We haven’t had one of these posts in awhile, and as readers it seems you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. So for those of you that enjoy a little editorial, this ones for you. Especially if you have a high energy kid. For those of you that like the projects, I have one coming up. Also we will be announcing the winner to the rock the flop event shortly! Now onto my ramblings.
Hello, my name is Destri and I have a “high energy child”. I start out this way because sometimes I feel like I need a support group just to raise him. Wanna join? You know who you are, no riding on the fence here! At a play date you have no doubt heard “Wow, I bet he sleeps good at night” or “Oh my goodness! She sure has a lot of energy!”. Yes, you know who you are. You are raising a child that can run circles around you and take your heart with him.
I have always worried about my little guy. Worried that maybe he has early signs of ADHD, or that maybe I let him watch TV to young. Or maybe allowing myself that one cup of coffee each day while pregnant had a lasting effect on him. It’s hard not to when you are out with friends and their kids, and your child is literally the tornado ripping through the bunch. You start to question your parenting, and your ability to raise this child to adulthood while keeping your sanity. At least I do. I did have a turning point though – a moment I learned to embrace this energy of his and try to work with it rather than fight it. It was last year at the zoo with friends that I learned to let Hank, be Hank.
As I did in most situations like this, I had my two and half year old and my eleven month old securely strapped into the double stroller. As we walked I remember watching both of their little boys (about the same age), how they walked beside them only venturing a safe distance before coming back to mom, and being envious. Finally at some point I reluctantly let Hank out. We were in the reptile building and it seemed like a place I could contain him. He scurried off excited to be free, I scrambled behind him telling him “quiet Hank” “stop running Hank”, “wait for me Hank”. All the while I have an eleven month old on my hip. I am sure I looked like a nervous nelly that just needed to relax. I can’t say that has really changed.
We head outside and of course he immediately takes off, despite the fact I had just told him to stay by my side. Embarrassed, I ask my friend to take my baby in the stroller so I can chase after him. I found him at the monkey cage around the corner.
“Mom, look! Monkeys!” He says with more excitement then some display having just won the lottery.
“Hank, I thought I told you to stay by me” I say with the sternest voice I could muster. “Why did you run off?”
To which he simply replies “You were going too slow!”
It was in that moment I realized, he is not a bad kid, he is just an energetic one. His curiosity and sense of adventure simply are not content to walk calmly beside me while there was so much to see. He was not blatantly trying to disobey, his mind works too fast in such an environment to think of ways to be naughty. It was just honest, genuine excitement, and the harder I fought to contain that, the harder he fought to maintain it. And why shouldn’t he? We were at the zoo after all.
We had the “You need to wait for mom so you don’t get lost” talk and then I sat with him and engaged in his excitement over the monkeys. My friends show up, with their boys by their side, and we head off to the next exhibit. Off runs Hank down the hill. Instead of running after him with threats of sitting in the car I make sure he stays within eye shot. Part of me felt like I was giving into him but my better instincts told me to let him go. He ran to the elephants, looked back at me with sheer excitement and wonder in his eyes. Those were elephants in front of him, and boy were they big, and he had no problem showing his enthusiasm for it. I had no choice but to admire him. The rest of the day went a lot like that. Hank running off and me fighting the urge to contain him. I had to learn to let him go a little, or I was just going to chase him off.
That night I went home and wrote in my journal. I wrote how I needed to find a way to embrace these qualities of his – that is what they are after all – not some disorder or result of my coffee habit. To not fight them, or try to change him. I had to remember to not strip him of this natural love of life he had. I wrote how I needed to learn how to point all that energy in the right direction, because one day it would accomplish great things if given a chance. I even wrote that he would probably be the one to teach me how to do that.
So instead of having just a hyper child, I like to think I have a passionate, persistent, energetic child who will live every day of his life. And underneath all of that you have a little person that wears his heart on his sleeve – he has no time for pretense – an ever willing cuddler, who has yet to meet an enemy.
Last time I went to the park there was an elderly man watching his grandchildren sitting with me. He was watching our kids play and mentioned “boy I bet he keeps you busy”. To which I replied “yep, isn’t it great?” He said “It sure is.”
