First grade boy is always hyped up/annoying

[Anonymous]

Anyone else deal with this and do they grow out of it? my almost 7 year old is doing well at school, has never gotten really gotten into trouble before, is well liked and has a lot of friends but I find him to be a lot to handle. We did a play date today with a friend and he was so hyped up and just has the most annoying energy- running so fast, making annoying and silly faces, making a mess like breaking his plastic fork at lunch, just sooooo much energy and losing his mind with listening.. We deal with this a lot and have tried many things. It’s like a weird mood takes over. I would say it seems like he has aDHD but he holds it together most of the time at school. If your kid was like this at 6/7 did they eventually grow out of it and when? He’s just a lot anywhere I take him. He’s also the oldest. His little brother is much calmer but he will get all riled up when he’s with my older one.

[Anonymous]

Of course. My kid is the same. Acts like a lunatic and embarrasses me when he gets excited but is thriving in general.

[Anonymous]

1. Reduce screens to almost zero
2. Look at his diet - dyes like Red #40, Yellow #5, etc. can wreak havoc on behavior
3. Does he just need to blow off steam after school since he's held it together for so long all day? Maybe he needs to run around the block at full speed to get some energy out.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, sounds like a 7 year old boy. What they find interesting, funny, and appropriate is very different than what you do. Give him plenty of time to run around and burn energy, keep an eye on how he acts compared to his peers, and in the situations where he needs to behave according to more adult standards, talk about it with him in advance and practice with him and be prepared to coach him through it. He's still pretty little and is figuring everything out!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Reduce screens to almost zero
2. Look at his diet - dyes like Red #40, Yellow #5, etc. can wreak havoc on behavior
3. Does he just need to blow off steam after school since he's held it together for so long all day? Maybe he needs to run around the block at full speed to get some energy out.

[Anonymous]

Yep. My 8 year old is the same. Totally normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Reduce screens to almost zero
2. Look at his diet - dyes like Red #40, Yellow #5, etc. can wreak havoc on behavior
3. Does he just need to blow off steam after school since he's held it together for so long all day? Maybe he needs to run around the block at full speed to get some energy out.

I sort of agree with this but not the specifics. If he's getting a decent amount of screens, cutting back on them can't hurt and will probably help. But my kid is super screen restricted and still acts like this at times, so it's not just a screen thing. I think it's more that many parents deal with this behavior by sticking their kid in front of a screen, which at least makes them quiet, but not necessarily that the screens cause the behavior.

One thing that helps us is organized activities, especially something like gymnastics or basketball or dance. It's the combination of physical activity and control that seems to help. Just running around at the playground tires DD out, but doesn't necessarily do much for those annoying, kind of nervous/excited behaviors you are talking about. It's also an extra social outlet, exposure to another adult (and often a different sort of adult than they get at school, which broadens their horizons a bit), and creates more structure in the schedule which seems to help with that kind of restless, all over the place, energy.

And I do think diet can help a lot but I don't think it's about dyes in food (again, my kid isn't consuming food with dyes in it and still gets like this). What helps us is increasing protein intake and decreasing filler snacks like crackers. Making fruit smoothies with protein in them can be a good way to make sure my DD sleeps better and doesn't get hangry or over tired. So we try to do one of those with breakfast most mornings, or if that doesn't work, after school. We make sure most snacks are heavy on protein and lower on sugar, and we do try to limit candy/sweets as much as possible (the main enemy being school where they give these as rewards for good behavior, which is very annoying).

[Anonymous]

I think it's the age. I love my first grader and her friends but they are A LOT when they get together.

[jsmith123]

I'm glad I'm not the only one! It especially shows itself when he has friends over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's the age. I love my first grader and her friends but they are A LOT when they get together.

Now think of how your kids teachers feel with 25 of them for 7.5 hours a day, 5 days a week. It is exhausting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's the age. I love my first grader and her friends but they are A LOT when they get together.

Now think of how your kids teachers feel with 25 of them for 7.5 hours a day, 5 days a week. It is exhausting.

Thank you — I just came to post this!

[Anonymous]

Normal in my experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's the age. I love my first grader and her friends but they are A LOT when they get together.

Mine are a bit older and still like this. I think it’s more about boys than the age.

[Anonymous]

Time to run outside every day helps a lot.

[Anonymous]

Exercise. Try to get him in a sport.