joanne.lopers

I enjoy when people post things that they have discovered on their own work for their families. This has probably been a suggestion to a similar question in the past but I find it useful to get the posts from others about what is working for them so I thought I would through this out there.
My 9 year old has lots of energy that can be challenging to deal with. At night, especially lately, he gets very roudy, stays up pretty late and sort of gets in that mode of being purposely annoying. I sort of watched for a few days, tried some stuff and let it go but I knew it was not something that would work for me over a long period of time. I am tired at midnight and so is my husband. Waiting for him to settle down, it dawned on me to massage him. I had tried reading, a book on tape, a quiet game, the massage finally settled him down. He is not overly affectionate so I just applied pressure up and down his legs and back. This little realization inspired me to look around for ways to help him settle himself. I came across laughter meditation and I think I might try that right before we go to sleep. It alternates laughing with short periods of silence. He is such a great giggly kid and I have been wanting to foster that but I have trouble belly laughing now that I have gotten older. I am looking forward to trying something fun tomorrow, maybe I'll include the neighbour kids. Hopefully he will show me how to laugh and I'll help him learn to be still. If only for a moment.

Thanks always for the great advice here.

Joanne

Sandra Dodd

-= I had tried reading, a book on tape, a quiet game, the massage finally settled him down. He is not overly affectionate so I just applied pressure up and down his legs and back-=-

We had some juniper-scented massage oil. I would put it on my kids' backs sometimes when they were young. The scent was very relaxing. Sometimes I would massage it onto legs and the bottoms of feet. If they still wanted to get up, they would have put socks on for walking, but I don't think anyone every wanted to get up.

In New Mexico, in summer, the bottoms of feet can get really dry and uncomfortable, and that was soothing too, a foot massage with something softening.

Sandra

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Deb

Does he get enough outdoor running around time? I know that if my son spends the day in the house, he's very hard to get to sleep. Also, maybe try a bedtime routine with him so his body clock learns when to wind down. Like after supper let him romp around but maybe just for a half hour, then suggest something calming like a book you can read together or a show or movie on tv. Then have him bathe, which is relaxing, right before you want him to start settling in for the night. But that playing outside works wonders-I got that one from my Grandma a long time ago! Good luck with him.







--- In [email protected], "joanne.lopers" <wilmalv@...> wrote:
>
> I enjoy when people post things that they have discovered on their own work for their families. This has probably been a suggestion to a similar question in the past but I find it useful to get the posts from others about what is working for them so I thought I would through this out there.
> My 9 year old has lots of energy that can be challenging to deal with. At night, especially lately, he gets very roudy, stays up pretty late and sort of gets in that mode of being purposely annoying. I sort of watched for a few days, tried some stuff and let it go but I knew it was not something that would work for me over a long period of time. I am tired at midnight and so is my husband. Waiting for him to settle down, it dawned on me to massage him. I had tried reading, a book on tape, a quiet game, the massage finally settled him down. He is not overly affectionate so I just applied pressure up and down his legs and back. This little realization inspired me to look around for ways to help him settle himself. I came across laughter meditation and I think I might try that right before we go to sleep. It alternates laughing with short periods of silence. He is such a great giggly kid and I have been wanting to foster that but I have trouble belly laughing now that I have gotten older. I am looking forward to trying something fun tomorrow, maybe I'll include the neighbour kids. Hopefully he will show me how to laugh and I'll help him learn to be still. If only for a moment.
>
> Thanks always for the great advice here.
>
> Joanne
>