Anyone want a 7.5y old girl?
Full disclosure, DD1 has anxiety, SPD, and is dyslexic so she often does feel left out because she can't do things like her peers can. We just came off a really good school year, amazingly well actually. After struggling to figure DD1 out her entire life, I finally have some inking about her, the child thrives on a jam packed schedule. Last year was her first year of going off to school, so she had never had that much structure previously. She just can not handle downtime, this summer she is *only* doing gymnastics, dance, and swim team, it isn't enough. She is bouncing off the walls, pestering everyone that dares get near her. The only way to regulate her is to run her ragged day after day. During the school year, she has an activity after school almost every single night, just going to school doesn't burn off all her energy, and her school is very active, they do not sit in their chairs all day. If we do that, and stay busy on the weekends, hiking, snowboarding, ice skating, etc... then life is balanced. I also use some of her activities like OT, gymnastics and swimming especially seem to regulate her. She is not in therapy currently for her anxiety due to lack of qualified therapists in my area, we've gone through them all with no improvements from them.
This summer is dragging on and on, and I literally counting down the days until school starts. I have 2 other children who DO need down time I can't run all over 7 days a week. DD1 is mouthing off to me constantly, telling me "yeah, right", "I don't like you", etc... She picks fights with her 3y sister, and then if DD2 hits her, hits her right back when she is certainly old enough not to but to come tell me about it. Today I actually got a sore throat because I went nuts after the 50 billion fight I broke up, and after sending DD1 to her room yet again. I think that from now on, we will be doing lots of summer camps, she just needs all day structure that I can not provide, but first I have to live through this one!
I read through another thread and got the idea to ask her to phase things differently. What other tips do you have?
Full disclosure, DD1 has anxiety, SPD, and is dyslexic so she often does feel left out because she can't do things like her peers can. We just came off a really good school year, amazingly well actually. After struggling to figure DD1 out her entire life, I finally have some inking about her, the child thrives on a jam packed schedule. Last year was her first year of going off to school, so she had never had that much structure previously. She just can not handle downtime, this summer she is *only* doing gymnastics, dance, and swim team, it isn't enough. She is bouncing off the walls, pestering everyone that dares get near her. The only way to regulate her is to run her ragged day after day. During the school year, she has an activity after school almost every single night, just going to school doesn't burn off all her energy, and her school is very active, they do not sit in their chairs all day. If we do that, and stay busy on the weekends, hiking, snowboarding, ice skating, etc... then life is balanced. I also use some of her activities like OT, gymnastics and swimming especially seem to regulate her. She is not in therapy currently for her anxiety due to lack of qualified therapists in my area, we've gone through them all with no improvements from them.This summer is dragging on and on, and I literally counting down the days until school starts. I have 2 other children who DO need down time I can't run all over 7 days a week. DD1 is mouthing off to me constantly, telling me "yeah, right", "I don't like you", etc... She picks fights with her 3y sister, and then if DD2 hits her, hits her right back when she is certainly old enough not to but to come tell me about it. Today I actually got a sore throat because I went nuts after the 50 billion fight I broke up, and after sending DD1 to her room yet again. I think that from now on, we will be doing lots of summer camps, she just needs all day structure that I can not provide, but first I have to live through this one!
I read through another thread and got the idea to ask her to phase things differently. What other tips do you have?
