (I assure you) but I was 6 a few times, and
I did spend considerable time (a week to a month at a shot) with... my
grandparents and other elders, who had no clue how to entertain a 6
yr. old kid. One set wasn't too bad - they had a few toys left from
aunts & uncles, & took me fun places - the other's idea of
entertaining me was dragging me to Bingo with her.... 'nuff said.

Kids still play games, including board games (though I'd go for
something a little more challenging/stimulating than C-land.) I
prefer that *younger* kids play face-to-face board games rather than
on a computer due to the socialization with oth)er human beings
involved. There are skills to be learned/honed that cannot be learned
on a computer.

That said, I'm gonna do a quick 180 and also extol the virtues of
*selective* television (Kids programming, WB cartoons, DVDs). As a
child of the '60s (you know that, right?) the TV was my nanny.
("Ohhhh, THAT explains a lot," you muse.) Nevertheless, for those
brief intervals when Grammy needs a few to regroup, an hour or two of
judiciously chosen Toob is ok.

Read aloud. Some of my best memories of that age were of adults
reading aloud to me. Fairy taled, Arabian Nights, Science Fiction,
whatever she likes... Kids can *listen*/comprehend at levels far
above what they can actually read (or view in movies, for that
matter).

Polly, *you* drive the golf cart and let her do a nature walk &
collect stuff to do things with later. Stones, leaves, flowers (if
there are any left), ferns, gator eggs... (oh, yeah... she's a girl -
maybe not gator eggs. ...or maybe so.)

You've probably got arts & crafts covered. You mentioned drawing.
Got crayons? Got blocks? (building blocks, legos... something free-
form requiring creativiry/imagination). I've never been a parent, but
I've rented on weekends, and IIRC, 6 yr. olds don't have a lot of
gender differentiation yet when it comes to activities. She may also
need something more physical (exercise or to wear her down to your
speed - depends on the kid).

My last bit of advice. Think like Yogi. Kids (especially 6 and
younger) are more like dogs than we think.
Kids & dogs are always on the wrong side of a door.
Kids & dogs always need something just as you sit down.
Kids & dogs always need a snack/drink at the most inopportune times.
The list goes on...

Doc