My Son Is Crazy :0) ! - Edgewater,FL

I think you friends is right. If you can afford it try and see if the daycare center does 1/2 days. They are usually less expensive or put him in for a couple day if that is all you can afford. La Petite offers 2 1/2 a weeks for $51 a week. That includes breakfast and lunch. I know because my son attends there for just the 2 days.

I know what you mean I have 2 boys. My advice is to start some type of school even if it is only 3 days a week. I saw a huge difference when I put the boys is school at age 2. I always thought I would have never put by boys in school before the law made me, but I thought that before I was living it. I am a stay at home Mom, so I really thought there was no need to school them before Kindergarden.

Once you get a routine down they start conforming. If you can find a school that is M/W/F that is the best. It saves on money and it still give you a weekly routine.

Good Luck,

K.

WOW!!!! I thought I was the only mom with the same kid!!!!! Everyone told me to do the same. We are enrolling him on Monday. DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At least for your sanity!!! Let me know how it works out for you!!!! Good Luck!!

We used to have problems with our son he was very active really just being all boy. When he went to school it did not help because he was expected to be still but his mind was so active he could not sit. The teachers wanted to put him on medication but he is not ADHD. We took him off all sugar and red dye which helped a lot. we did not even give him juice just the fruit. we also got a vitamin and told him it would help him with his wiggles in school. The placebo worked. We ended up having him tested and they put him in the gifted program. At age 14 now he still needs to run around the house about 15 time a day to use up only half his energy. Putting him in sports has also helped.

My youngest son is 3 and although he can go about 20 minutes without moving he is a lot like your boy. He however does not sleep. He goes to bed at night around 11:30pm and wakes up at 5:30am, he will not take a nap, even at school, although he will lay there quietly while everyone else does. People told me school was the answer, it did not help with the hyperness, but he has grown in leaps and bounds, which makes it worth it. Make sure if you try the school it has a learning principle, not just sit on the couch and watch tv all day. Also, do it part time just a few hours a day or just 3 days a week, even if it doesn't help with the hyperness, atleast you will have some time to your self and you will not be as stressed about. By the way, nightquill doesn't work, lol. Sometimes a mountain dew will though if he is add. Best of luck.

The responsible thing for you to do is to have him professionaly evaluated for the abnormal hyperactive behavior - there might be a medical problem and he is probably severly ADHD and will need to get on medication ASAP. Finding what works for your child will help him do well in school and in life.

Hi... my sister in law was told my his doctor to give him coffee. It worked for her son. he was bonkers!... it was like having 10 little boys in the house not just one!..

MY son(s).. are like this too... routines, push ups(started them at 2 years old), time out and following thru with threats and rewards... example.. if you run in the house agian your doing 10 push ups... then i have to make sure they do it. Or dont... and we have a sticker board... good deads, behavior, and rule following (for new rules), chores earns stickers. stickers equal video game time, the ability to pick out a movie in the evening, a piece of candy, time on the computer, mainly things they dont get every day.

misbehavior takes stickers away!..

hope you find the help you need.
A.

Hi M.
I have a 2 year old daughter who was so clingy it was horrible, she wouldn't want to go with anyone but me, she was such a crying baby I thought I was going crazy. So I put her on school about 6 months ago and she is much better. I think is harder on us that it is for them. They need the interaction with other kids and you need that time off.

Don't feel bad about it, at the end you will be a much happier person and that will make you a much happier mom and wife.

Hi M., I agree. School would be great for him. I am a teacher and was a Pre-school teacher. Young children need to learn routine--time to run, time to sit and listen, time to play. In school they will have a visual timeline of the day. Children respond better when they know what is coming up next. For instance when he plays, let him know that he has five minutes left (or ring a bell)--not that he will understand what five minutes is, but will understand that I need to finish what I am doing. Then play a clean up song. This encourages them to participate in their clean up time and transitions them to whatever is coming next. Use the timeline you made and ask him what comes next. You can make one for him at home too. dinner time/story time/ then brush your teeth/lights out, etc. (be sure to use picture and let him help create it) just be sure that if there is a change in the daily agenda that you show that change in the timeline and talk about it (in a fun way before it happens-today we have a dentist appt. show a book about dentists, etc.). Young kids that need a visual don't like change in their routine, so we need to show them that some change is okay. I hope this helps.

P.s. if you do find him clingy and hard to adapt to school--you need to make sure you stay calm: kiss him, tell him you love him and you will be back to get him when school is done. This is the hard part for parents--many parents like to try to sneak out, but this is not good on the child. They need to know that you feel comfortable so they can too! It is all part of learning how to adjust and adapt to a new situation--he will be making friends soon and this will make things much easier!

T.

Hi I am J.. My son wasn't as bad as that, but I talked to the doctor and we ended up testing him for ADHD. My son now takes concerta, it helps him keep control and focus. There are alot of different meds for ADHD. Some are very mild and some are very strong. I did alot of research on ADHD, natural ways to help my son. But that is time consuming. You have to alter their diets. Certine foods will get them more hyper. For my son it was tomatoes, and sprite were biggies. Taking him to the chiropractor helped alot. But I ended up with the meds. I couldn't keep up with it all, my son is older and in elementary school. So I had to pack lunch, etc. And school did not slow him down. Good Luck!!! One thing I have heard is to give them black coffee, or those energy drinks, it counter acts what ever mkes them hyper. But it will only work for so long.

I hear you on the $$$ factor. I did find one day care that offered part-time (3 days a week or 4 hours a day M-F) for a reduced cost, about $60 cheaper a week. If not already done, you may also want to discuss his hyperactivity with your doctor, to make sure there is not more to his it than him just being a 2 year old boy...Hope this helped.