There are still many days I forget all of this and we have our battles. It will be nice to have this written here for those days I need reminding. Yet I have managed to find a way to work with him most of time. Little tactics and techniques that speak to him in a way that yelling at him never will. Watching my sister, mom and friends with him has been great. People sometimes deal with your kids better don’t you think? Much to be learned from that. If you’re interested I could share, and you could share yours. This is a support group after all.
And for those of you with the calm, “stay by moms side” kind of child, please do not think I am discounting them and their qualities. I have one of those too, thank goodness. But that is an entirely different post.
So tell me, do you have a high energy child?
**Thanks for all your emails and the heads up on the 404! I fixed it, so now you can leave a comment!
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Can I be your best friend, please?!!!
I think my struggle with our high energy son (the eldest of our 3 boys who are 6, 3 and 8 months old) is that his personality is so different from mine that it just exhausts me. I made up my mind early in his life to shelter him from feeling like the bad kid, or the hyper kid etc…so I kept him out of playdates, social settings, QUIET places – until he was old enough to handle them.
But I realize I’ve taken quite a beating in the world, as a result. I too had a turning point when he was a toddler, realizing I was trying so hard to make him conform. I was so exhausted with trying to control him. And then the words “channel your child, don’t change him” came to me after a lot of soul searching.
Looking back, I felt like I was swimming upstream, but had no other parenting experience to compare it to. Until I had our second son, I realized I hadn’t done anything “wrong.” I was capable of producing an “average” child. Accepting him for who he is has been the answer to my sanity and our family’s happiness overall. But we all have a tough time keeping up with him. The battles we fight are few, otherwise they’d be too many to count. We’re anxious about 1st grade coming up this Fall….and praying we get a teacher who doesn’t rush to label students with ADHD but instead knows how to put high energy children to work
Thanks for your post. I was feeling very “what am I doing WRONG” today, and this lifted me up! ~Julia
Like so many others who have posted, I read this article and it brought tears to my eyes because it describes my 8 year son so well. My son is a twin – he has a twin sister and a 14 year old brother. The oldest was my easy child – active enough but always but always careful to follow all the rules.
My 8 year old son has so much energy that I cannot believe it. He asks a million questions about everything he encounters and has to test every boundary put before him. He is also fiercely independent and when he decides on how he wants to do something he finds a way. He also gets into a lot and fights with his brother and sister a lot because his energy can also tend to be too much for them also.
I am a divorced mom, working and taking care of the 3 of them by myself. My son just plain wears me out, but it became clear today while I had the day off of work and he drove me crazy yet again, that I need to start looking for a new approach to dealing with him. I have been at a loss to explain to those who don’t have a high energy child what my son can all do or try to do in the course of one day. Reading this made me feel like there are other moms who understand.
I can relate, as I too have a high energy child. He is also a twin, and has a “normal” 7 year old brother. I asked the doctor if you could diagnose ADHD in utero because every week I had two ultrasounds and one day he would be head up, and the other head down! He never found a question he was afraid to ask, and when it comes to school he is a day-dreamer.
I am cyber-schooling all 3 of my children, because I didn’t feel confident that I could adequately home-school them alone, but I don’t think my son would fit in at a brick and mortar school (I used to be a teacher, and I know kids like mine do not engender patience!) but all my children are excelling, probably because they are doing their lessons at their own pace, and it won’t kill a whole day if we stop to look at wild turkeys out the window, or take a morning to go to the pumpkin patch.
Worse yet, my High energy child is a little clumsy. He is still trying to find his “thing” (he has plenty of time, it took me til 5th grade to find a sport I was good at and liked). You definitely are not alone!
Well you’ve managed to put into words what I’ve wanted to say… but havn’t had the time to put it in writing because I’ve been so busy with my high energy boy! My son is 7. It’s been a long & difficult road – more so in dealing with other people (family & outsiders/stangers). Yes, of course it’s been difficult with my son too but as your story expresses – difficult trying to make him conform, difficult with worry for the past 5 years, difficult in knowing what to do! I’ve been told by many that I must have the patience of a saint! Most days I’d have to agree but we all know there are those days when that is far from the truth.
