Having calm activities available for kids during these times is crucial. Based on a child’s temperament, they may become overstimulated more or less easily. Kids experience this too and are even less capable of coping with it. Many of us are perhaps feeling it often during these pandemic days of Zoom calls and kids begging for our attention. We’ve all experienced that feeling of overstimulation. Overstimulation can come from too much noise, too much screen time (hello, virtual learning), too many people, or other factors.
Young kids especially, but even older children (and adults) sometimes meltdown due to overstimulation.
Related reading: Surprisingly Helpful Calming Activities for Super-Active Kids Overstimulation Young children just react to their environment and their bodies’ responses. They simply don’t have enough life experience to know, for example, that the shaky, clammy feeling is from being scared or that kind of hot, energized feeling is anger. When they feel big emotions like anger or sadness, they can become confused or even scared about how they’re feeling.
The good news is that with practice and guidance these skills can be learned (plus a few more years of maturity helps).Īs adults, we take our understanding of emotions for granted but young children haven’t yet learned these lessons. They don’t yet have the emotional maturity to control these impulses well. If they feel it, they usually express it (often loudly). Young children’s brains are not yet mature enough to handle these big emotions well and inhibit hardly any of their immediate emotional reactions. On the other hand, if your toddler stubs her toe, a 20+ minute emotional meltdown can occur. For example, if an adult stubs her toe on a chair, she might yell out for a second in pain, but usually is able to find calm activities to bring herself back to normal functioning rather quickly. When you are able to regulate your emotions, you can inhibit some of your immediate responses to difficult situations. When you really think about it, self-regulation is a pretty advanced skill. Most parents have a good sense about these are they are easier to cope with since the source of the meltdown is a basic need that can be met fairly easily.īeyond these basic needs, meltdowns in kids can occur for a variety of other, less obvious, reasons: Lack of self-regulation skills Emotional meltdowns can happen for basic reasons like hunger, fatigue, big changes in routine, etc. Why Do Kids Have Meltdowns?Įach child is unique, of course, so you know your child best. Purchasing through these links provides a small commission to me (at no added cost to you). Now the after-school meltdown could happen at any time of day. When we first started this process last spring, I thought at-home learning would be an end to the dreaded after-school meltdowns. Like many kids across the world, my kids are doing their public school curriculum but at-home online. Now that I’ve learned more about the science of social-emotional development in kids, I see the brilliance of the cave space.įast forward a few years and many of us are schooling at home (not exactly homeschooling). Kids can use cave spaces when they need a quiet space, a place to do calm activities, or just some time alone. Come to find out, all the classrooms in the school have these designated spaces. Basically, the cave space is a quieter, slightly secluded space where kids could work. I soon learned that this area was what the teachers called a “cave space.” This definitely didn’t exist when I was in kindergarten, except during nap time (which also no longer exists in kindergarten). She explained an assignment and then students went off to work–some at tables and some, to my surprise, under a table.
#TIME IN TOOLKIT TV#
A big-screen TV on the wall, big tables where groups of students worked together instead of individual desks. Some of the items looked familiar from my own school days–a play kitchen and cash register, plenty of blocks and markers. I walked into my son’s kindergarten class to volunteer for the first time and was a bit surprised.
#TIME IN TOOLKIT HOW TO#
Sneak peek: These calm activities can help kids learn how to manage big emotions, both in the classroom and at home.
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