Mums of "Spirited Children"......How do you cope?

[FlameRobin]

DD is what my mum has always called a spirited child (then I read the baby whisperer books, and found out that she agrees ).

She isn't hyper exactly, there is nothing "wrong" with her... she is just like a little energiser bunny!

When she loses her temper, you know it, and the rest of the time she is sweet, loving, and knows exactly what she wants (and is gonna have it/do it!).

Feeding her decent food keeps her on a fairly even keel, but she is still bouncing from morning to night.

Typical day she will wake at 7am, go to bed 7.30-8pm, but not fall asleep until about 9.30 (or later apparantly tonight!!!). I try various bedtime routines, and nothing seems to calm her, different tea times etc... about the only thing that helps is being outside running free for a minimum of an hr a day, but that isn't a guaranteed hit!! We've started just ignoring her while she plays up there after bedtime, purely so that we get peace and quiet for a bit.

But... new baby due in February, and I'm not too sure how things will work then (mainly with bedtime). I'm hoping that nursery will help (she'll start in March/April).

Soooo - I get wiped out by it all, just watching her whizzing round wears me out!! How do the rest of you cope? Do you all collapse in a heap as soon as its bedtime for them too??

Mums of older children - is there a light at the end of the tunnel?????

I love DD to bits, but she is soooo exhausting!

Oh, she's 2 1/2

FlameRobin, wow, your dd sounds like a whirlwind. My dd (same age) is not the waking hours pillar-to-post type, but she is spirited in terms of personality - persistent, knows what she wants and will stop at nothing to get her way.

It seems like your dd's energy and little need for sleep is a part of her charm so you can only hope to tire her out for sleep. For what it is worth, my dd attends nursery and she is wiped out on most days by 6:30 pm (she wakes up at 6:30 am on average, with a 1 hour nap in the afternoon).

Until then, I guess the challenge is to get her to settle for bed at a reasonable time. My dd finds it difficult to switch off to sleep, so we still wheel her down in a buggy . Not suggesting you should do that but the path of least resistance with these strongwilled creatures makes for less power struggles. Will she accept it if you lie down in bed with her until she nods off? Otherwise, if she keeps trying to get out of bed to join you, you could try putting her back into bed with no fuss and if she comes out again, do it again. I did it once with dd and she was hysterical but accepted it after 6 times. I lay down with her though.

Hope it gets better for you.

no answers i'm afraid but i was the same as a child! lol
just didn't need much sleep, unfortunately for my mum... I can still remember lying in bed for hours listneing to everyone downstairs.. then hearing my brother come to bed etc etc... just didn't sleep! lol

If she's tired, then lying down with her works... if she's not though, then she'll just lay there chattering to you!!

Whirlwind is a fairly accurate description I'm just praying that she absorbed all the energy producing genes, and the next baby is all placid and peaceful!!!

I find ots of wine helps. Dh is really hoping for another baby ASAP and it just fills me with dread as I don't feel I can cope very well with my very energetic/demanding toddler and I'm an active person - dh who is a total couch potato has to lie down every hour if he's been looking after ds (and I am not kidding) he also seems to have a death wish and climbs on anything hurling himself off the highest point in the house regularly.
I recently mentioned on another thread that my handbag contains, amoungst other things, Arnica gel/tablets, liquid soap (for when he gets his head trapped anywhere when we go out)a small flurry hat (for when he decides to headbutt and valium for me (joke )
The staff at his creche used to laugh at me when I told them what he's like and you could tell by their reaction that they didn't believe me. I was told last week by the supervisor that he has to have one-to-one care as he is an adrenaline junkie there too!
You have my sympathies there must be a few more of us around, perhaps we could start a support thread!

flamerobin, i think the outside bit is the thing,
in the summer time dd and ds were oustside all the time just popping in and out, and being inside now in winter has definitely lea to a big energy build up in dd
maybe thats the answer, fresh fresh air at 4.30pm or so for as long as i can bear it!

pmsl - I was wondering if wine would be the answer!!!!

DD has really got into climbing lately - I have had to resort to sticking the step for the toilet in her room, so that she can climb safely!!! My nappy bag contains (she finds any puddle possible so we still have a fairly big bag of stuff when we go out) arnica, plasters, bandages, and rescue remedy for me!!! So far she's not worked out how to wedge her head in things, but give her time... She was in plaster for her 2nd birthday, and I really don't see it being a one off .

I really need to get her out more at the moment, but lumpiness is making me want to curl up lots (I've always been a very sleepy person anyway), and I tend to not take her out as much as she needs.

It is good to hear that there are others out there too!!!

I have to say bring on the summer, we were regularly going out to massive parks and running/playing for hours on end it was fab ds would be so shattered that he would be zonked out by 8pm and sleep through no probs.
Now FR, rescue remedy, why didn't I think of that?

is the rescue remedy called just that?

It's Bach's. I have some in my medical box. Wonderful stuff.

Oh thank god for tumble town! Highly recommend any softplay area, DS spends half an hour or so running off energy!

Yup, tis great stuff - go to the homeopathic section in boots, and its just called Bach's Rescue Remedy - sort of makes you all calm and soothed

Any use?

This one is quite interesting too.

flamerobin
can only add, there is a good chance your second one will be completely different! Mine was much less demanding.
I think that when your dd goes to school, she will be really tired at the end of the day, which can be looked at as good or bad, depending on your pov!

I used to work in pre schools and nurseries and I LOVED kids with spirit. Those little stepford kids that sat and did everything perfectly were so boooooring!!!

I have a spirited toddler - never stops. She's so funny. My older girls were both the same and have turned out just fine - dd1's energy helps her cope with the travel and homework in Y7 and dd2 is very self-sufficient.

Oooh, I like the look of the first book.

In some ways I envy DD - where I have always needed a lot more sleep etc than most people, I wonder what it must be like to be able to just keep going like that.

This sounds like my dd, she has been like this since she was born - no exaggeration! She has always been full of energy and enthusiasm, which is great, but tiring for me.

It's only in recent weeks that she has started to quieten down and actually ask to go to bed sometimes (I have also had to wake her up in the morning a few times. Basically, since she started reception - so yes there is light at the end of the tunnel

This sounds a bit like my ds2 who is 2.10yrs and affectionately known as HyperBoy.

He's like a mini-whirlwind. Even on his calmest of days at least one person will ask "Is he always like this?" - complete with horrified expression. He seems to need very little sleep. On a good night he will fall asleep at about 11pm. If he has even a 30minute nap in the day then he will still be awake until after 1am.

His older brother wasn't as active at the same age but needed very little sleep. Ds1, since starting school, will now fall asleep at about 9pm so that's a huge improvement.

Baby no.3 is due in March and I'm not sure how it will all work out WRT sleep. The one advantage is that I'm already used to sleep deprivation so it might not seem as difficult a change as it would for someone used to having children who sleep through the night.