I’ve always worried about my son in any large group setting. Large meaning more than 8-10 kids. We all know there is no such thing as only 10 kids in a classroom! He seems to draw from everyone’s energy – sucks it up like a vacuum. A group of 30 had him spinning out of control. He couldn’t help it!
In any classroom environment (even Montessori at 3yrs old) if it was too quiet or too boring – having to listen to a book being read for example – he would have to create excitement to stimulate himself so he wouldn’t be tempted to fall asleep or something! He hated car rides because they would relax him too much! He knew what his body craved even at the young age of 2! I thought it would get better as he matured. I was still worried by time Kindergarten was approaching. Should I wait and hold him back a year? He classroom behavior was so awful – but he is so intelligent! He would literally DIE of boredom if I chose that route. No, I had to find the perfect school, the perfect teacher. But, how do you prepare them? How?
Kindergarten lasted only 4 months (thank God it wasn’t mandatory in CA). I would arrive early and wait in the hallway for the kids to exit and I would hear him screaming or crying like a caged animal. I learned most public schools take the YOU MUST CONFORM approach and power struggles were never going to end in a pleasant way. They tried everything short of tying him down in a chair (which was always a paranoid unrealistic fear of mine – or was it?) We pulled him out and enjoyed life without school … for a while.
First grade were unlucky twice. I won’t go into all the details as this post is getting too long already! But we felt pretty strongly about the first teacher being absolutley the wrong fit – she was as strict as they come – real old school and she loved to intimidate by screaming and shouting her authority around – we gave it 3 weeks but thought if our son has any chance at all to have a succesful year, it sure as hell would not be with this teacher!
We switched schools – we found a magnet school that was Technology based – what a great fit! our son would love it and begin to love school and…. sigh, we were faced with the reality that most teachers (even good ones!) don’t have the time nowdays, most don’t have the skill – He was eventually diagnosed with ADHD – (and I’ve learned that labels are okay! They can be helpful in allowing others to understand his needs better and if you are in need of any services for your child you must have a label to state that he can for example sit in the front row! so ridiculous in my opinion!) Anyway, I wasn’t ready to experiment with meds, I was still just digesting the diagnosis, still hoping with age it would improve etc. Meanwhile there opinions being formed on the other side – teachers, principals, other parents. There were all sorts of opinions about how children should be “handled.” Well, one day there was an aide – a poorly trained aid – at recess that decided to take matters into her own hands and when my son didn’t want to stop swinging to come in when the bell rang – she was witnessed physically tackling my then 6 yr old to the ground and pulled his little hands behind his back with a big tug. Like he created a felony. He came home with scratches on his face from the gravel, and a fear of school and people that will be difficult to erase. We pulled him out the next morning to homeschool him. Is it hard, yes. Are my days long? yes! Is it the best thing we ever did? yes!
Sorry, I don’t mean to scare you all – I got carried away in responding to this post. It was theraputic for me as I haven’t really talked about it with anyone, anyone that might understand. Also my message is – whether your high energy child is diagnosed or not – remember you are their only advocate. No one cares about your child, their needs, or their schooling as much as you do. I don’t know why we had such awful experiences, such bad luck with schools… I’ve heard of some wonderful teachers out there but for some reason it wasn’t in our cards. We were meant to take a different path I guess.
Thanks for letting me vent, really!
Valerie, what a great comment. I can tell you that many a parent will read it, and find comfort in it. And yes, I don’t think the term ADHD should be a scary one, a great majority of the most successful people on the planet have the “condition”. I think it is a tragedy that kids diagnosed in their youth are just seen as “the child to deal with”, rather than “a child that needs to be taught in a different environment”. Good for you for taking the matter into your own hands. I know their are wonderful schools and resources out there, but like you said not everyone has the same luck with that.
