Add routine in young child questions
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Anonymous
| Please tell me about your routine with your add young child - mine is four. He has a very hard time focusing on anything and so having a routine at home is hard - just too many hours in the day. He does go to preschool in the morning, and so this is from like 12:15 - 8. He is obsessed with tv, and we used it as a reward to toilet train because nor anything else worked, so now all he wants to do all day is watch it and we have to put our foot down constantly. He has been hitting at the park and running away from me everywhere so I'm not comfortable taking him out too much alone with my other child - it's just too risky and tough with both of them. So we have been home a great deal. He can't focus for long on puzzles or anything other than tv - I mean, he has diagnosed by a dev ped severe add, so that's not a shocker. But the days are loooooonfg and I'm losing my mind. |
Anonymous
| Just eliminating the idiot box will help. That needs to be your first step. |
Anonymous
Me thinks this is not a fellow parent of a kid with severe add. It's not a black box, but thanks. |
Anonymous
| Also, I said in my original post that we say no. He watches a couple of shows a day. |
Anonymous
| Have you tried medication or are you considering it? Beyond that, how about a full day preschool program in a more specialized setting? |
Anonymous
| Mine gets hyper focused on activities like Legos and fine motor tasks. I also keep her active. Running, skipping, gymnastics, anything that keeps them moving. |
Anonymous
| We are thinking about medication but he's a new 4. He can't do any fine motor stuff for long like stickers etc. it's not an exaggeration to say 4 minutes. And that's remarkable more like 1-2. He does ot twice a week. |
Anonymous
We started medication at 4 and it was very helpful. But beyond that, I would probably try to schedule some let her activities out of the home. Swimming lessons could be good. |
Anonymous
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How old is your other child?
It sounds like he could use an activity to burn up energy. Open gym or gymnastic class? Swim class? Is there a class that you could enroll them both in? |
Anonymous
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Yes, he really really really needs movement activities and outside time. Using stickers and other sitting as activities won't work for him (and honestly, not for lots of 4 year olds). How old is your other child? Can you hire a high schooler to go with you to playground so there are 2 of you with 2 kids?
You might need to use harness when walking so you can hold his hand and he won't break add and un. But exercose! Also, buy a mini trampoline for house with handle, he might like to jump, jump, jump. |
Anonymous
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My son has ASD so not exactly the same thing your dealing with but the schedule helps tremendously. It can be a loose schedule at home. Try to get the kids out of the house, even if that means just in your neighborhood. I know it is hard but it helps. Also, at 4, he may be ready for a longer preschool day.
Exercise and Sensory Fun - is what works for us. Our house has a mini trampoline and some other indoor workout equipment. Another thing we do is workout videos... I keep plastic bins full of sensory toys such as rice (you can color rice with food coloring to change it up), beans, lentils (lentils will fit through toys made for sand), kinetic sand and playdoh. I bought a 5 pack of the small construction trucks from Target (I think it was like $5 for the set) and my son uses these in the sensory bins. On warmer days, I make a container of gelatin with plastic animals hidden in it (not the fruit flavored stuff, just plain gelatin with food coloring added for fun) and we take that outside to dig through. We set up carwashes outside with containers of water and bubbles. I have taped matchbox car tracks together to connect car washes and stuff. All of these things can be done in your kitchen or on a deck/driveway. During the winter months it is harder but try some of the classes at the gymnastics places or bundling up and going for a hike. We sometimes will take a remote control car on a hike for a little more fun and motivation. |
Anonymous
| A mini trampoline can help, also those little tunnels and tents that fold up |
Anonymous
I wish this poster with their sarcastic, unhelpful comments would go troll somewhere else. OP did not invite this response with their perfectly reasonable post. |
Anonymous
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Some PPs have given you some good ideas! We got a rebounder/mini trampoline 7 years ago and still use it every day (we got one of the more expensive ones and it's really held up). The rebounder and the body sock http://www.amazon.com/Body-Sensory-7-Sizes-Large-Royal/dp/B005NQV9UQ are go-to items. Any time a kid needed calming down, into the body sock he went. There would be a flair of excitement/activity and then blessed calming. We still use the bean bag chairs we got about 10 years ago http://www.ahhprods.com/ . The kids would make 'sandwichs' with them - kid in the middle. Finally, one of the things that fed the screen addiction but was healthy was doing Wii Fit and Just Dance. Exercise is your friend and since your guy DC is so small, it's not like cross country is in your toolbox yet. Besides, those games can be done any time of day, any weather. Hugs.
Oh - we also got one of the 'swing chairs' from Ikea and installed it into a joist in the basement. It's near the rebounder. I've got one kid that could swing all day. It's so calming! But, I got another kid that loathed it until he was about 6. |
Anonymous
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OP,
Make a picture schedule for him to follow. If there's going to be TV time, make sure it happens at a time that makes sense for you, e.g., when you're making dinner or as a reward for something or completing activities he doesn't care to do, e.g., clean up the play area. You can always get one of these to help manage TV time: http://www.amazon.com/BOB-Screen-Manager-Manage-Video/dp/B000GU78UY |