to ask how you deal with all the screaming, tapping, banging, picking, throwing

[girlwhowearsglasses]

Entailed in having three small boys..? (5, 5, 7)

I really feel I'm having sensory overload. I'm trying to be lighthearted about it - please make me feel better.

I was awoken at 5.30am yesterday and they did not go to bed until 10pm. my ears are ringing from screeching in my ear. if they sit down they are permanently rhythmically banging, tapping, teeth grinding, making repetitive noises, and so on. When I read them a story they are kicking, picking noses, making 'boy noises'. When in the bathroom they are splashing, screaming, jumping and trying to choke themselves on their toothbrushes. They are for the most part normal (one currently poss ADHD - in the system for assessment, but the others not).

I must say I often feel like lying down in a quiet room. I almost never feel like playing music nowadays.. Anyone else? Of course helps, sometimes....

[TeamHank]

10pm bedtime?! No wonder they drive you mad - I'd bring their bedtime forward significantly!

[Forgettable]

I think it's a flock (noise? busyness?) of children thing

sympathies

it does get better as they mature

grunt and lynx

[formerbabe]

Why do they not go to bed till 10pm?! My ds (6) is in bed at 7.30! No wonder they are driving you crazy!

[girlwhowearsglasses]

Oh 'bedtime' is 7pm! Jumping about in the dark, screaming, etc, coming down with various complaints etc etc continues ad nauseum.

I know all the 'strategies', really I do.

[boschy]

god yes, bed by 7 would be my plan! esp if up at 5.30... poor you. how about some ear plugs? you can still hear, they just muffle things a bit

[boschy]

ah, in that case wine and earplugs. also perhaps a tazer?

[formerbabe]

Do they share a room?

[Oldraver]

Bed much earlier than that, even if they protest they can't/wont go to sleep. They need to have calm before bedtime.

Also get a Gro-clock and train them to not wake you up until X time

Fucks knows on the noise

[girlwhowearsglasses]

The twins do. Its not going to help to split them, unless I can strap them into their beds

[girlwhowearsglasses]

On a serious note, I'm seriously considering some kind of meditation - anyone done this, does it help you 'zone out' ?

[Purplehonesty]

My two are 1 and 4 and the noise here is constant too! It's like they can't do anything without making sounds themselves or by using something. Drives me nuts.
On the odd occasion I get to leave the house by myself I don't play music in the car I just revel in the silence!
My two are in bed at 6.30-7 and chat for a while, the eldest sings to the youngest but then thankfully it is rare they are awake past 7.30.
I find being outside as much as possible helps as by bedtime they are shattered after swimming, running, biking and playing in the garden.
Could you try getting them out more? Even on freezing days we wrap up and go to the beach or for a walk/cycle.

[StephenKatz]

Sympathies! Although I have to say, girls do it too! DD2 is the noisiest child < Jeremy Clarkson voice > in the wuurld!

[formerbabe]

I think at their age, they are old enough to know they need to be quiet and go to bed. They are not toddlers who need coaxing with gro clocks etc. In your position op, I would set out rules for bedtime and punish them if they do not follow them. I know it sounds a bit supernanny, but I would do it for my sanity!

[Gruntfuttock]

1. Taser to enable step 2
   

1. Staple gun mouths shut.
   

1. Duct tape all limbs.
   

1. Congratulations! You now have peace and quiet.
   

Disclaimer:- I have not actually tried any of the above. I haven't needed to. I was exceptionally clever and had 1 girl and not 3 boys.

[Cigarettesandsmirnoff]

Strap them to the beds!

Christ you must need a break!

I'd be tempted to split them all up, sit at the top of the stairs for a few days with a stick and woe betide any one that comes out.

No tv at all from six so it's completely wind down time.

[girlwhowearsglasses]

Thanks Gruntfuttock

[Megrim]

Yup, that's boys for you.

You could try getting them to set their own bedtime rules (ie the rules that you want but get them to suggest them, such as quiet after lights out, no bouncing around, not to wake mum until x time) and give them a reward when they stick to them. The theory is that they are more unlikely to break their own rules.

[LEtranger]

girl my boys are pretty relentless too, and sensory overload is exactly how I describe it! I have actually done what Cigarettes suggest, and put them in separate rooms (even if it means one goes in my bed til asleep then move them back later) and sit on the landing between rooms with my cross face on - it actually works very fast, particularly if I ignore by doing some work/ reading a book.

Your own suggestion is a good one too - you mention meditation - I use this on the kids. Found out be accident once that it works - I was at the end of my tether one afternoon, made them all sit separately and did a meditation exercise on them which I'd done on some course - it actually worked to calm them down! I started doing it at bedtime, after story once all lying down and they really do listen in and calm down for sleep. You can get meditation CDs for kids which have worked a treat - although I have to sit there while they're on. They've really calmed down over all since I started it.

[TeamHank]

Argh!!!!!!!! It's not "boys for you"!!!!

I have two boys, they don't behave like this - and they are in bed asleep by 7.15! It's not a "boy" thing!!!

[IsItMeOr]

You poor thing.

No help to you whatsoever, but my tried and tested strategy to avoid this was just to have one DS.

Mind, I still feel the strong need to lie down in a darkened room sometimes, so even that's not 100% successful.

Good luck!

[StarGazeyPond]

Stealth boast TeamHank???? That doesn't help the OP at all !

[Clarabumps]

Maybe put their jackets on a fling the out in the garden for a run about?My sons are a bit like labradors. If they don't get enough exercise they become destructive.

[crazykat]

My 6,5 and 3 year olds cannot sit still or be quiet. It's the repetitive noises that are the worst and have triggered migraines for me a few times.

Definitely send them to bed earlier and if they keep banging and coming down then introduce sanctions. I had to so this as it was impossible to get them up on a morning for school. It took a couple of weeks where one or other would be in bed earlier, have no tv, lose treats etc and now they generally stay in bed.

[Megrim]

But it is bloody boys - I have 2 boys and they were the same. Maybe your boys don't run round like lunatics and have masses of energy, but a lot of them do. It's that thing called testosterone.

[TeamHank]

Not a stealth boast at all just sick of all the negativity about boys - another poster has already said her girls are like it too and yes of course my boys have loads of energy but they're kids they're supposed to have loads of energy!!