I have 4 boys ages 2-14. Even the 2 year old gets into the action sometimes. When things get bad (ie I’m concerned an injury is imminent), they have to go to their rooms for 5 minutes quiet time. Or, I send the older ones outside to ride their bike or scooter or run around the block for 10 minutes.

They probably need an unstructured physical release b/c you have them in a structured camp all day where they have to keep it together for 6+ hrs.

Do you not have a basement/rec roo. where they can be silly and do things like rough house or run around?

Turn them loose outside.

We have an old mattress the kids jump on downstairs.

I have boys who are 9, 6, (and almost 2, but he isn’t super active yet)

More time outside. More than you thought was possible. Swimming. Kicking a soccer ball around. I make my older 2 boys do yard work with me. Dig holes. Pile rocks. Pull out old pieces of fence. Plant flowers. Volunteer to take elderly neighbor’s dog for a walk. Build a fort. Throw a football around. Mow the lawn (we have a push mower and my 9 year old especially loves this).

The minute they get nuts inside, they go out. Repeat all day long. It’s hot. They play with the hose. They have made up a very interesting sort of tennis/racquetball game they play in the driveway and they will do that. DH takes them golfing (and they walk and carry their own clubs). Swimming every day.

You want them to be physically worn out. They come inside for a cold water and just... sit on the couch.

Anonymous wrote:Exhaust them with sports. Travel hockey works for us. Get them skating, on a house team by 6 or 7, travel by 8. And get a trampoline.

This

If toddlers/preschoolers I have them crawl or come up with other movements besides running if they want to move fast in the house.

“You need to go outside for a while, because it sounds like you have too much energy for inside.” Rinse and repeat.

Seriously — trip to park/bike ride/basketball game after breakfast. Return home for lunch. Back out again for the afternoon. Home for quiet chill out time before dinner. Maybe a post-dinner walk or game of catch. Bath and bed. Do NOT spend any more time indoors than you absolutely have to.

Exhaust them with sports. Travel hockey works for us. Get them skating, on a house team by 6 or 7, travel by 8. And get a trampoline.

So have two boys and get driven crazy when they are literally bouncing off the walls. When I can’t take it anymore I make them run around the block.

So I hear the thumping starting and the wrestling and banging I threaten. Then make them run around the block. I tell them they can walk slowly but they end up racing. Buys me ten minutes of peace.

Anonymous wrote:Consistency, discipline.

Lol, the first poster without such boys rears their head

Consistency, discipline.

I have 5 and 8 both with ADHD diagnosis on top of it. I feel bad for myself most days.

I have 3 boys ages 3, 7, and 9. I've given up.

Yes I do talk to them every time.

We do
- talk about it
- quiet time in room
- loss of something later (tv or dessert)
- separate them
Nothing works, they feed off of each other’s energy.

My two high energy athletic boys are older now, but we definitely saw this dynamic more with my younger kid and an athletic high energy female cousin. This may be more common in boys, but it’s not only boys.

When my kids do something I don’t want them doing, I stop them and make them come talk to me. Every time.

How do you get them to slow down and stop racing around like absolute insane lunatics in the house. All I do is ask them to slow down. They have run into walls, fallen many times, run into corners, etc. We live on an acre and they play outside plenty and are in organized camps every single day so it’s not like they aren’t kept busy with physical outlets elsewhere. I’m so fed up in the house. I just brace myself for the screams and cries of them having another accident and it’s getting to the point where I think they need to wear a helmet inside. If you have one boy or girls don’t respond because it’s a 2+ boy dynamic you don’t see at this level otherwise.