In a previous blog on myths about older moms, I talked about the myth that older mothers won’t have the energy to deal with a young child. As I pointed out, being a mom zaps your energy no matter what age you are. Having a high energy child can make it all the more difficult when you zonked out especially near bed time. So what can you do? My son, Tyler, is a prime example of a speed demon. He wakes up happy and ready to go. He’s a ball of energy from the time he gets up until it’s time for bed. Most days I can keep up with him but I admit some days I am so drained by the end of the day I can barely lift my old tired bones to play. One way I’ve found to get him to wind down is to establish some quiet time at the end of the day. Here’s what I do.
I try to get him to start winding down at least and hour to an hour and a half before bedtime. After having some outside jump up down run around time, we engage in sit down activities like the following.
***We play card games like Old Maid, Go Fish, and Concentration. Sometimes we play board games like Bingo, Snakes and Ladders or Candy Land. Both card and board games are also an excellent way to develop or reinforce skills in such areas as number, letter, color and shape recognition as well as developing critical thinking skills.
***Another option is to try some old- fashioned pen and paper games like tic-tac-toe and hangman (if they child can spell).
***Sometimes we do simple puzzles and word games like word seek.
***Reading stories together is by far the activity he enjoys most. I especially like to have him read at least one book to me. This is a ritual we have done since Tyler was born and today at five he reads well above his age level. When you tire of reading, have some books on tape or CD to take over for you.
These simple tips have helped me and I am sure they will help you too.