Have you got a 5/6 year old? How long do you estimate that they can sit still for?

[sunburntats]

Following on from another thread, just wanted to ask you all please...

[colditz]

My 6 year old?

Depends what he is doing. If school work, Not at all. he wriggles intensly

If computer, about 10 minutes.

He is being assessed by CaAMHS for his 'wriggliness' though

[lagaanisace]

Well, apparently he can at school, but I've yet to be convinced!

[ThingOneofYourNightmares]

Watching telly after a hard day at school? Hours if I, or his little brother, let him.

Any other time? Quite a long time actually, as long as he can have a little wriggle. He can manage the cinema well, has no problem with assembly and sits as well as the other children at school. But he doesn't sit completely still, he does move a bit or turn his head around from time-to-time. He doesn't do it all the time. I think he does quite well.

[iheartdusty]

in front of TV - up to 5 hours I expect, if I didn't stop it.

at dining table - about 3 minutes.

reading, playing with playmobil etc - about 15 minutes.

[sunburntats]

LOVE that colditz "wriggliness" So much better than lack of concentration/disruptive/immature (FFS he is JUST 6)

[juuule]

Agree it depends on what they are doing.
If it's something she's interested in she will sit still for longer than for something she's not interested in.

Something she's not interested in she lasts 2 seconds.
Watching a film, she can sit still all the way through.
Other things, somewhere in between.

[mustrunmore]

Duration of a film, no problem
Doing a craft activity, about an hour
Doing somnething that doesnt interest him, about 5 mins
When ds2 distracts him, about 30 seconds.

[serenity]

Same with DD - she can sit for ages if she's watching/doing something interesting (to her!) yet she can't sit up at the table to eat her dinner without bouncing in and out of her chair every couple of minutes.

I think she's OK at school, at least I've never been told there's a problem, but then it's probably overshadowed by her need to talk incessantly...

[sunburntats]

have distracted/bribed/told off/insisted/praised/picked battles and limited sitting stuff since he was able to crawl as a tiny baby!

just wanted to compare with others of the same age.

My nephew can and has always been able to sit still for ages, hours on his little electronic thingy (dont know what they are called Game ds box cube type gameing thingy)

My family think that ds is deranged with addh or something similar, school disagree thanks goodness.

[edam]

playing on the DS - ages (although he does wriggle and move around as he's making the characters jump or whatever, so not sure that it counts).

Watching TV - will move around, wriggle, go and pick stuff up, play with the cat while watching. Actually being still, about 5 to 10 minutes?

Now I come to think about it for this thread, it's probably about 5 minutes whatever he's doing!

[Danthe4th]

I went on a training course and we were told not to expect a child to sit still for more than 1 minute for every year of their lives give or take 1 minute. Some children need to wriggle and some need to fiddle with things to concentrate.

[morninggirl]

can i be a bit thick and ask what "CaAMHS" stands for?

my son is 5 and unless doing something he enjoys, he doesn't sit still for very long.

[joburg]

We were told from the school that everything was just fine! Over and over again. Then 2 years later, DD was dx with ADHD. It's never too late to check it if you have any doubts at all. An ADHD untreated can lead to pretty bad things later on they say. Sorry if i am a bit negative, but better to check it after all. How are his focusing skills?

[ShinyAndNew]

Less than 30 seconds probably. Which is more than her sister manages.

[Bucharest]

As Colditz said, if she's doing something she likes (like now, puttering about on her vtech) it could be hours

If it's her h/w about 2 minutes then her body somehow gets all floppy and jelly like and she slithers round like a snake on her chair.

[shockers]

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services ( not as scary as it sounds!)

[bran]

DS is hardly ever still, unless he's asleep. His school are lovely and help him to practise being still, but recognise that it's hard for him. Even when he's concentrating on something he enjoys, like spot-the-difference in a comic, he jiggles and hums to himself. If he's tired and wachting a DVD slumped on the sofa then he can be still for about 10 mins before changing position.

Surprisingly he's quite good in the car and on airplanes, I think he finds the motion soporific as he usually goes into a sort of daze and then falls asleep.

[CHOCOLATEPEANUT]

my 6 year old dd can sit for ages if its something she likes say a fav dvd or craft session

keeping quiet thats another question