It’s funny, I just read an article about Finland’s school system which is ranked top in the world. The students don’t start school there until they are age seven, and they only go to school until 1pm. They spend no more than 45 minutes in the classroom at a time. A lot of their lessons are taught outside, using nature (using twigs for math) as a way to get the kids up and moving, as they find they learn better this way. They even have a high rate of immigrants speaking different languages, and still pull out some of the highest test scores in the world. A lot to be learned from that, now if we only would!
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, like I said, someone out there will read it and be glad you did!
What a great post and great comments! I have three children, they all have a lot of energy but one can go further than the energizer bunny with an unlimited supply of batteries. It’s not always easy, in fact it’s often very frustrating because he ends up leaving me with less energy for his brothers. I try to remember that when he’s older he will do just fine in the world. He’ll be able to ask for what he wants and go after it. I put him (5) and his younger brother (4) into a Waldorf Steiner school, sounds just like the Finnish schools Destri talks of, and it works wonders for him. OMG he returns home like a calm little angel. Anyway, great post. We are not alone!
Thank you so much for sharing, Valerie. As I was reading your post, I started crying, realizing that I’m not alone in trying to figure out how to raise my high energy son with love and kindness while fighting off feelings of being the Mom with the “tornado child”… Thank you so much for sharing and being encouraging… You have inspired me!!
Bless you!!
Wow, great post! I sure know what you are talking about. I have 2 high energy boys. One does have ADHD.. For years he struggled in school, with friends, etc.. I have a coupon & deal blog and I also have a section on ADHD kids and ways to help. Raising kids is the HARDEST job that’s for sure!
I have a high energy granddaughter. I love her dearly, but I worry about her. Her parents (my son) are divorced. What started out to be shared custody has turned out to be a tug of war, or I might say, a child being used in the worst way possible. For the mother to have full control and rceive more money from my son. She was the one who left because she found another man on the internet. She has, over the past year and half, demanded her way until my son only gets to see her four (4) measley days a month. When she found I was going to school to eat lunch with Olivia she had that stopped. None of the concerns I have is for me but for my precious little Olivia. They are living in an apartment where she isn’t allowed to make noise, she isn’t allowed to have toys, she doesn’t get to go outside to play. When is she supposed to expend some of the pent up energy she has? Her grades are starting to suffer. Her father lives next door to me and last year she came to our house every day on the bus and we helped her with her homework even though her mother insisted that was the reason she wanted her to come to her house every day so she could help her with her homework. She is punishing the child because she doesn’t like me. She doesn’t want Olivia to have anything to do with me.
She knows Olivia loves me and would stay with me forever if she could. She has told her dad that she wants to stay with him all the time so she can be with me, can go outside to play, can have someone to do things with her (me). For seven (7) years I have been the one to do this, now she is forced to live where she doesn’t want to, with someone she doesn’t want to live with. It breaks my heart. I love her soooooo much and am so worried about how her life will turn out. What can I do??
Okay, I just HAD to leave a comment as all before me mention boys… I have a high energy daughter. All the words written above describe her. Most of my friends just shake their heads. I don’t always handle her as well as I’d like, but I do appreciate her passion and energy. If only I had enough to keep up with her some days… She has done very well in school (advanced group) but I know she can tax the teachers too. Sometimes just hearing others share their struggles and triumphs can be so helpful. THANK YOU for reminding me of all her awesomeness and encouraging me to keep the faith!
I stumbled upon this post while searching for DIY art ideas. I am mum to a high energy 18 month old. From the day she learned the military crawl, I knew i would have my hands full. I’ve watched her on numerous occasions literally run in circles around the coffee table. She jumps, tumbles and flips, and I’m usually just exhausted watching her do it all. But most of the time I’m thrilled that she has this type of lust for life, because at one point during my pregnancy I was told there was a strong likelyhood that my baby would have down syndrome. My babysitter comments on all this energy she has and all I say in response is “obviously there’s alot to do and not enough time to do it in.” I try my best not to make her conform to the child that should be seen and not heard because she’s a very fun baby and I love her for it.
