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Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers
Reply to "Incredibly “busy” 2 and 4 year old.. can hardly keep up with them. "
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[quote=Anonymous]Mom of two active boys here. I have four suggestions: 1: Long stretches of outside time. Twice a day, every day. Get up, eat breakfast, go outside. Do the same after lunch/rest time. Time them doing wind sprints. Find the steepest hill in your neighborhood and challenge them to skip/march/run up and sidestep/walk backwards down, as many times as they can. Go for long, long hikes and bike rides. Teach them to do somersaults, cartwheels and handstands. Put on sandals/boots/old shoes and play in the creek. 2: You need to find ways to get them to play *with* each other, not just mindlessly feed off each others’ energy. Follow-the-leader, wheelbarrow courses, piggyback or horsie rides, squirt guns. Help them build a fort with tree branches or bamboo, then set them digging a moat or tiger pit outside it. Help them connect body and brain, to improve their motor planning and executive functioning skills. 3: Find things to say yes to and cheerfully redirect when necessary. Celebrate their physicality and daring, but in ways that aren’t destructive. Jumping off the deck, no. Competitive broad jumps on the sidewalk, sure. Squirting mom’s laptop when she’s working, no. Painting each other with fingerpaints and mud in the driveway, then hosing each other down, why not? Jumping off the couch — absolutely not. Putting the cushions on the floor for hot lava — go for it. 4: Involve them in cleaning up any destructive messes. They got into a flour war in the kitchen? One sweeps while the other holds the dustpan. Marks on the walls? Each gets a paintbrush or roller. Something gets broken? They need to spend time to help you repair it or find a new one. Make peace with the reality that you will never have quiet, craft-loving kids. But you will have so much more fun if you cheer for the kids you do have. [/quote]
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