Son does not have energy in evenings...

[djash01]

We have a situation at home and looking for a solution for that.

My older son, about 4 and half years old, does not sleep in the afternoon. He goes to pre-school from 9am to Noon. After the school, he does not sleep. It takes a lot to put him to bed. It takes more than 1 hour to put him to bed. Also, if he goes to bed, he is so energetic at night that he cannot sleep early and he is late for his school in the morning.

If he does not sleep in the afternoon, he is so tired at about 5 pm that he is out of his senses. Because he is so tired, he starts hitting everyone and does not have energy to do anything. We try to put him to bed earlier, but the soonest it works out is about 8pm. The last couple of hours every day are very hard, because he does not have the energy to do anything.

What should we do ? It becomes very hard in the evenings.

 

[my little ones]

I'm a child behavior specialist and a parent,that would love to give you advice. As a parent you have to set the tone in the home atmosphereYou also have to ask yourself is the house quiet enough and free of distractions for your son to calm down and relax. I would recommend that you give him a snack after he returns from preschool with the least amount of sugar as possible. Then turn on his favorite tv educational show or read him a book in a designated calm area, while doing this give him a pillow and a blanket to allow him to relax. You should set this as a routine daily and after about a week or two he will get use to it. Even if he do not fall to sleep every day he will at the least have quite time to calm down and rest him mind. Hope this helps. If you should like anymore advice on children or behavior problems shoot me a email and I. Will be glad to assist.

 

[FPN_Trey]

Tough stuff and excellent question. Most sounds fairly normal for an energetic 4.5 y/o boy. You also might, at your son's next doctor's appointment, ask about it. There can sometimes be issues but diagnosis as young as he is is dangerous without a very trained and well experienced clinician.

But you can at least ask. Some issues can include fine-skill sensory issues or possibly anxiety at being separated from you. You sometimes see kids that are feeling anxiety at being away from parents manifest these behaviors.

But, at this point I wouldn't be overly concerned with those. My Little One gave fantastic suggestions. The latest research I've been reading has debunked the "sugar makes your hyper" ideologies but it does support that sugar releases pleasure chemicals in the brain which could increase activity levels so I agree with MLO. Feel free to PM me if you want a link to that article. Cannot post it on these replies just yet.

Again noting that MLO's advice is spot on, I want to reemphasize the consistency in the routine MLO suggested. Make sure to stick to it as rigidly as possible. Routines relax children.