This post and the comments almost brought tears to my eyes!! I have an high energy 11 month old! He never wanted to be held unless taking a bottle or sleepy. He would slide right out of your lap to get on the floor. And this was before he could even crawl! At 6 months old he learned how to climb UP the steps. He was walking at 8 months! At 9 months I took him back to daycare and he was knocking the baby gate down and walking to the other room. They had to rig it so he couldn’t bust it down. lol I tried two different daycares both were good. He was happy to be there at first but then started crying when I dropped him off. I know they didn’t do anything wrong to him. I think when they set rules or tell him he can’t do something he gets upset. The one lady said he wants to do what HE wants but they have a routine the other babies have learned to follow. She said he walk around the daycare all day long. I ended up taking him out and now trying to work from home and watch him! Can you imagine?
I get the comments, you have your hands full, I bet he keeps you busy, he is bad(honestly I even struggle not to call him that), etc. He is not even 1 and I’m exhausted every single day! My oldest is a teenager and he was totally different! I have no idea how to raise a high energy child. I feel like a bad mom at times. My oldest was easy and I always got comments how he was so well behaved! I love my baby to pieces and can’t imagine life without him I just want to learn how to deal with him.
I’m so glad you wrote that i have a high energy daughter and always feel guilty correcting her because she is so spontaneous i was like her and remember being endlessly scolded what seemed all my child hood i remember that the most instead of good things i don’t want to make the same mistake my mom made my brother was 10 months younger than i was and he was the calm one. hugs to you i got your back chica
I am so happy to hear I am not alone in thinking there isn’t anything wrong with my child. He is just born to be ahead of the pack! I fear school and labels , and my own impatience. I pray his enthusiastic approach to life find appreciation from others rather than scorn.
I read the blog and comments and really wish i would have joined a support group earlier. My son is now 10 and i have been dealing with this all of his life. When he turned 3 and his brother was born, i really hard a hard time dealing with his energy. His brother is the polar opposite and so he really stands out now. I’ve realized that punishing does not work, taking away something really does, or not going to a movie that he really wanted to see. The blog is so familiar, just last week, we were buying a new dishwasher and my son ran throughout the entire store and even jumped on mattresses. Like usual I lost it and had to apologize to the staff at the store. My son was warned before we went in and it was the same behaviour as usual. I am beyond exhausted in the evening and really should get more tips on how to deal with this. A glass of wine does work occasionally for me, but I cannot every day of the week.
In need of advice
I normally don’t comment on blogs but I felt compelled to comment on this post. Your post is beautiful. It really brought tears to my eyes. My husband and I are trying to figure out our 4 year old as well. His energy amazes me! He doesn’t even sit still at the dinner table. I could go on forget but I just really wanna say that your post made me see things totally different. I will indeed embrace all of his emerged as well as try to direct it to more useful activities. I am a young mother of two boys, 4 and 1 1/2. The both of them keeps us on our toes. Thanks again for this post. Not only was it helpful, but it was inspiring as well.
wonderful post. thank you for the encouragement! I too have a high energy boy with quite a zest for life. He approaches life in a way that is different from anyone I know and I spent a lot of time and energy trying to make him like other children. I’ve spent his entire life saying different is okay because of his outward differences and I’m ashamed to say that only within the last couple of years have I truly begun to embrace all of his differences–the non-physical ones. Thank you for encouraging me to let him run! I promise I’m trying!
Thanks so much for this. I have two high energy boys and so far kindergarten has not gone well.
Our high energy child is 25. From my viewpoint I must say I think you’re being wise. Even if he is ADHD, that’s only a disability if you allow it to be. Channeling is so much wiser that making the poor child attempt to conform to a false standard that he is really incapable of . We tried that and failed miserably. He is only now being to return, without going into unimportant detail. “Train up a child in the way he should go” easing like you would branches to espalier a tree.
OMG I could have written this!! Thank you so much for sharing this story its so encouraging. My oldest son who just turned 5 & the oldest of 4, yes you read that right 4 kids in five years. I too get lots of comments of how he “keeps me busy”, “boy you have your hands full” so on & so forth. I struggle to just to let him be who he is all the time. Really I cried reading this story, bc none of my friends can relate. Anyway again thank you for the encouragement:)
Oh Lacey, my sister had four in five years, and when people would say “boy you have your hands full!” she’d just reply, “better than empty” Try that one, works every time!
