my two year old will not sit still for anything

[kelly mayfield]

My great little 2 year old will not sit still for reading time, he will sit still at dinner time. but the rest of the time he is on the go. happy and running. we have done very thing to having program call child find come out check him out.make sure he is not add of adhd or any thing like that i need a little help ideas on getting him to sit still for me to read a book to him?

[amberskyfire]

Developmentally, maybe he just isn't ready for sitting still for story time yet. My good friend has one little boy who is quite and sits still for reading. The other...well...let's just say I think he might be training for some kind of Olympic competition. There's nothing wrong with him, he just can't sit still for even a single second.

Honestly, I think it's partly to do with personality and partly to do with age. He'll probably sit still for stories when he's a little older. For now, if it were me, I'd just give him some room and watch him go.

[P.J.]

Sounds like a completely normal 2 year old to me!

Where did you get the idea a child of this age is supposed to sit still? Because developmentally, he really needs to be very active right now. In fact, if he were sitting still a lot, that's when I would be calling in the specialists, lol!

Just call on your patience, and soon enough he'll show more interest in books and other things that require more than 15 seconds of calm.

ETA: Two other things just crossed my mind:

Is he eating sugar? I would cut out all sugar and sweets (besides fruit) if I believed my child may be hyperactive.

Also, does he watch tv? I was just reading something the other day that children who sit passive in front of the tv tend to be more hyper and aggressive otherwise, and have much shorter attention spans than kids who don't watch tv. If he has any tv exposure, try cutting back or stopping for a few weeks and see if that makes a difference.

[crunchy_mommy]

Originally Posted by P.J. 

Where did you get the idea a child of this age is supposed to sit still? Because developmentally, he really needs to be very active right now. In fact, if he were sitting still a lot, that's when I would be calling in the specialists, lol!

Yup, DS is the only kid his age I know that sits still for long periods and he is in Early Intervention, this being related to his issues.

It's normal to be all over the place. It's normal for a 2yo to not want to sit still. We go to story hour and the kids are running around in circles (except my DS, who is quite freaked out by what's going on!)... I'm sure some toddlers can sit for periods of time in the absence of any issues but it is rather unusual. You can still read to him while he plays on the floor or whatever. You can also try right before bed or immediately after he wakes up or whatever time he's normally more mellow.

[lifeguard]

Does he actually have trouble paying attention to something, staying focused on one activity? To me that is more important than whether they can actually sit still.

Ds pretty much NEVER sits still - unless he is strapped into the carseat! I remember going to a friend's house who has a dd who is 4 months older than ds. She crawled up next to her father on the couch & sat there quietly for 45 minutes. Then later in the evening she crawled onto his lap & sat quietly for 20 minutes. I was absolutely floored!! Even when we read books ds is fidgetting & moving.

[MrsSurplus]

Originally Posted by kelly mayfield 

 i need a little help ideas on getting him to sit still for me to read a book to him?

Sounds like you have a very normal 2yo boy - and I don't care if my children sit still while I read them books.  Usually they want to because they want to see the pictures - *IF* they've initiated it.  Sometimes when I try to read to them because *I* want them to settle down and be more still, they aren't into the book and they'd rather do their own thing while they listen.

That said, I do believe there is great value in teaching your child to stretch their attention span - it's a very important skill throughout life.  So, maybe when he is interested in being read to you allow him to choose the book and when he gets distracted, encourage just another minute or two of attention by working to point out the interesting things in the picture or themes in the story.  Then, let him go do his thing without any judgment.  The idea is that he will begin to train himself to pay attention slightly longer than he wants to - a skill we all need.  I have a son who lost interest in play quickly when it got too difficult for him.  (For instance, if he was asked to stack blocks and they fell over, he wouldn't persist.)  I didn't see any problem with this - it's just how he is.  However, now that he's a young adult, the lack of persistence is an issue for him.  I wish I would have gently pushed him beyond his comfort zone as a toddler and helped him learn persistence (in your case, increasing the attention span maybe?).  Sitting still is a good skill too - there are times when we need our children to sit still.  I would just start slowly with a very short amount of time and gradually increase it. 

[P.J.]

One more tip that works for us:

If you are still breastfeeding, you could try nursing him while you read to him. This is what we do for our reading of Goodnight Moon before bed. If he weren't at the breast, DS would never be able to sit through it! But while nursing, he likes it.