Anonymous wrote:Everyone says it’s not a boy or girl thing but it is. Two boys together make this crazy combination. I know a lot of kids and most of the boy-boy or boy-boy-boy families have really similar behavior. Boys are wired to be much more physical.

Yes, this. I have two boys, now 12 and 10, who were exactly like this. Egged each other on, multiple ER visits, stitches, etc. They do not have ADHD, they are just high energy.

I don't have any advice, really - I just got through the day in 10-min. chunks and hoped for long naps. The (questionably?) good news is that now mine are obsessed with video games and will happily play on the xbox for hours at a time if allowed. Not great, but lets us get work done.

What are the consequences? I have a kid who has been called fearless and where everyone thinks he should be in gymnastics..

Anyway, you need to make anything safety related an automatic warning and then time out. No exceptions. And cut out the rough play in the house by dad. We did both of those in our house.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not diagnosing your children, but you should look into resources for parents of young children with ADHD, because even if your children are neurotypical and don’t have ADHD, you still need to find out how to deal with children with tons of energy, short attention spans, poor impulse control, and lots of risk taking.

This. You keep saying "high energy," Op, but it sounds like that's just one of the issues.

Yah I have looked into it and their pedi says no, at this time she doesn’t think so. They are too young to evaluate.
I can’t tell if you’re being helpful or critical. I already see a few friends talking about adhd like it’s a dirty word, talking about other people’s kids. It’s a fine line to walk and if we do get a diagnosis for something down the road, I sincerely hope I don’t deal with that from my community of mom friends.

You need to stop caring what your mom group thinks. They aren’t your friends if they judge.

It does sound like they are abnormally risk taking. Swinging on chandeliers?

Have you tried saying NO and putting them in timeout? I get it, theyre active, but a 4yo should know better than to climb a fence in your yard. Your younger one is probably copying a lot of what he does.

I’m sorry that anyone has made you feel like ADHD is a dirty word, but your children don’t have that diagnosis, so it doesn’t apply to them. I’m merely suggesting that some of the strategies recommended for children with ADHD would probably be helpful. My dd is fearful of getting hurt, so she doesn’t do risky things, but she’s incredibly messy, impulsive, and has a short attention span for anything that doesn’t interest her. She also can’t regulate her emotions and has outbursts that are not proportional to whatever has upset her. Living with her is hard at times, but it’s gotten so much better over the years as she has matured. One thing that helped me to contain the chaos was to separate my kids (they’re twins) whenever the combination of the two of them was too much. They’re calmer and quieter when they’re not feeding off each other’s energy. Maybe set up obstacle courses in 2 rooms and they have to switch rooms from one turn to the next.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not diagnosing your children, but you should look into resources for parents of young children with ADHD, because even if your children are neurotypical and don’t have ADHD, you still need to find out how to deal with children with tons of energy, short attention spans, poor impulse control, and lots of risk taking.

This. You keep saying "high energy," Op, but it sounds like that's just one of the issues.

Yah I have looked into it and their pedi says no, at this time she doesn’t think so. They are too young to evaluate.
I can’t tell if you’re being helpful or critical. I already see a few friends talking about adhd like it’s a dirty word, talking about other people’s kids. It’s a fine line to walk and if we do get a diagnosis for something down the road, I sincerely hope I don’t deal with that from my community of mom friends.

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a co-parent?

Yah and he helps a lot. Although one issue is I think he plays rough and hard with them, running then on his back or flipping them in the air, that they think that wrestling, jumping and tackling behavior is ok. It’s like let’s no encourage that behavior in our house...

I have boys the exact same age. They are crazy for sure but not that extreme. Sorry op that's tough. The only thing that keeps mine occupied for long periods is outside digging in the dirt. Not sand, dirt. For some reason it's more entertaining. Maybe just pull up some grass, hand them shovels and pails, and let them go to town. Maybe put in a mud kitchen.

Do you have a co-parent?

Anonymous wrote:I am not diagnosing your children, but you should look into resources for parents of young children with ADHD, because even if your children are neurotypical and don’t have ADHD, you still need to find out how to deal with children with tons of energy, short attention spans, poor impulse control, and lots of risk taking.

This. You keep saying "high energy," Op, but it sounds like that's just one of the issues.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not diagnosing your children, but you should look into resources for parents of young children with ADHD, because even if your children are neurotypical and don’t have ADHD, you still need to find out how to deal with children with tons of energy, short attention spans, poor impulse control, and lots of risk taking.

+1

Your boys sound a lot like my daughter was at that age. She has ADHD-impulsive/hyperactive type.

I’m definitely prepared for that. How has your experience been? Did you do therapy or meds?
The little one is too young to say. I’m not sure about the older one. His teacher says he is pretty focused on assignments. He has a lot of friends and those kids are very similar and bouncing off the walls, concussions, stitches, etc. I guess you can say he found his group!

Anonymous wrote:I am not diagnosing your children, but you should look into resources for parents of young children with ADHD, because even if your children are neurotypical and don’t have ADHD, you still need to find out how to deal with children with tons of energy, short attention spans, poor impulse control, and lots of risk taking.

+1

Your boys sound a lot like my daughter was at that age. She has ADHD-impulsive/hyperactive type.

Not all boy households but almost every one where the kids are really fearless and super physical are usually multiple boys.

Everyone says it’s not a boy or girl thing but it is. Two boys together make this crazy combination. I know a lot of kids and most of the boy-boy or boy-boy-boy families have really similar behavior. Boys are wired to be much more physical.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You lost me at "professionally baby proofed", lol!

Yah.. you don't have "those kids" then. Trust me, you need to know ALL the products when there are zero safe places. Unless you have every TV bolted, dresser, a door has a lock for inside/outside the room, any chemicals are locked, every window that is reachable is locked, every toilet is locked, every faucet is locked.. ever thought a kid could open a second story window by climbing up to do to and fall out? it happens. You don't have those kids.

Have you reached out to early intervention? It sounds like you might need some professional help with more than just baby proofing.

Early intervention for what? Social skills are high, they are sweet kids. They are considered neurotypical, high energy kids. I’m just venting. Going on weeks on end with very little breaks is wearing on me. They are just into everything and it is exhausting and no fear.