Quiet on a Summer Day:
What to do When Kids Go off
their Meds:
Essential for Your Sanity and their Brain
by Dr. MaryJo Wagner
Summary:
Encouraging children to spend some quiet time doing something fun
each day is a brain-based-learning strategy that helps develop
skills they need to succeed in school. And provides an
important break from busy schedules for kids and their moms.
Includes 7 suggestions for quiet time.
* * *
Is
your youngster only quiet when asleep or watching TV?
Kids
need quiet activities that require focus and concentration. The
trick is getting them to do it.
And
you need the down-time too. Schedule some time every day which
doesn't involve driving kids to the pool, and you'll stop counting
the days till they're back in school.
Succeeding in school requires the ability to be quiet and focus.
Your kids will benefit by practicing these skills during the summer
that they'll need in the fall when school starts.
The
key is letting them choose fun un-school-like quiet things.
Try
alternating between mental activities like word puzzles and physical
activities that build eye-hand coordination such a building models
or sewing.
1.
With very young children and older children who resist this idea,
start small. Begin with as little as 10-15 minutes a day and do the
activity with them.
2. For kids who are “antsy” all the time (ADD/ADHD),
Cross Crawl and Hook-ups from Brain Gym®
work. Directions for Hook-ups are in the
July 20 issue of this ezine. How to Cross Crawl is in the premier
issue. Go to
www.brain-based-learning.com/archives.htm While you’re there,
be sure to subscribe to the Brain Boosters for Your Kids ezine.
3.
Take the kids to a large arts and crafts store like Michaels or
Hobby Lobby and let them pick out something that looks like fun:
sticker books, paint-by-number, model cars and airplanes, jewelry
kits, art projects and science experiments.
Do
watch, however, that they haven’t picked out something beyond their
skill level. You don’t want “This is too hard and I can’t do it” as
part of quiet time! I put a 3-D castle jigsaw puzzle in the garage
sale. Neither my husband nor I could do it and our grandson, who
enjoys quiet activities, gave up in 10 minutes.
And
steer them away from things you know will drive you crazy. Is this
an activity that makes a huge mess and you can’t stand messes?
Maybe something else will interest your child. My granddaughter
chose a sand painting kit. We had colored sand everywhere for
months. Never again!
4.
Check out books at the library. (However, for children who hate to
read or have difficulty with reading, this is not a good choice.
Quiet time in the summer must be something fun. Being quiet for
most kids is hard enough already. If you’re working on reading over
the summer, and I hope you are, choose a different time.)
5.
Card and board games. Quiet and focused doesn’t necessarily mean by
yourself.
6.
Word games, puzzles, mazes, hidden pictures, activity books.
“Where’s Waldo” is great fun for older kids. Kids intrigued with
astronauts? Try Dave Phillips’ “Space Age Mazes.” Have a child
passionate about dinosaurs? They’d go for “Dinosaur Word Search” by
John Chaneski.
Dover publishes sophisticated activity books of all kinds for older
children and adults.
Torn
between coloring books that limit creativity or free-hand drawing
your child won’t do? You can have it both ways with Anna Pomaska’s
“Create Your Own Pictures Coloring Book” where pictures are partly
drawn.
Barnes and Noble and Amazon carry a large selection of these books.
Check out titles on-line. Sometimes you’ll find inexpensive “used”
copies that haven’t been used at these on-line sellers.
7.
Do you have a quiet hobby they can do with you? Perhaps you do
scrapbooking. Your child works on her scrapbook while you work on
yours.
Maybe you enjoy knitting. Let your child make fluffy scarves with
giant needles. Easy for the first-time knitter and they’re all the
rage. Think birthday gift for Grandma. You’ve never held a knitting
needle? Learn together. And Grandma gets two scarves. Boys can knit
too. And girls can make model cars and airplanes. It’s o.k.
Bottom line: Have fun. Fun helps the brain develop more quickly than
struggle. And remember quiet time isn’t an excuse for those children
who would sit all the time anyway instead of running and playing
outdoors. Kids need both.
Copyright MaryJo
Wagner, 2006
MaryJo Wagner, Ph.D.
The Learning Doctor
"Helping You Help Kids Learn"
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