Board index » kids » son is often tired

2008-07-24 01:20:24 AM
My son is very often tired. I am a firm believer in the importance of sleep!
I think the main problem is that his mind is always thinking and moving. He
has a hard time stilling his mind. He will lay awake in bed playing in his
head all sorts of pretend games.
One thing that definitely helps is HARD physical exercise throughout the
day. And we are working to increase this further.
Another thing I thought would help if we were able to learn some meditaton
skills. I don't really know much about meditation. So I guess I have to have
a clue before introducing it. Does anyone have any thoughts on how to
proceed or other helpful ideas for sleep? Once asleep, he has no trouble.
But *falling* asleep is a problem for him, especially now that he is a
little older.
Thanks
S
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Ericka Kammerer wrote:
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"Stephanie" <haaa@noway.net>wrote in message
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kids

news wrote:
his dismay.)
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Stephanie schrieb:
him forever to go to sleep.
Which makes a lot of sense because I think it's the same for everyone.
Have you tried moving his bedtime, just by a bit? So he's more tired
when he goes to bed and doesn't get so involved with his "mind-cinema"
that he makes himself stay awake longer?
What you could try is getting him an mp3 player and either headphones or
speakers (my son has my really good headphones *sigh*) and put stories
on it or maybe a relaxation exercise? Look around online. I have a
meditation tape that makes me go to sleep on the first chakra. Sadly I
don't have a tape player anymore. I should really look for this thing on
Cd or as a mp3...
I personally wouldn't look for meditation but for relaxation exercises.
There are people who say falling asleep while meditation isn't a "good
thing"... I don't know whether to agree or not, but I think the purpose
of meditation isn't necessarily entering a relaxed state that lets you
fall asleep. Relaxation exercises are different.
A relaxation exercise that works well for some people is letting your
body go to sleep from your feet up, i.e. "Your feet are tired and heavy,
your calves are tired and heavy, your knees,..." you can add stuff like
how they're warm and how you can feel them sinking into the ground,...
google relaxation exercises.
(scs.tamu.edu/selfhelp/elibrary/relaxation.asp seems to be a good
start)
cu
nicole
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Rosalie B. wrote:
bathroom or whatnot.

Stephanie wrote:
the focus off sleep and more on just doing quiet, relaxing things. That is,
no full-on light sabre battles with the shadows while bouncing off the walls
but pretty much anything up to that.
to sleep *are* a form of meditation and counting sheep. We can usually hear
him chatting to himself, making gun noises, singing or even clattering about
and sliding guiltily back into bed with the half-dozen toys and books he's
gathered since his offcial bedtime, if we come to suggest he "snuggles down
now". Sometimes he falls asleep instantly, other times it can take as long
as an hour.
Is your son allowed to turn his bedside light on a read or play quietly for
a few minutes if he's having trouble going to sleep? I tihnk that works
better as a settling device than asking them to lie quietly in the dark
waiting for that elusive sleep.
I'm a nightowl but there is a point in the early evening when I could
probably go to sleep easily (and then wake at 3am!) if I went to bed. It's
at around 7:30 or 8 pm for me so much too early on most nights. I get my
second wind soon after that and become wide awake again so rarely go to
sleep before 11 pm or midnight. Are you missing your son's 'best' bedtime by
being too early or late to catch it?
If he doesn't have to be up by a specific time in the morning for school can
you let him sleep on in the morning on the days you don't have to be out
early? You're homeschooling, I think, and anyway it's the northern summer
school-break now even if you aren't?
I'd look at changing his bedtime routine as well, to see if that made a
difference. If he has a quiet one now then make it more energetic or vice
versa. Read the official bedtime story earlier in the evening and have a
noisy game of cards or a board game instead. If he usually has a quick
shower in the evening try a long splashy bath with a full flotilla of boats
and imaginative sea battles in the bathtub. If his bedtime story is usually
read in his bed, move to the living room or mum and dad's bed for a change
of scene.
At seven I don't think I'd recommend a daytime nap unless the child had been
ill and I know my son wouldn't be able to settle for one during the day,
anyway.
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Hi --
Think about just what he's eating, especially in the evening. It
needn't be caffeine or sugar, just something that keeps *him* awake.
One of my kids had trouble digesting milk. We took milk out of his
diet, and his sleep issues practically disappeared. (Not saying milk is
his problem, just that *something* unsuspected might be.)
Another thing we did at this age was to *tell* the kids a short story,
and then have them think about the ending as they tried to fall asleep.
Good luck,
--Beth Kevles
bethkevles@gmail.PUT-THE-COM-HERE
web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html -- a page for the milk-allergic
Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be construed as medical
advice. Please consult with your own medical practicioner.
NOTE: No email is read at my MIT address. Use the GMAIL one if you would
like me to reply.
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You say the physical exercise helps. What are you doing in that
regard? When I was coaching a swim team I took two months of the year
off. One month after the big county meet in August and for the
beginning of school in September, and one after the winter season at
about the time of exams/graduation in the spring. Parents would
complain to me that they didn't like it for me to stop swim team
because their kids did so much better when they had swim practice -
more focused on homework, slept better etc.
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On Jul 23, 1:20�pm, "Stephanie" <h...@noway.net>wrote:
allowing them a bit of wind-down time with reading in bed. An hour
before bed, no rough-housing.
What time does he wake in the a.m. and go to bed in the p.m.? Does he
take allergy meds? (those can make kids sleepy during the day).
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Cailleach wrote:
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Rosalie B. wrote:
trail-a-bike for the little one. Tonight won't be a problem. We had tae kwon
do this evening.
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On Jul 24, 8:04�pm, "Stephanie" <h...@noway.net>wrote:
beds - they still love them and it relaxes them immensely.
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Stephanie wrote:
meditate myself so I really don't know how to teach a kid that. We
tried message (which he likes but didn't work), relaxing music and white
noise but that did not work and he didn't even like it that much.
Like Rosalie said - swimming is awesome. We did not do a lot of that
last year because it was so difficult with the little boys and we had
more sleep problems. I'm wondering now if that isn't the resistance on
the muscles. I wonder if pushing/pulling heavy loads would have a
similar result? Anyway - that is when I asked my ped about the
melatonin. My son takes an ADHD medication during the school year that
has insomnia as a side effect but he only experiences that in the first
month of taking it, after that he seems to have more trouble falling
asleep when he is not on the med. We tried no screen time (I have a no
computer/TV rule on M-F during the school year), regular wake up and go
to bed times and routines, I used to read to him for up to 45 minutes or
so each night, looking at books on his own. I have not fiddled with his
diet. The cutting out milk suggestion was interesting. He doesn't have
allergies but he eats cereal nearly every night before bed. Any stress
or school pressure makes it worse. That is hard because he is either
unable to identify it as stress or unwilling to talk about it. I hope
that changes a bit as he gets older. I don't mean to blab on about my
own kid - I mainly just want to share that I totally get what you are
talking about. My son will lay there for *hours*, awake in his bed.
Recently he has started waking up in the middle of the night - which is
even worse. I hope that goes away when we get the routine going again.
Good luck. I've been watching the thread closely too. My other son
sometimes takes what I consider a long time to fall asleep but it isn't
terrible. It takes him sometimes 45 minutes, which seems like along
time for a 7yo, but he does fall asleep so I don't worry about him.
Nikki, mama to 4 boys
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"Stephanie" <haaa@noway.net>wrote in message
condition like sleep apnea, low blood sugar, or anemia?
Also, is he getting enough mental stimulation in addition to physical
exercise?
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dejablues wrote:
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