Hyper or Active? What do you think your child is?

Apr 29, 2024By Shining Spiral Ahmedabad

SS

Captured in a metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia primary school, this photograph depicts a typical classroom scene, where an audience of school children were seated on the floor before a teacher at the front of the room, who was reading an illustrated storybook, during one of the scheduled classroom sessions. Assisting the instructor were two female students to her left, and a male student on her right, who was holding up the book, while the seated classmates were raising their hands to answer questions related to the story just read.

Your child is a little bundle of energy. S/he may not like sitting in one place for more than a few minutes. What s/he may like is jumping, running and being the bundle of energy s/he is. Does that give you the liberty to tag your child as a ‘Hyper Child’?

Your child may be ‘very active’ (yes this is what your child most probably is), because s/he is still a CHILD. Normally children have more energy to do physical activities than adults. Especially in their early years they can be ‘very-very’ active (tiring-ly active for you as a parent). Movement is innate nature of children, also it is beneficial as they develop balance, motor skills, social skills, life skills and learn several aspects of their environment through it.

You might have heard about hyperthyroidism, hyperglycaemia, etc. The prefix ‘hyper-‘ is used in these terms to depict that something is high, beyond, excessive or above normal. 

Read the above sentence again and reflect— Is my child ‘hyper’? or Is my child very active?

Until a specialist or expert hasn’t diagnosed (yes, diagnosed!) your child as a hyperactive child, it is always better to call your child an active child. Also, all children are different. Some are more exploratory and some like to be in their own boundaries but mostly we have ACTIVE CHILDREN.

We as adults need to provide an environment to our little ones so that their energy is driven in a meaningful way. Following points can come handy as parents/caregivers:

1. Giving their daily activities a schedule/ a rhythm, helps them build connections (they understand that which activity follows another- lunch is followed by nap and henceforth milk and snacks which in turn will be followed by garden time may sound boring but a healthy way to keep their day structured). For more details in rhythms and other parenting queries you may go through 30 days of parenting by Shining Spiral Ahmedabad on Youtube:

2. Providing them enough opportunities of free play indoors and outdoors, is a fine way to channelise their energy.

3. Involving them in daily household chores is a meaningful way to keep them engaged. Laundry sorting, cooking, cleaning, etc. will not only keep them engaged but help in the development of life skills, motor skills and a lot more. (Refer to: https://fb.watch/dQfnhg5uBP/)

4. Providing them enough time TO BE. Their surroundings should be calming and not stimulating with a lot of noise or any kind of chaos.

5. Last but not the least, give them a lot of warmth, unconditional love and hugs- whatever be the case.

An actively moving child is a happy child!!