Evening wildness

We can have a totally fine day of play, energetic outdoor play and some other play involing paints or play-doh or something. But the last few hours of the day, the 30 minutes before dinner til they get in their cribs -- they seem wild. Running, pixilated, growling at the dog, grabbing and pulling each other down, and so on.

I try to get them to read some books in the living room after dinner to help transition to bed time. And we read to them at bed time. But they are supercharged many nights, and not all that interested in stories. We start the bed routine at 7:00 pm, pajamas, teeth brushing, stories and walk out of the room at 8:00 pm sharp.
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Are your children all wound up in the late afternoon/early evening? Is this just toddlerhood or is it just our two?

Thanks!

Sotto

 

No it's not just you. It comes and goes now with my two. The girls trigger is too little sleep. X-x

 

I was going to say ... earlier bedtime. Often kids will literally run laps when they are overtired and then get an adrenaline boost. Sometimes a busy day will tire them out sooner.

Heather

 

My two do it too.

 

My two tend to get that way as well after they get out of the tub. It is usually worse if they are already exhausted.

 

Mine do that if they don't get a nap. If they have a nap, they are fine!

 

We have that too! Like others mentioned, it is worse when they skip a nap or are otherwise overtired. I had some success with reworking our evening routine a bit. We have dinner at 5:30, then active play from 6:00-7:00, bath, pjs, etc from 7:00-7:30, quiet play from 7:30-8:00. In to bedrooms at 8:00.

For active play, we run around the house and chase each other, play hide-and-go-seek with daddy, wrestle, etc. Basically, we let them get wound up and all their excess energy out. Then bathtime is the trigger that wild time is over and quiet time is beginning. I dim the bathroom lights during bathtime too. After bath, we play together with books and puzzles. I have the dim living room light on and they drink milk during this time. Sometimes they are totally into the quiet play, and other times they are climbing on the couch and running around. If they are being wild, we remain calm and don't engage them by telling them to calm down or whatever. Most days, they do sit and look at books with us and do puzzles. The other thing that I think helped the most was that we turned off the TV after 6:30 pm. They used to watch a video after baths and before bed, and I think that was preventing them from calming down.

Anyway, a change in routine might help. We had some really wild kids before we implemented the change. In fact, Aidan is a particularly wild child with autism and sensory processing disorder, and we are still seeing even him calm down and look at books before bed!

 

Mine do that too...I thought it was normal. Not sure if it's an overtired thing in our house. They like to have naked time before bath so I clean the kitchen while they play or dance to the music we have on. DS runs laps (back and forth across the room) in their bedroom during story. If it's one he wants to listen to he'll sit. Then it's lights out and I don't hear a peep.

I am realizing that we are probably more a free play house than most...you gotta go what works for you

Lindia

 

I sometimes have a hard time getting mine to settle down for nap time. We are on the go, usually, in the mornings and I can't just bring them in from running around outside, active play, etc...and expect them to go to sleep. What has been working for us, is using a rest & relaxation CD. It's one that plays soft instrumental music with the sound of waves in the background. I will lay them on my bed with their cups and lovey's and let them listen to the music for 10 minutes or so. That is enough to wind them down and off to their beds they go.

Occassionally, if we have disrupted the bedtime routine by being out of the house, we will use the CD to wind them down for bedtime, too.