Please Tell me what your just turned 4 year old boy is like! Worried about mine!

[1fish2fish]

I have twin boys who have just turned 4 years old. Daily life with them is a bit crazy, some days just surviving the day and getting through it as best I can is as good as it gets. I have this deep seated worry that I am not doing enough with them and that they are not 'right' for their age. They start school in September, as summer born babies, only just 4 and I just cannot imagine them there, going on their behaviour at home.

Their attention and listening skills are really poor, they will not sit still, they run around shouting, screeching, pretending to be puppies or babies or trains or pirates for hours on end somedays, they are in role play, imaginary mode. I know I should be pleased my kids have such a great imagination but they take it too far! The constant high pitched noise that comes from them drives me insane, they use baby voices, I just keep thinking 4 year olds really shouldn't be screeching like this. They just seem so immature for their age. They do talk quite well, good sentences, etc, they can both count to ten sometimes 20, they know most of the alphabet by sight, know their colours, shapes, can count objects upto 10 and beyond, can do age appropriate jigsaws etc. they CAN do it, but their ability to sit and concentrate on say a jigsaw puzzle is like 2 minutes, then it's back to wild and crazy jumping off the sofa etc.

I'm just so worried about school, what is your 4 year old like?,

yoni yep, feel your pain. Maybe I'm being ultra sensitive but I can't help feeling a lot of the French are negatively judging our little manic brood! I manage a classroom of 30 without too much issue but keeping a 4 yr and a nearly 2 year old in check here is beyond me. They are full on at home but I think the lack of routine on holiday has just made them go wappy to the power of ten.

We reinstated dd's daytime nap at the gite today rather than letting her randomly kip in the car and that seemed to have a positive effect on everyone. I spent some one on one time with ds doing some painting with some cheapo washable watercolour set from Tesco and he really enjoyed some time on his own with us.

Love em dearly but god it's hard!

Having taught that age group, I can tell you, it's normal. You might get a massive surprise at how one term of school can change them. Sometimes the ones who are non-stop at home love the constant noise and bustle of the classroom and really thrive. Reception is geared very much towards getting children ready for the classroom. It takes into account that some children are very young and have very few listening skills. Some do struggle, definitely, but IME it's the quiet withdrawn ones who find the early years hard because reception and year 1 tend to be very noisy and lively (unlike other years that tend to favour the quiet children). The outgoing children have a blast and soak up a bit of learning on the way :)

My boy non id twins have just finnished reception. They are Jan dob. I would suggest splitting them up into different classes if there are two receptions. (I had my reservatons) Mine flourished and have made their own friends to bounce off of instead of killing each other. I vividly remember the fucking fours. All they did was roll about the floor wrestling and HIYAHing ! each other with karate chops at every given minute. Someone told me to look at them like a pack of lions trying to fight it out for alpha male. I learnt to only intervene if the likelihood of limbs beig lost was iminent. Rather than follow each other they now have definate, seperate, interests and enjoy each other's company. They don't even look out for each other at play time.

Thankyou so much for your replies everyone. Sponging bobs, that did make me laugh out loud about your holiday, (sorry) but we have just come back from holiday in Wales and it was the hardest work EVER. They were either completely crazy hyper or they were whining at every little thing, all week. Glad we not the only ones! Hope holidays become actually enjoyable one day!

All children are different and develop at different times. They can't all fit into a neat box of all being at the same level/stage at the same time.

Your boys sound perfectly normal - Perhaps your expectations are a bit unreal?

Lots of sympathy from me - I was in your boat last year and to be honest dreading YR 1 as I think it will rack up a pace again!!

My recommendations would be:

trying to improve concentration by playing board games/limiting TV time

Speak to teacher re concerns.

To be honest the summer term was the term my ds really started to "get it"