Children are playful by nature. However, hyperactive children tend to be jumpier and will easily wear down their parents. The good news is that there are some tips that will come in handy when you want to calm such children. The most important thing to do is to identify the causes of the behavior so that you can be able to eliminate future occurrences.
In most cases, hyperactivity is brought about by the following reasons:
Events
Foods
Anxiety
Anger
How to Manage Hyperactivity
The process of managing hyperactivity in kids is moderately challenging. You’ll be required to practice patience as this will prevent worsening the situation. Here are a few things you could do:
Avoid revealing emotions. Children tend to read their parent’s emotions through the voice tone. Talk to the child in a calm voice to establish a sense of compassion. Hyperactive children will obey parents that are able to relate to them like friends.
Provide attention. It’s a well-known fact that children seek attention through all available ways. Hyperactivity normally kicks in when their parents ignore them. Conversing with the child for a while will make him/her less hyper.
Don’t challenge hyperactive children. This is actually where most parents go wrong because by being harsh to their children, they end up lowering their confidence level. In its place, try to behave in a kind way.
Provide physical relief. Some children are born with extra energy than their counterparts. You’ll be surprised that what the child needed was a constructive outlet for the adrenaline. A stress ball is an effective toy for serving this purpose.
Make the child reconsider. A child that is hyper normally acts jumpy because he/she finds the act enjoyable. In order to stop the child, challenge their idea and provide a much better one that will be less physically demanding.
Important Tips
Set up a routine that will describe the expectation of everyone in the family including the hyperactive children. This way, they’ll feel proud of accomplishing a family goal, rather than a personal one, when they refrain from hyper activities.
Send the child to his/her room when hyperactivity starts. However, do not employ a ‘grounding’ technique but rather a ‘time-out’ for the child to play in his/her own space. Make sure that you provide them with toys when sending them to their rooms.
Set strict bedtime. Parents make the mistake of allowing small kids to stay up until late. Such kids will take advantage of the opportunity to drain their parents’ energy out. To avoid this, be strict with bedtimes and get time to unwind and relax too.
Keep the children busy. Hyperactive children usually start acting wildly when they’re bored. Ensure that there are plenty of tasks and games around the house that will keep their young minds busy.
Avoid giving children plenty of caffeine and/or sugar. These two ingredients elevate energy levels thus act as fuel to children. Hyper activity is bound to kick in when these ingredients are consumed in excess.