Child psychiatrist

Hi Dear PArent! I can understand what u r going thru. By nature all children r inquisitive n want to explore their environment. But some children r more active n would not like to sit at one place. this is a very common problem n I believe u need not worry much as with time n ur contribution it would phase out. First of all u need not panic as hyperctivity is not a serious issue n needs ur patience as r impatience would further deteriorate d condition. One thing u need to work upon is when u start with any activity wi ur child u shd first explain how it is to be done, what you expect n what would be d outcome of d end result. The outcome cud be anything like praise, applause, reward, etc, anything u know could catch the interest of ur child. While u r explaining ur tone shd be as calm as possible. No where it shd be indicative of any punishment if instructions r not followed as child would lose interest.

The activity chosen shd be age appropriate, not long say 5 to 7 minutes initially, for example building blocks, hand printing, stringing beads etc. u need to sit along and praise at each and every success so that d child does not loose interest. Say when d child strings first bead a loud clap would do its job, n praise at each success would further motivate d child. A colourful attractive study table would do wonders. make d child sit on it n reward for doing an activity on it. the reward need not be in terms of kind like an expensive gift or toffeee. even a kiss , a hug or a pat would work most of the times. Such children need change in our. behavior first such as they need more of r time, energy and patience. The moment u would loose ur cool he would switch to some other activity and would refuse to listen to u. The moment u r able to achieve this target of making the child sit at one place for 5 minutes , u can look fwd to setting bigger targets by increasing the complexity of d activity. as of now ur child needs three things ur love, motivation and involvement. All d best.

Hi Avi. I have a friends whose son is of a similar nature as described by you. The boy is 5yrs now and has been very active since he started moving (from about 6 months of age). Some children are like this but we can help in curbing the behaviour to some extent. Shikha has made some great suggestions. I would like to add a few things- 1)Please try and follow a routine with his activities/mealtimes/naps etc. 2)You could try to send him to bed around 9pm and make him stay in bed. This may help him settle down and with time, help him fall asleep earlier. Activities at night such as watching tv, computer etc may affect his sleep 3)You could sit with him and tell him a story to help him calm down for bedtime 4)Avoid giving him food high in caffeine or sugar such as colas, packaged fruit juices, chocolates, cakes, ice creams and even junk food especially after 5 pm. Foods containing the above will make your child more hyper. 6)Children this young have a very little concentration span. So it is very likely that your son will get bored of any activity in about 10-15mins. This will change with age, so hang in there. Hope this helps.

Avi, apart from what the other mums have suggested,a few more pointers- 1. why dont you try VExcel or any trusted child counselling center, a center where they show hyper active children the best way to learn. They will evaluate your child and a child psychiatrist will tell you the best methods for teaching him. 2. No one will call a child hyper active till s/he reaches 7 years of age. This is my personal experience when I took my 5 year old daughter. Any child below 7 years is prone to be more or less hyper active, especially with the kind of stimuli they get from media etc nowadays. 3. Dont worry about teaching him. Teach him at 10 minute gaps. Let him sit for 10-15 mins and then ask him to do some other activity for 15 mins, with the assurance that he will return to you to study for another 15 mins. Slowly increase this time, a few minutes at a time. Soon he will be sitting for half an hour. Dont have high expectations. No child sits for an hour at a time to study :). 4. Bedtime- Have you tried some bedtime relaxing routines for your son. Wash him with a good soap and warm water, give him a massage with any mild cream. Dim the lights an hour prior to his intended bed time, tell him a couple of stories and ask him to cuddle. Sing him a lullaby. This might calm him down enough to make him sleep at the time you would want him to. Dont put on tv before bedtime. You can read good picture books together. This would become a habit soon and your stress will go down.

Dear Payal, d child being talked about is just 2. 5 years old. We r definitely not trying to put labels such as " hyperactive". It's just Mother's way of telling tht child doesn't sit at a place for more than a minute. Secondly u can't make a 2. 5 yrs old study thru pen pencil n paper. It's more d age for play n fun. So activities which he finds interesting or d age appropriate ones should be carried out. Plus if d mother wants she can begin with alphabet n number recognition but tht too by using play way method again by using blocks, showing pics etc. even a not so active child would not sit at one place for half an hr. channel using his energies in right direction is wat s required.

Thank you all for your suggestions.. All these points would give a lot of help...

Shikha, just a small addendum, in case there was something you misunderstood. I was not talking about a child being "labelled" hyperactive by any parent. I was stating a fact that no doctor would call a child hyperactive till the age of 7 since hyperactivity is a natural phenomenon in children below that... and I was talking about a personal experience where I had taken my daughter to a doctor. The second point, Im sure was not addressed to me, since I have not talked about pencil-paper study anywhere. At that age usually picture books, flash cards, as you said colourful toys like blocks, etc, can be used to introduce a child to alphabets and numbers.

Thanks Ann. I was told by a child psychiatrist that my child cannot be diagnosed because she was just 5 years old and cannot be called hyperactive. She told me that since a certain level of hyper activity is seen in all children below the age of 7, she cannot give any verdict. Thanks for setting it straight. Maybe I will also take a second opinion now.