Everyone has great advice, and I'm only speaking from the point of view of having a 2 year old son and 6 & 4 year old daughters. If I don't get my son to a park early in the a.m., the rest of the day is tough. I don't remember HAVING to do that with my girls -- but we did go to the parks a lot too.
But with my son -- it is a necessity. My husband calls it "running him." My son has soo much energy. Then after the park -- he seems to sit better for stories or coloring or playing with trucks & trains. I've found out, though, if I let him watch more than an hour or two of t.v., he's crazy. And I totally understand why.......he has all this pent of energy and was just memorized by the t.v while i ran around to do "mommy chores." So now i save my stuff until he naps in the afternoon or at night.
I would definitely have him checked out by a medical doctor. But please don't be so quick to have him labeled ADHD.
The two's and sometimes three's are tough -- but they are growing so much during that time. One minute they just say words and the next week -- full sentences.
And I just started doing time-out's with my son when he hits or throws toys.......do you know how lonnngggg it is for a 2 year old to sit still for 2 minutes?????? (but i sat near him and had a timer) But i really think he understood -- and i wanted to break the habit of putting him in his crib when he's out of control because then i thought it would mess up his great sleep habits -- associating bad conduct with being put in his crib.
Well, that's my 2 cents.
Hang in there.
p.s.
having 2 year playgroups helps too
(so you can see how other 2 years old behave --- and
have other moms share their thoughts)
i can give you info. on that as well

hello, is he ADHD or something of that nature? good luck and i would see a dr to have him checked so you can start any meds that you may need to before school. my best friends son is like that and he is just plain nuts. it is hard to deal with him sometimes because he has a non-stop activity level. he is attention deficet hyper activity disorder. meds helps keep him under control and able to concentrate at school without getting in trouble. good luck
B.

Sounds like hes hyper active and in that case its gonna sound funny or weird but i've done it with two of the three give him coffee it will have a counter effect on him instead of makeing him more hyper it will calm him down alot but just give him like half coffe with a little sugar and half milk trust me it works wonders!!!it sounds weird i know but it WORKS!!!! and one more thing you can try is hershey's dark choc. the dark choc. has something in it that dose they same thing!!good luck and let me know if you try it!!! o and dont put him on meds unless youve tryed everything possible they have such bad side effects and plus hes so young!!

I am cautioning you against getting your two year old son on ADHD meds. ADHD is typically not diagnosed until after six years old because it's difficult to tell if a child is truly hyperactive until they've been in school and they've made it through the difficult two's and three's. Of course many doctors will prescribe stimulants to a two year old.

I would try some more holistic approaches before the meds. The meds are serious drugs, not to be taken lightly. Here are some of my suggestions:

Elimination of food additives and sugar

Make sure he is getting enough Essential Fatty Acids (fish oil, flaxseed oil, olive oil, canola oil)

Give him a good kid's multivitamin--vitamin deficiency can be the cause of hyper behavior

Look for food allergies

I agree with some of the other moms, send him to preschool and see if his behavior improves.

Finally, I would try the coffee before the amphetamines. Obviously a much more mild stimulant (stimulants seem to calm people with ADHD rather than stimulate them). Do you really want to give your two year old speed?

Good luck. I'm sure you are exhausted. It's not easy parenting such a high energy child.

M., first I would evaluate how much sleep he is getting at night and at naptime. You don't mention if he naps, but if not, he should be.
2 year olds typically need, give or take, 12 hours of total sleep per day. If he's not getting it, it could be contributing to his 'hyper' mode.
My son is also very active and at 2 could not stay still or concentrate for very long on one thing. He was also a very poor sleeper and would wake very early. I bought a book (Amazon.com) called 'Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child' by Marc Weissbluth and really loved it. Up until that point my son had never slept through the night, but after I read the book and did what he recommended his sleep improved 100%. And it helped his 'hyperactivity' as well.
Also, try to cut back on TV, if he watches alot. TV will only make his attention span shorter.
I found that at that age, having my son do anything that had water in the equation was a great way to calm him down. Pouring from one container to another, 'washing' plastic dishes, or getting him to 'paint' the house with a bucket of water and a paintbrush worked for him.
Good luck!

Maybe he is just bored. You need to do different activities with him. At this age they love music, dancing, playing music instruments(maracas. xilophone, etc.) Finger painting, climbing, etc. That is what they do in preschool, the difference is that in school they gt to be with other children and that makes a whole lot of difference. Maybe you can put in school half days. He will love it, at first it will be touph if he is notused to being without you but he will get used to it by the 3rd or 4th day. You will both be fine..

With regards to ADHD, your son sounds like a perfect 2 year old. I have 2 boys one 18 and the other 7 and a daughter who is 15 months old. At two children are discovering so many new things they can do, and they are big explores. Don't let anyone label him so soon. he is still too young. If by the age of three he is not speaking as he should or doing things that he is supposed to do then you need to get worried.

I do have one of my boys who is ADD(he is not hyper) and he was diagnosed ADD at school age about 6. When he was three he was tested because he did not speak in sentences yet so they discovered that he had learning problems, but at 18 he is just a very normal teenager, who learned to deal with his disabilities, you couldn't tell if you spoke with him that he had all of these problems growing up. When they discovered his ADD they gave him meds which made him feel worst, stomach aches, nervousness and mood swings, so I took him of meds and learned as much as I could about it and help him self help himself. Also his school was very helpful all of the time. But I never went back to his meds. As he grew older I gave him genko biloba and he still takes it before he goes to school in the morning. That seemed to help a whole lot.

Any ways your two year old seem to be just a two year old who is discovering a new world that is opening around him, for what I have experienced with my three children. I wouldn't worry for now.

no sugar of any sort--only natural fruit or honey sweetened things--did wonders for my daughter--