New reception starters - are they exhausted???

[Geordiebabe85]

My dd (only just turned 4 at the end of August so is a very young reception child) is already EXHAUSTED. I'm a teacher and I expected it, but not this bad and not this quickly. She's like a different child.
Is anyone else in the same boat?

You can do part time if you need to it’s what we are doing - you don’t need the schools agreement you just inform them (as long as child under csa). Sometimes it’s just too much at first and they need longer to settle

Mines an early August birthday. She was exhausted on the first day but she had had the summer hold at home. Now she’s a bit more tired than she was a preschool but not exhausted.

No. Mine’s a winter baby and she was up till 9.30pm last night, totally hyper and jumping about right till the end 😳

Yes, my DD has a similar birthday and she's exhausted. Her behaviour in the evenings is horrific. I vaguely recall something similar with her older sibling; it will get better when they get used to it.

Aside from the physical tiredness, I think the real killer is the mental exertion of processing so much new stuff, coping with new friends, trying so hard to be good all day at school. It's tough for all but especially the really young one because the emotional maturity seems to be the bigger gap vs. e.g. physical skills.

No, but mine just turned 5. I was braced for exhaustion and moaning about the walk, but she runs the mile home 😲. Normal bedtime etc.

She does seem extremely hungry though!

Yes we're Y1 now but had this last year.

People suggested an earlier bedtime but he always sleeps 12 hours whatever time he goes to bed!

There really wasn't much I could do. It improved after Christmas and we had few weeks that were more manageable. Then as it got closer to summer it went downhill again. (School field and forest schools was particularly exhausting).

Every child is different, while we were going through this other kids were doing after school activities and even a Halloween disco! I could never have got him to that😬

So far, this year has been much better so I think it's just a case of building up stamina (emotional and physical).

Yep, behaviour when she comes home is awful! She's like a totally different child!
How long did it last with your older child?

Thank you everyone. She's really enjoying it so I don't want to do part time. Think we just need to get through it.

Mine is fine but she just turned 5 so is so much older than most, and she also did nursery 7.45-5 4 days a week. School is the same hours and she’s not especially tired. We have seen a slight drop in behaviour though, nothing huge, but it must be the change.

The littler ones do look tired -there’s one that turned 4 on first day of term, he looks absolutely shattered.

My 4 year old did FT pre-school but is shattered at school. Yesterday, he had a 40 minute nap in the afternoon! Normally sleeps 11 hours solid at night. Last night he slept 11.5 hours.

Neither of mine were - and neither was I apparently, despite my mother hoping I'd be like her older children and disappear off to bed by 6pm.

Purely coincidentally, there may be three separate ADHD diagnoses in my sample.

Some things that helped us:

• Taking a substantial snack to eat in the way home. A lot was hunger and this gave a bit more energy. Sometimes crazily early dinner.
• Very low demands at home. As PP say they are mentally exhausted so even things like 'which story shall I read you?' could be overwhelming. Quiet weekends which lots of time to play with toys.

Our school did a gradual start, so the worst bit was just before half term in Oct and just before Christmas. After that he was less tired.

Mine was 5 in the October (this was last year) and spent the first 3-4 weeks sleeping. Morning lie ins, sleeping in the car on the way home, dropping off in front of the TV!

It soon wore off and we were back to normal 7pm bedtime.

Year 1 now and still showing signs of being very tired. Last year bedtime had to be moved forward to 6-6:30 for while.

Mines older but yes first week of reception was brutal. Her behaviour was absolutely awful and completely out of character, genuinely I have never seen her so angry and badly behaved, going to be honest I was appalled. Second week was fine and back to normal though. She was actually up later than she should have been, I think she was just extremely wired.

With my kids it was hunger. They were fine if I brought a huge snack selection. I’m talking about sandwich, fruit, biscuit. Or for example cheese, fruit, crackers and biscuit. If I brought one snack they would cry. And yes, they still ate dinner (and are slim). Not sure why the extreme hunger after school. I assume they don’t eat as much during lunch. Or perhaps burn more calories at school. Mine were doing full school days from age 3/4 as they started in nursery.

There's no tired like starting school tired! And say that as the mother of 3 autumn born babies who did 10 hour days at nursery.

So much new stuff to take in, social skills, new routines etc. it's exhausting!

I hadnt even considered food! I've been giving her a snack but maybe something more substantial will help.
Thank you!