How to channel 5yo boys energy?

[3littlebeasties]

Hi - I have 3 boys; eldest has just turned 5, the next is almost 3 and the baby is one this week.

I'm having slight issues at the moment with my 5yo. He started school this term, and despite all the warnings about how tired the poor soul will be and how he will probably just want to sit and watch tv when he's home, etc, the opposite seems to have happened and his energy levels have gone stratospheric! I'm trying to instill the rule of 'if you want to run around, go and do it in the garden', but every time I try to put it into practice, he suddenly goes all pathetic and insists that he's too tired to go in the garden and he doesn't want to run any more..... Needless to say, 2 minutes later he's doing it again, and whipping his younger brother into a frenzy at the same time, whilst also endangering the baby who is doing his best to play quietly on the floor (when he's not wailing and trying to climb up my legs, of course )

Any ideas? We could prob do with more interesting garden toys - they are all a bit babyish and there's not much he can / will do on his own out there. does anyone have a swingball set? are they any good? Or any other ideas (either for toys or just generally)? I'm a bit desperate today - he's got an inset day, and I really have to do a supermarket shop. It's going to be such fun . I was hoping he'd run off a bit of energy before we went, but after 10 minutes of making him stand outside in the rain, hoping he'd go and play / climb on something (he didn't, he just bawled!) I relented and let him back in.......
How's that for successful parenting, huh?

Trampoline?

Second the trampoline, my 5 year old ds spends a lot of time on his, also go into the garden with him, even if its just 10 minutes. We also do football after school and swimming and lots of time at the park.

Sounds to me like a reaction against being sat in the classroom for so long. I'm not sure what to recommend - my DS is happy to run around the garden with a football kicking it into the net and making up his own scenarios about games, players, teams etc.

I had something similar with ds last year. I came to the conculsion that he was mentally tired but not at all physically tired. On starting school he went from a very active lifestyle to a more sedentry one with lots of new routines to learn.

What worked for me (sorry ds) was a drink and snack on coming out of school. A play in the park on the way home, play in the garden (would second the trampoline idea if you have room - they are great) or a long walk though the autumn leaves.

Ds also acted up quite considerably on starting school. I think he had just used up his quota of doing what he was told at school and there was none left for when he was home. That did get better in time and with a lot of not making too many allowances by me.

My 2 boys always went manic when they came home from school - it's a reaction against all that sitting still, behaving and concentrating!

Could you get him to 'play schools' with ds2? Get him to go through the routine of being a teacher then breaktime etc. That way he'd be letting off some staem and interacting with ds2 instead of trampling him underfoot. He's probably conscious of being a 'big boy' and thinks your 3yo is 'babyish'.

We had swingball but it's not that great until they get older - they'll just get whacked on the head with the ball and it will end in tears.

For about a fiver you can get a football on a bit of elastic that ties to a belt round their waist. they usually have them in Argos.

Best garden toy we've ever had is TP giant swing frame with swings and 'pirate boat'. They still play with it now and they're 12 and nearly 14.

junior swing ball is very good, soft foam ball on the end so you don't get hurt and adjustable for height. We also have a trampoline which my 5yo loves. Both my boys have a mad half hour after school so I quite often take them swimming or to a park or a walk with the dogs straight after school which burns off a bit of energy so then they will play quietly while I make tea.

Thanks, that's all v helpful and reassuring! I'll have a look for more ball game stuff, and I guess I'll just have to find a way of managing his energy on a day to day level! It's just difficult when one of them suddenly moves onto the 'next level', as it were. People have been saying to me for the last year how 'brave' I've been having 3 preschool children, but actually in many ways it's SO much easier when they are all at the same stage! Juggling a school age child with the needs of a preschooler and a baby/almost toddler is actually quite a challenge!

I guess I'll get the hang of it soon..... Thanks again (and BTW, Tesco wasn't too bad, apart from DS1 suddenly yelling to DS2 'Look, H - that smelly old man is behind you again!!' We had a quiet word about appropriateness or otherwise of some comments! Children are such a joy.....)

Agree with most of this! My ds has also just stared school and as well as being more cranky than noraml he's also much more hyper and noisy. I'm trying to take him to the park etc after school for a bit. I don't think organised activities would work just now - he seems to find it all so demanding at school he needs to do his own thing afterwards and couldn't cope with any more direction.

Didn't have this at all when dd started school - she was definitely cranky but would flop in front of the TV afterwards.

Is this the 4-year old testosterone surge I've heard about?!

You wait till the 8 year old testosterone surge!

Then the 12 year old one...

Then the 14 year old one that lasts for 3 years...

Sigh... nappies seemed such a hardship at the time...

We've got a stomp rocket which we use when DS is like this. You can get them from Amazon. DS isn't quite five yet but stomps really hard on it and then runs off to fetch the rocket which goes a long way (you need a long garden or drive) so it's a good way of making him run without having to run myself.