Tell me about your hyper sensitive 4/5 year old receptioner

[woodforthetrees]

DS is 4.5 years old and is hypersensitive. He's always been like this - sensitive to noise, situations, clingy etc. He is also sociable chatty and friendly and makes friends easy. He could almost seem outgoing.

I struggle to know how to handle his hypersensitive nature (examples, he gets the "wrong" bowl, you say something where he thinks you're teasing him, his hair is sticking up first thing in the morning) (?!) Some things I can see are things which need careful handling (with a cuddle for eg and a bit of explanation) and other things he goes over the top about which I am unsure of how to deal with . I also have to assess tiredness levels for eg post school as to how to deal....

You could be describing my DS - see my thread about Imaginary Friends.

He freaks out if he spills a bit of his breakfast or dinner and can't stand loud or fast music. He overreacts to a lot of things.

As for how to handle it - I will watch this thread with interest as I've not got a flaming clue myself and would love to know!

My DS1 is very similar to yours OP, he is 5 and year 1 now (Aug born). Lovely, sociable and apparently confident but takes some things to heart sooo badly and often goes off the deep end at what seems like the slightest thing. I think a lot of it is tiredness too.

I handle it according to the situation, explaining that teasing and laughing at someone can sometimes be fun, it doesn't have to mean you are being cruel - I think its hard for them to get their little heads around concepts like that though, it is bound to take time. I try not to react much to tantrum style overreactions, just calmly say that there is no need to behave like that, we can talk about it and try to sort it out or sometimes if he is being really OTT I just leave him to get it out of his system, sometimes asking him to go to his room if he wants to make a racket! No idea if my methods are the "right" ones though!

My dd is like this. Tho I have really clamped down on her screaming when she is upset so life a little better. She does take stuff to heart and is worse if tired/hungry She is an a type personality for sure! I'm hoping time and age will help her plus a good routine/boundaries and 11 hrs sleep a night help too
I had to stop her having a treat today as we went to panto and I was let down again by her crying Pinishment meant more tears but I have to stick to my guns! Nightmare!

Do you mean handle him being this sensitive? or his reaction, that is does he scream/shout or what?

I think if he is very sensitive that is him, but perhaps you can guide him on more appropriate reactions to these situations. I have banned screaming (although when he's really tired I ignore a bit as he seems to lose control), it's scream and you go to your room.

You're right, quite often a sensitive reaction early on can stop the situation from escalating, but this is bloomin' hard work. End of term is hard, tired child, tired Mummy... not easy...

Also I am a lot tougher on ridiculous reactions. I try to place myself in the position of a Nanny/nursery teacher and imagine how they would react. Kindly but firmly to ridiculous reactions I think-eg wrong bowl, etc. Sometimes I think they only do this at this age when they need to though so you have to tread carefully, it's like they regress to a 2 year old just to get control/provoke a reaction....
Will also see what others say!