Fidgeting

[allgoodnamestaken]

Not sure if it's me being critical/sensitive or DH but the thing is that if we're sitting down to watch TV he will constantly be fidgeting. It might be rolling up a sweet wrapper, chewing his nails, rubbing a label on a bottle of beer. The other evening he had his leg up and was twirling the hair on it. We have a sofa each and he isn't in my direct line of vision if I'm looking at the tv but all this is going on in my peripheral line of vision. Getting tired of asking him to stop. It's just not very relaxing being in the room and trying to concentrate on what's happening on the screen.
Anyone else live with a fidgeter or is one?

With children in school we see some just can't help it. I'm sure they grow up to be those fidgety ones. It can be a sensory issue to do with delivery experience at birth or early days in an incubator.We sometimes give them a squeezy ball or a little piece of playdough to fidget with to get it out of their system. Often l find its the bright ones. I have a friend who is a doctor and he never stops moving. So remember maybe they can't help it!!

Agree with june. My DC has sensory probs and fidgets a lot. Everyone is different. People who fidget (like me) are not doing it on purpose. We just do it because that's the way we are wired. Something in our sensory system is making us do it.

Children usually learn to control it by their teens.

Would you fidget on public transport, in the theatre, in the cinema etc knowing you were irritating those in close proximity to you?
How is fidgeting different to compulsively sniffing or kicking chairs, do you feel it's more socially acceptable? Why?

Sitting still and relaxing your muscles is a skill. Some people need to work at it more than others.

DH and DD1 fidget, DD1 is much worse than DH though. She never stops moving even in bed she is in a different position everytime I pop my head around the door. I can tolerate it to an extent but will occasionally have to ask them both to chill it a bit.

DD2 otoh barely moves. Once she us comfy there is no budging her

You are missing out on an opportunity. Teach him to knit.

My DH is like this, too, and it drives me nuts. My DD is like it, too, so it's in the genes.

My motto is that if you are not going anywhere, you don't have to move.

It actually makes me feel a bit motion sick if someone is moving in my peripheral vision when I am watching TV.

I'm the fidget in my marriage! Dh says he can always tell when I'm properly asleep as opposed to just dozing because it's the only time my feet are ever still.
I favour a circling motion of my ankles, wiggling my toes, and sometimes imaginary drawing a pattern with them. I also tense and relax my calf and thigh muscles rhythmically. I even fidgeted in labour, swinging my leg up and down as I contracted. They had to hold it down in the end. It's just something I've always done!

I'm a fidget, but more along the lines of having to have something in my hands to be doing something. I can't just sit and watch TV, I have to be working on something at the same time. When I'm in a meeting or PD I've always got to have something in my hands - many paperclips have met their doom in my hands.

It's not as easy as just switching on super self-control. For some people, it is an actual need to move. When I try and sit completely still, then I actually feel physical compulsion to move, it genuinely hurts me and all of my concentration has to go towards not moving a muscle. I'm better off having a small item in my hand that I can use than I am to try and sit dead still.

It's very good for you. Keeps you thin. There's actually a name for it. I wish I could remember it!

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT.

Easily burns 300 extra calories a day. Drives everybody else potty.

I can't "just" sit and watch TV - I need something to do with my hands...I knit or sew or play patience. I get very wriggly if ever I'm not within reach of something to be doing.
It is relaxing for him though.

Not sure what you are asking if YABU about to be able to answer that.

I have asd and have to keep moving. I wriggle my toes, bite my nails, move my legs and fiddle with my hair.

I fidget and def keep slimmer because if it. Yes I fidget everywhere-I simply cannot sit in one position for more than a few minutes. No one has ever said I annoy then though.

Oh but it is really annoying and I say that as a fellow fidget. It makes shared sofas or benches rock ever so slightly, it can give someone in a shared bed motion sickness. It makes tiny and repetetive tap tap tap clickedy clack noises and seeing perpetual motion from the corner of the eye can be super irritating.

Really difficult to stop if you are a fidget though and hey, 300kcal/day!