Thursday 29 December 2016

HELP! My toddler won't STOP


My toddler has more energy than I have ever seen in a child. She is bright, fun, kind hearted and pretty well adjusted emotionally. She doesn't usually have tantrums. It can be days before we have a 5 minute meltdown that is usually done with before too long.But her energy level has us somewhat worried. First of all, to balance the energy, I take her to swimming, play centers, skating, the park, skiing. All sorts of 'get your energy' out activities. Winters are the worst because where I live, it snows so heavily that we may sometimes be forced to stay indoors for days at a time.Anyway, so back to the energy level. Let me explain. My daughter will wake at 5am most days. From the moment her head lifts from the pillow, her energy is at 100% and it BEGINS. Sometimes I wake up earlier than this just to have a minute to myself of quiet. Once she is up, she starts. And the tornado of energy will not have down time for 14 hours or more. No naps. Just CONSTANT.Let's put it in perspective - Imagine 5:00 in the morning in an apartment building. You are sitting in the living room, drinking coffee, getting your head around the calm before the storm.At 5:05 your kid wakes up and comes out to greet you. Kiss and morning hug. Resigning yourself to the race that is about to happen. You've done everything you can to extend the sleeping to 7 but nothing has worked. So, now you are forced to be an early riser. No debate.Your toddler begins at 5:10 by demanding activities. Painting, baking, play, crafts, you name it. This will continue without pause for 14 hours.Basically by 6 am, she is jumping off the bed and onto the floor. Making loud bangs. You tell her to stop because you are in an apartment complex and you do pity the people downstairs. So she goes to the next room and grabs the guitar and starts WAILING. You tell her to stop, she will go into the living room and start acting out some scene from Frozen as loud as she can. You tell her to stop, losing your mind, considering a time out. You remind her to be quiet. Nothing sinks in at all. I discipline, I try downtime.Reading book usually involves me and her picking a book, we settle down and I begin reading. She will immediately get up again and either start jumping, running around, then pick another book, throw it at me and demand I read that one. I start, and the same thing happens again. Should I just keep reading the first one and don't stop? Like, don't switch over because SHE demands?For eating, she can't sit down for more than one bite. She eats a mouth full, and will get up and start running in circles around the table. More and more recently I am getting quite frustrated. She won't eat with us at mealtime and then 20 minutes later demand snacks and cookies. Should I take ALL snacks out of the day? To see if that helps curb the problem?There is so much I could tell, but basically its the energy. I don't say autism or adhd. I've worked with both in early childhood education. This is not her. She is emotionally fine, can communicate well with others, attentive and totally knows what I am saying. It's JUST THE ENERGY.Do you have suggestions for low energy activities that can captivate a high energy child? Do you have examples of puzzles? Things that can help her if she is bored?I just noticed though as I wrote this, it's 7 in the morning and she was repeating something over and over. When I didn't reply, she wandered away and now she is sticking stickers to her legs. QUIETLY.Am I the enabler? via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2hQTucP

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