And you’re welcome. I still cry when I read it, because I too often forget. They really will be the leaders of something great one day..if we can just get them there alive!
Keep your chin up!
I have a 3 1/2 year old who is super calm and easy, and a 1 1/2 year old who is super busy and energetic! Everyone comments how busy he is, and wonders how I get anything done at home. This post and all the comments have been very helpful to me, reminding to embrace this beautiful little man with his personality and not trying to make him be like his brother, but letting him add life to our otherwise tame world. I am encouraged tonight! : )
I have a 8 year old boy who is the sweetest person you could ever meet. He is so loving and caring. However, he has such high energy levels !! he never sits on the sofa he just jumps all over it, at the dinner table he is on and off the seat and I find he rushes he meals just to get back up on his feet again. I also find myself saying the same things every day with regards to running and jumping eveywhere, but you can see in his face that he just can not stop himself.
It is also affecting his sleeping, I put him to bed every night at 8pm and he has a book etc but he is still awake a 10.30 gone every night. Every time I go in his room, he is hanging off his bed or tucking in blankets etc. When I say to him “come on, get some sleep” he says “I’M TRYING” it like his body will no let him. He also wakes up in the night and then he is first up in the morning. Is this normal ???
I also spoke to the teacher this morning who said ” he is a lovely boy, but never stops looking around and talking” she said it’s like he can not help himself.
Luckly we live by the sea and every evening we walk the Dog and he runs and runs and what ever the weather he has a t shirt on and he it sweating like a cart horse. But all he wants to do is run!! but it never makes him tired.
Is there anything I can do to calm him down a little ?? could it be food related ? or is it something he might just grow out off.
Hi Helen,
Sorry for the delayed reply. You know Suzanne (contributor on TMH) has been trying essential oil therapy with her boy and even he has said he has noticed a difference in being able to concentrate and focus. I will see if I can get her to write up a post for us on it!
Oh. Hell. Yeah
I have a five year old daughter like that. She is a force of nature. It comes with a large dose of stubborness and challenge. I honestly have yet to embrace it and I spend a lot of my time yelling at her and being exasperated. Like you, I want to nurture that wonderful energy and joi de vivre. She is so effervescent! But it’s so tiring. Like you I also have a little one (21 months) and she winds him up with all of her crazy energy. I was like this as a child and I have thought all of the things you mention. I am hopeful because I know that a turning point can come if I only stop fighting the tide, let go and trust. Thank you for sharing.
First, those kids that have ADHD can be the most wonderful people, I know, I married one. So full of energy, love, excitement, energy, joy, intelligence, energy….and then one day we had a baby together. At first, I thought I was doing something wrong. My husband laughed, and asked what did I expect, we had created a “mini him”. Well almost, technically no ADHD, just really, really strong-willed, and smart. He loves to find a button (good or bad) to push. He can talk for 60 minutes without pause (I have timed him). The questions, and “mommy” sometimes feel like rounds of gunfire, but I adore him. We have two other children, the second is a “mini me”, think calm, organized, she loves pretty dresses, and “Happy Boy”. He even laughs in his sleep…cool. But back to number one. He amazes me. We homeschool and he wanted to learn how to read…he learned in month. This was not due to my great skills as a teacher, but it does make me smile internally when some old lady who had one easy child looks down her nose at my little boy as he runs through the library yelling that this “is the nicest place in the whole world to get books.”. Yeah, he should not yell at the library, but that excitement should count for something. Oh, and I learned something else about the time he was two and a half. There are those who know and love these wonderful kids, and those who look down their noses and judge. We were walking through Target one day when he decided that he was too big to ride in the cart…he tried to get out with all his might…and everybody either gave me the “get your brat under control look”, or they smiled, laughed, and said what a cutie. I did not know what was going on, until I walked in front of the cart and saw my little guy was mooning the store… Yep, pants were caughts on the basket ( he could not get out of the cart), his winter coat blocked my view, but everybody else got the full view. As I wondered why I got this particular child, I had an old man walk up to me. He smiled and said “What a great kid, he is telling everybody what he thinks about being stuck in that cart, and he doesn’t need any words. Cherish him, those are the ones that do great things, they have more energy and strength to power through challenges.”. That old guy, really showed me to let go a bit, and remember that perfection is my issue and not my child’s. And now that my big boy just turned 5, I sometimes wish I could moon that old grump at the library, but I suppose I’ll just leave that to my husband. Of course, he stopped doing that years ago, when we well over 30…;)
