Another fascinating person that I have met during my journey! A brief introduction to Rosabel – She is an Early Childhood Educator that found passion in writing childhood development articles and parenting tips, with hope that our young children are able to enjoy their childhood life; also develop positive attitudes, values and behaviors that will make them useful and responsible participating members of society in the future. Her blog Nurture Our Child with Love and Patience – is a reminder to parents and/or educators who are loving and patient enough to provide our child a good and healthy environment, listen and identify their real needs as well as participate in our child’s life! Rosabel writes about the active child:

Do you have an active child at home or in school, who actively jumps, runs, shouts, climbs all over the place throughout the day? His energy level doesn’t stop, he just keeps going! Many will relate this type of child to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Always have a specialist/experts diagnose his/her condition and confirm before coming to any conclusions! The active child is also usually categorized under “problem” child by adults. Many of us would be “scratching” our heads on how to deal with so called “problem” child because we don’t want him to hurt himself or hurt others. How can we deal with this type of child?

The active child simply needs extra support and understanding from people around him. We can’t stop him from being active as this is his sensitive period in his physical development of life. He is exploring his large and fine motor movements as well as his body coordination. Therefore, he will experiment lots of different movements to satisfy his own curiousity. Once he is happy and satisfied with his own findings, he will stop on his own will. He becomes calmer and more ready to start exploring other areas in life which leads him move forward to another level of development.

The first reaction for most of us adults will usually be to want their active child to calm down, to keep their hands to themselves or to stop doing what they are doing. Instead of going against his flow, why not work along with it? A mother came to me explaining to me that her son is too active and aggressive at home and in school. So she tried all ways to calm him down. However, it is not effective in long run as the boy was not given the opportunities to let go of his excess energy. He felt isolated and unhappy as his real needs were not understood by adults. He might become more tense or restless as he has to suppress his natural tendencies.Lets embrace his energy’s level and prepare a safe environment for him to move around and explore! Interact in some indoor and outdoor activities with him. Often adults these days will let their child play video games or watch TV shows in order to have some peaceful quiet time. Why not become more involved and more creative so that our children will reap the benefits.

Some tips to try:

· Play some music and dance with your child

· Do some stretching exercises with your child

· Do yoga or aerobic together with your child

· Use a physio ball to have some simple workouts with your child

· Take him/her out to a gym class or playground

· Goto a park – jogging, cycling, football, badminton, chasing one another etc.

· Make a kite together and fly it during windy day

Remember when we are able to provide an outlet for the active child to release his/her excess energy and emotional stress, we are also developing a happy child. Their emotional tank is now full and filled with love because they are understood and emotionally secured. The physical play that we work together with our child also bring us closer to them and they hopefully will be more open with us. Whenever I do some stretching with my children in school, we will have a good laugh as we see funny styles and movements. Children feel relaxed and have a great time!

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share with all of you!