What to do a three-year-old bouncing ball?

September 19, 2007 4:09 PM

How to help a restless 3-year-old?

My daughter of 3 1/2 years is a happy child and is able to concentrate for long periods on something that interests her. As often, though, she is simply not calm, rocking in her chair, waving her arms, bouncing on the mattress, unable to stop. This is so not only when something exciting is happening but when she is tired and the situation would encourage her to relax.

I feel that this restlessness has much to do with our unstable housing situation (3 removals in 3 years, questions from her side what the next house is going to be like) which her parents found hard to deal with, so it must have been somewhat hard for her too.

I also feel that I have to do something about this. For now, we try to ensure regular and enough sleep, a stable daily routine, a relaxed way of planning things, with enough unplanned time as buffer zone.

What else can we do?

posted by catherinem to health & fitness (11 comments total)

My boy was (and still is) exactly like that. Kids have a lot of energy. When he starts bouncing off the walls too much we take him to the park and let him run off some energy. But I don't see it as something you could really "fix".
posted by Riemann at 4:13 PM on September 19, 2007

This sounds typical for a 3.5-year-old child. Do you see that this is unlike the behaviour of a large selection of her peers?

Lots of exercise, opportunities to climb, trips to the playground and park...those tactics may help. But it's not clear to me whether your daughter is more restless than those within the normal range.
posted by acoutu at 4:14 PM on September 19, 2007

3rding exercise. Also routine, and a "talking down" period before bed - quiet time with a story on your lap, rather than watching TV.
posted by Leon at 4:19 PM on September 19, 2007

Proprioceptive Input Ideas
posted by maloon at 4:43 PM on September 19, 2007

shucks.
http://www.make-the-grade-ot.com/Heavy%20Work%20for%20Parents.wpd.pdf
posted by maloon at 4:45 PM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

My child is like this too. He's getting better with the flailing and bouncing off of walls. I could hardly get him to sit in my lap. He would bounce and squirm and squash my face and kick and act like crazy barbarian child.

He's four now and can sit still for longer periods of time. He can sit still through an entire movie or book. He hasn't karate chopped my neck in months. He's turning into a halfway normal child.

I agree with above posters: get her outside for daily unstructured playtime. Cut back on television.

and try this:

Instead of holding a book in your lap, let her hold it. If she is in control of holding the book and turning the pages, it may calm her a bit.

But it may not. She may tear up the pages, throw it in the air, yelp like a hyena, and run out of the room.

Lie next to her in bed and whisper a story in her ear. Take turns whispering.

My advice is to try not to worry. Let her be wiggly, crazy child. Sadly, it passes.
posted by LoriFLA at 4:53 PM on September 19, 2007

That's my 4 1/2 year-old son (in his 5th house) you're describing there. If you think she's much more energetic than her peers, you could talk to her pediatrician. My son's hyperactivity was a problem when he tried a mainstream preschool, so I know "sounds normal to me!" isn't necessarily a helpful comment.

During the day: get her a bouncy ball!

Bedtime: we let him bring books to bed. He's allowed to read with a dim light on, so long as he's quiet and stays in bed.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:03 PM on September 19, 2007

When I used to babysit the next-door neighbor kid, we used to play a fun game called "calisthenics". He loved it. But of course, he wanted to be a football player when he grew up (last I heard, he was in film school).

He would run laps, do the monkey bars, jumping jacks -- as long as I was paying attention to him, it was still fun. Now I wish I'd thought to use a stopwatch and record times.

Now, the important thing is that it was fun for _him_. Might not work for every kid, although kids would probably do whatever you told them -- at first.
posted by amtho at 6:36 PM on September 19, 2007

Of course, my parents also used to give me liquor at bedtime; I was pretty restless then, too.

Ah, growing up in a small town...
posted by amtho at 6:37 PM on September 19, 2007

make sure she's getting enough exercise. gymnastics, maybe?

give her time to wind down before expecting her to sit still- a 2-block walk from the park to the car will do this, for instance, rather than just bustling her into the car when she's still hyper.

talk to her quietly when you want her to be quiet.
hug her close & whisper.

cut some sugar out of her diet- no pop, and give her water instead of juice. or at least dilute her juice.

play a game called "statue", where she has to stand as still as possible for as long as possible (this works very well as a competition if there are other kids around). once she stands still for a while she'll calm down.

less sugar + tag in the park + 2 block walk to the car + statue + cuddle & whisper = calm, still child, i think.
posted by twistofrhyme at 9:39 PM on September 19, 2007

How could I forget? Play Red Light, Green Light. It's great therapy for hyperactive kids.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:58 AM on September 20, 2007