“Uh-oh, kids,” I said as we took our seats in the medical waiting room.
“You’re probably going to die.”
The kids looked at me with peaked curiosity. Their facial expressions begged to know more, so I continued: “Just look around. What do you see?” It was then that my children noticed that every single child in the waiting room had a handheld electronic device.
4 children. 4 handheld electronic devices.
I said, “See. You two don’t have electronic devices. You’re probably going to die.” The children’s survival instincts kicked in as they argued against me, “No, we’re not!” Haha. Gotcha! You won’t beg for a device now!
Since this medical institution claims to promote life over death, and as I explained clearly children die if left to sit without a screen in their hands, the facility had a set of loaner handheld devices and offered that my children could use them. I politely declined. After all, we needed to prove who was right, the children or me.
We were now on the equivalent of a reality TV episode
of Survivor: The Waiting Room Edition.
Entertaining a child without electronics does require the parent to plan ahead. Perhaps that’s why most parents don’t both to do it these days. But you’re no average parent!
In fact, you may want to employ this tool not just in waiting rooms but any time you’d like your child to sit contentedly while you do something like have lunch with a friend or talk on the phone with a colleague.
To begin I suggest using one of these cheap drawstring bags, which are often a give-away gift these days at schools or fairs.
You won’t cry if something bad happens to the cinch bag, and it closes so stuff doesn’t fall out. Perfect.
Now to stock the bag.
Activity Ideas
- Positive or educational reading material
- Crayons & paper or color by number
- Toy cars
- Mazes or Connect-the-Dots
- Memory/Matching Cards
- Books like “I Spy” and “Where’s Waldo”
- Simple Crafts: cross-stitch, origami
- Multi-Player Games: Go Fish, Tenzi
The parent chooses the activities, and the parent can carry the bag until it’s time to use the activities. This keeps your child from getting into activities when you don’t want them to or using up their entertainment value before actually getting to the waiting room.
I recommend choosing 2 to 3 items at a time. Choose at least one positive activity that you think your child enjoys – something they’re likely to choose to do. Make sure all the activities you’ve chosen honor your child’s current abilities.
Things to NOT include:
Academic workbooks unless the child enjoys them or has decided to work on them for an incentive
Anything with dark imagery such as aliens, monsters, villains, skulls, etc.
Tips Regarding Drawing & Coloring Material
It is common that children with RAD avoid creative tasks or when they do something creative it centers around dark and violent themes like weapons and fire. That’s normal for RAD. Don’t react to it or you will inadvertently encourage your child to keep doing it. Just move on. “OK, drawing time is up. Time to put it away.”
But it’s also true that creative activities are very brain-building and help the healing of trauma! Waiting rooms are a great time to offer this activity. If they don’t choose to color, it’s ok! Relax and keep putting it in the bag. One day they just might.
Tips:
Include 1 pencil with eraser and 7 crayons: brown, blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, purple
I’ve intentionally left out red and black because kids with RAD tend to favor those colors to the extreme. Leave them out until your child is usually drawing neutral to positive images.
Container: Plastic ziplock bag or a see-through plastic container
Paper:
- Provide 2-5 pieces of plain paper or color-by-number pages, available online to print for free
- Coloring books are for kids who are willing to finish one page at a time; even then the coloring book must have positive images, not super heroes and villains as this encourages their internal survival mode and power complex.
Now back to Survivor: The Waiting Room Edition. Haha.
You might be relieved to know that both children survived the waiting room that day, and it wasn’t even a close call. You know what’s even better? My children weren’t surprised that they survived.
My children have learned to take enjoyment from positive activities
instead of virtual living.
And that’s worth celebrating!
In the comment section share one of your favorite Activity Bag items and where others can get it.