9 Ways to Create Peace While Living with A High-Energy Child!

Is your child busy, active, distracted, hyperactive or Energetic? I know firsthand what it’s like raising a child like this. We are constantly redirecting our 9-year-old to a new activity or trying to settle him down. I find myself repeating the commands to “calm down”, “go read a book”, “keep your hands to yourself”, “no repetitive annoying noises” and “don’t do that”. By the end of the day I am super tired from this child’s constant needs. Through praying and trusting the Lord to show me how to be a good mother to him, I have found several helpful activities and ideas to create a positive and peaceful home for the whole family.

1. KEEP THE BRAIN BUSY: Most often I find that our child becomes bored if he doesn’t have something new to explore, discover, or conquer and that’s when he tends to cause some trouble. Keep a variety of board games, puzzles, learning games, cards, crossword books, and joke books on hand for your child to use.  

2. GIVE THEM A PLACE TO BE ACTIVE: We have a crib mattress for our son to jump and tumble on or lay under (he always finds a unique way to use an item). It’s small enough to be stored or leaned up on a wall out of the way. They also make a fun slide when propped up on a couch. A small exercise trampoline works great indoors for getting out some energy. You could also use a gym mat or other equipment for them to tumble on. You might even set up an area in their room for a mini gym. Bean bags are another idea for active kids to climb on or jump in as well as those large exercise balls.

3. TAKE BREAKS: Once or twice a day we will have quiet time where I will send our active child to his room to play for a set amount of time. Usually thirty minutes to an hour is enough time.

4. USE A TIMER: Setting a timer is a great method to help your child finish a task without getting distracted. Whether its getting homework done, cleaning their room or getting ready for the day, giving our son a time limit helped him be self-disciplined and motivated. We have also used a timer combined with a timeout to help him get in control of his body if he was too loud, not listening, or was literally jumping off the walls. I would tell him to sit down at the dining room table, grab my iPhone, and tell Siri to set the timer for 15 minutes. I have done this hundreds of times and it works great for us. After 15 minutes, he is usually calmed down and in control of his body and emotions. Sometimes I will add another 5-15 minutes if he has not settled down or is not ready to listen.  

5. ELECTRONIC DEVISES: There is a lot of information out there about limiting electronic devices and screen time. Here is how we have used them in positive ways that have been a blessing. Our son has a CD player by his bed so he can listen to audio adventures and music to help him fall asleep or to occupy his brain while playing. He has loved Adventures in Odyssey, Johnathan Park, and Magic tree house. He listens to audio stories every day, sometimes for hours, he loves them and maybe your child would benefit from them too. There are many audio books for kids now days and can be an excellent way to improve your child’s vocabulary and knowledge. If your child has trouble with keeping the CDs in their cases, try getting him a large CD holder to store all of his CDs in. The library has many audio books for kids. We also have a small TV and DVD player in our child’s room. Now this is something that I would not normally do but here me out. We have purchased ( or checked out at the library) many learning DVDs, most of them used from goodwill or used curriculum stores for our child to watch. Not all of the DVDs we give him are learning but most of them are. If you homeschool, then this can double as school time as well. We have found many great learning movies for him. Often times I have seen him watching a math movie while building with his Legos. Another device I love having around is a leap pad. This has been a tremendous blessing, especially while we are in the car. Often times driving is difficult because everyone is confined to a small space where busy moving arms and weird noised tend to cause some irritation and make the drive unpleasant. Letting our son use a leap pad has been a positive way to entertain his brain with learning games, movies, books or music. I prefer the Leap pad over ALL other devices because he cannot access the internet with it. Many if not all of their games teach a learning concept so it’s a win-win. This has been worth every penny for us and I couldn’t imagine life without it. And that says a lot coming from a person like myself who finds little value in this sort of thing. My goal is peace and sanity for all in our home and this has given us that!

6. BOOKS: Provide a wide variety of good books that interest your child, a mix of fiction and nonfiction. We buy many books from goodwill, Barnes and Noble, christianbooks.com and local used curriculum stores or check out from the library. I also suggest reading out loud to your child EVERY DAY, they will learn so much from you doing this. Let them play with play-dough, Legos, or draw while you are reading.

7. DRAWING BOOKS, TRACING PAPER, ART SUPPLIES: Encourage drawing, doodling, crafting and journaling to keep their hands and brains busy. We have tons of blank drawing books for my son. When he fills one up he grabs another one. If you’re not artistic then buy them how to draw books and lettering (bubble letters) books. If they are not good at drawing buy them tracing paper, this is the best way to learn in my opinion. Tell them to draw a scene from a book they are reading, or create a new character or animal or draw a fun pattern. Keep a variety of art supplies on hand for creativity, keeping that mind busy is the goal, not a clean house. If you’re not crafty then buy them a kid’s craft book for ideas. If you are worried about mess, well, sorry, these lovable busy kids make lots of messes.

8. BUILDING MATERIALS: Cereal boxes are the perfect thickness for kids to use to create anything their mind can think of. My son has unlimited access to my tape dispenser, hole puncher and stapler. He has spent hours upon hours creating and building with these materials. Sometimes he has fun just blazing through a row of staples for no creative reason at all, I don’t mind, it probably only cost me a penny for an hour of entertainment. Buy a variety of tape such as electrical tape, duct tape and masking tape to keep on hand. Save some cereal boxes and let your child have fun creating.

9. BED TIME ROUTINE: High energy children need a transition activity to help them wind down for the day. Here is what we do in our home. Our routine begins with a bed time snack and drink of water, that way there are no excuses for getting out of bed, this has eliminated many issues. Then the usual, go to the bathroom, brush teeth, pajamas on, in bed, lights off, and no talking. For a transition activity, we give him a flash light and he is allowed to read, draw, and listen to music or an audio story to help him wind down. Occasionally he will take a small toy in bed, we are okay with that as long as he is quiet. We almost never have issues and bedtime has run very smooth with our 4 children.