I want to thank you for this my son is 5, and the day he came into the world he has been
Non stop. I remember the sleepless nights turning into a week at a time where he did not sleep. Some of the people I have hung out with in the past always made. Comments about how busy he was or out of control he was. My son starts school. Ext year and I have made myself sick with worry that he will always be in trouble. If he wants something he will find a way to do it. If something catches his attention he will ask all kinds of question until he is satisfied. I will say though he is my helper and he has love that’s pours out of him. So when I do have THOSE days I remember let him help, or ask if he thinks we should do it differently sometimes it works and other times I explain to him why we do it a certain way. At the end of the day when I peek in to see if he is asleep I take a mental picture of how sweet and precious he is to me, I will give a kiss on the head and he will whisper I love you mommy. Thanks for letting me know I am not the only 1 with a high energy child!!!!!
Thanks a bunch
Thank you thank you thank you sooo much for this post. Our VERY high energy almost 4 year old girl is definitely challenging and pushes me to my Mama limits, but I’m really only wading into the challenges of dealing with her in school. Any advice for talking to her teachers about how to deal with her? Switching schools is not really an option for us at this point.
Oh I wished I did! My little guy starts Kindergarten this fall and I am a nervous wreck about it. I will have to see if I can get Tina to give us a post on it!
To all you parents of high-energy children:
My high-energy child is grown now, actually 35 years-old. We fought the teacher’s suggestion to put him on medication. Yes, he was impulsive at times and still is, but he learned that his impulsive actions will bring consequences to his life that he will have to deal with. He is a successful worker with a career he has had for 10 years, is a great father that attends all his daughters’ sporting events, and finds time to take care of all his household’s finances, repair jobs, and still have time to enjoy his favorite hobbies of hunting and fishing. He is the father of a high-energy teen-age daughter who earned 2 state championships as a runner, and is a recognized athlete in softball and track, serves actively in her church youth group, takes honor’s classes, and serves on the student council and Beta club at her school. I’m not bragging…I just want to let you know that your high-energy child will grow up to be a high-energy adult, and people will be asking how do they accomplish so much….The answer is they are high-energy people. I know…my son and granddaughter inherited these traits from me. Being high energy as an adult is admired. For a child, you and his/her teachers need to direct that energy into positive avenues such as sports or investigations of topics of interest. Just keep on loving them and try to keep up. If you decide to take the medicine route, make sure that it is helping the child, not just helping the adults cope with the child.
Wow Janet, that last sentence was powerful. A lot of truth in it.
Your comment came just in time. My little boy that I wrote this article about is now five and starts school this year. We live in Texas and last night had all the tornadoes in the area, so I went to a friends house that had a basement. With all the excitement he was bouncing off the walls! By the end of the night I was a so discouraged, but waking up to this is just what I needed. It gives me the right perspective. I love hearing these stories, thank you so much for sharing.
LOVED this post!!! My 2 year old is the same way!!! Everywhere we go, people comment on how much energy he has and “wow, is he always like this? how do you do it?”. He draws a lot of attention because of his excitement for life and everything in it (which I do enjoy watching)! I really love your take on it, I too have spent many trips keeping him strapped into a stroller. I have found that his favorite places to go are places like the beach or large parks because I allow him to wander off and just run!!! I am already tired of yelling at him to stay close, so this summer I am determined to come up with a list of places we can go and activities we can do to allow him freedom. Thank you for the blog!!!
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