The crashing. His body needs it at certain parts of the day. His sensory system craves pressure to regulate. I realize this about him, and I get it. But I have to admit there are times when it drives me crazy. For example…
In stores or shopping areas.
When we are around people we don’t know.
When we are around people that don’t have any patience.
When we are at a restaurant.
Or…
When I am just NOT IN THE MOOD to be ran in to. 🙂
I could keep going, but you get the idea, I’m sure.
So, with that being said, I try my best to keep my thoughts on the positive and to work with him instead of against him. Instead of getting annoyed and telling him, “No!” (which just fuels the fire anyway,) I assimilate. If we are out and about, then I pick him up. Swing him around. Get goofy with him for a bit. Make a game out of it as much as I can. Go for a walk. Chase each other. Whatever I can do depending on the situation. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I know it’s the way he is wired. I want to love him and help him be who he is.
This summer, we did a lot of “crashing” in our gazebo.
Do you have ideas for your child(ren) when they need to sensory regulate and it’s inconvenient in the current momentary situation?
Please share. (I could always use more!)
<3
Somewhere along the line, someone suggested that we remind him to squeeze his own fingers (one by one and count to ten with each) but we found that when he is at the stage of needing pressure he can’t do the slow count. Now that he’s older I can ask him (or sometimes he can advocate for himself) if he needs pressure. The best one for us in public is me leaning on his shoulders and squeezing. It looks kind of like I’m just leaning on him (though he is suddenly taller than me so it’s harder!) a big bear hug or me wrapping my arms around from behind him (along his shoulder to chest, trying to make it look casual). Hope you can find something that works for you!
Thank you so much for this info! I love the fingers idea for when he is older. That is a great “not so obvious” thing he can do for himself. I also can see your point though; it may not be enough.
Next time we are in public and he’s getting into crazy mode, I will try leaning on shoulders. That makes total sense. My little guy is perfect height right now for me. 😉
I cannot tell you how many times I have wished to NOT be in an upper level apartment, so my boys could jump and crash when they need to. Gazebo jumping looks truly awesome.
I find flipping a kid upside down and standing him on his head helps an awful lot, especially to stave off or prevent a tantrum. I usually am asked to do it over and over. One of my kids really relies on tickling. I do wrapping when his mood is bad and he is angrily stomping around. I find the more I just do what needs to be done and the less I worry about my surroundings the better my kids end up feeling that day. So I actually do everything but the wrapping in public.
Can you explain wrapping to me? 🙂
I have to wrap him up in a blanket, and the pressure helps him to calm down. I suppose it is the same concept as a weighted blanket, except I am basically swaddling him. The blanket he prefers for this is very soft and furry.
Ok… I figured it was something as such. The first thing I thought of when I read that was swaddling… 🙂
Hi Heidi, I was wondering whether you have bumped into these articles, and whether they would help at all?
http://lemonlimeadventures.com/free-chore-chart-heavy-work-focus-calm-kids-sensory/
and
http://lemonlimeadventures.com/vestibular-input-sensory-processing/
which lead to others too.
Fabulous photos too, as always! 🙂
We went through this phase too, I found a huge bear hug (or several!) really helped!
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