There are nights when it seems as though your child is never going to settle down and go to sleep. Children who have ADHD tend to have quite a bit of difficulty calming down and laying still, two things one must do in order to be able to sleep. You could try reading them a children’s book called “Monkey Mind”, by Phoebe Lee. It is a story that kids with ADHD might be able to relate to.
It seems like an incredibly unfair quirk of Fate that kids who have ADHD are so dramatically affected by a lack of sleep. These are the same children who already are having difficulty focusing on what the teacher is talking about at school, with sitting still, and with controlling their impulses.
Children who have ADHD really benefit from having a regular bedtime that is early enough to give them a proper amount of sleep before they have to get up for school the next day. That early bedtime isn’t going to do much good, though, if your child cannot calm down enough to actually fall asleep.
Every parent has had the miserable experience of trying to get an over stimulated child to fall asleep for the night. It can be stressful for the parent, (who probably needs a break), and for the child, (who very likely has no idea why he feels so goofy and energetic at that moment, or how to stop it).
One thing that tends to help children fall asleep at night is when their parent reads them a story (or two). The trick is to pick the right storybook. It has to include a story that is relaxing, so that your child will pick up on that feeling, and calm down. It should have imaginative, lovely, pictures, that won’t give kids nightmares. Ideally, it should be interesting enough for your child to wonder about after you have finished the story, so your child can drift off to sleep while thinking about it.
A good choice is a book called “Monkey Mind”. It was written by Phoebe Lee, an author who used her experiences observing hyperactive and over stimulated children and mixed it with her study of Buddhism. The result is a children’s book that is sure to help your child who has ADHD to understand more about his restless mind, and may offer him a new way to think about himself as well.
The phrase “monkey mind” is a Buddhist term that refers to a mind that is unsettled, restless, or confused. It describes an uncontrolled restlessness that children who have ADHD actually feel. The term dates back as far as the Qin Dynasty (384-417 CE in China).
The storybook has a main character that is a boy named Jeremy Jones. A mischievous monkey starts following him around, and getting him into all sorts of trouble. One day, the monkey crawls into Jeremy’s head. Jeremy cannot quite decide if the monkey is his friend, his enemy, or both. He learns how to deal with his monkey as the story evolves.
Image by Joshua Rappenenker on Flickr