Living Life To Its Fullest

As the holidays wind down and your child's behavior winds up, I am guessing the allure of the holidays is wearing off.  Staying up late, sleeping in, a diet filled with sugar....all of these seemingly fun changes to your routine may be responsible for some negative changes in your child's behavior.  Sometimes exacerbations of sensory processing symptoms, temper tantrums, poor compliance, and irritibilty can be quelled simply by returning to your family's routine. 

Children find comfort in a daily routine, even when it includes activities that they do not love.  It provides them with a feeling of control and a better ability to cope with varying experiences by making their day predictable.  During the holidays, we operate on a different schedule and thus take away the predictability of a child's day.  This can make your child feel on-edge, especially if your child has a sensory processing disorder or a diagnosis on the autism spectrum.

As we approach the last long weekend of the holidays, find your sanity again by incorporating aspects of your normal routine back into each day.

1)  Keep waking and sleeping times consistent.  If you have plans to visit friends or relatives at parties that may go late into the night, pack your child's pajamas and favorite snuggle toy.  This way, no matter where the night takes you, your child will be able to comfortably go to sleep at their bedtime.

3) For school-aged children, replace the time spent at school with productive activities.  Use your imagination to create "outdoor school" (aka playing organized games outside) or indoor "lessons"  (i.e. reading and crafts centered around one topic each day.  Librarians are always great resources to go to when seeking inspiration for a daily lesson.

2) Return to a healthy diet and a regular dinner time.  Decrease the sweets in your child's diet.  As we well know, sugar leads to hyperactivity followed by "crashing."  Too much sugar will surely lead to increased temper tantrums and breakdowns.  Return to your normal healthy diet.  When possible,  have dinner as a family around the dinner table at a predictable time.

3) Incorporate "homework time."  If your child usually does homework after dinner, provide fun  holiday worksheets or coloring pages to mimic homework.  It is great fine motor and visual motor practice!  Plus, it will be less time away from that cool new video game that they can't seem to pull themselves away from.

4) Provide quiet time before bed for more sound sleeping.  A family bedtime story, puzzle, or coloring activity always work well.

If you have more questions about developmentally appropriate activities to fill your child's day, ask your Child and Family Development Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist, Speech Therapist, Educational Specialist or Psychologist.