Now obviously tired children need more sleep, but there are times in a family’s life and stages in the year when this just doesn’t quite happen. We are experiencing a bit of this in our house at the moment.
In Australia, the Christmas season also sees the end of the school year for children. My children are starting to show signs of “end of the year” tiredness, particularly the prep child (first year of school). We also have two birthdays at this time of year and the children’s school runs a swimming intensive program at the local pool for a week and a half. So whilst I endeavour to bundle the kids all off to bed as early as possible each night and encourage them to sleep later, they are still beginning to get quite tired.
Tiredness and kids in our house can quite often lead to crankiness, whining and fighting, so managing activities in the evenings and on the weekends requires some forethought and planning.
I had hand written a list of things to do with tired kids, while I wash sitting by the bath watching them the other night and I actually asked each one of them, what it was that they liked to do when they were tired. Without prompting, (between the four of them that are verbal) they actually covered seven out of the ten that I had on my list!
Not all of these activities are appropriate for all ages, some do suit all the ages in my house 0 – 10, while some are aimed at the little ones and others aimed for the older more independent kids.
1. Cubby House
Helping the kids gather the required materials to build an inside cubby house is a favourite with the 3 and 5 year olds. They will then grab their pillows, soft toys and a blanket and lie inside and play quietly together.
2. Read A Story
Thankfully all my children love books, so this activity can be either reading on their own (in the case of the 3 year old, looking at the pictures) or me sitting with them and reading a favourite story.
3. Audio Books
The last couple of Saturday mornings, instead of taking the younger children off to the older boys cricket games, I have opted to stay home so they can rest. I have let them stay in their pj’s and choose a story CD to put on. They have then lay on the couch listening quietly for over an hour.
I can highly recommend the The Enchanted Wood (Faraway Tree)
4. Bath
I find that this trick works particularly well for the younger children on days when they are hot and tired and we have been out and about. To help them relax and calm themselves, I have swapped our daily routine around and let them bath in the middle of the day. I have found it refreshes them and they will happily play for over half an hour.
5. Colouring In
All my children find this activity relaxing. Sometimes when they are tired and seem to be just wandering around the house and seem unable to focus on an activity, if I grab out some pencils and some colouring sheets, sit down and start colouring myself, before I know it I will have all of them joining in!
6. Jigsaw Puzzle
This activity also works for all the kids. Often one child will start working a large puzzle and the others will then gradually being to join in, working quietly together.
7. Verbal Games
We have one room in our house that doesn’t have much furniture in it and is carpeted. This the room where I will often find the kids lying on the floor when they are tired. It can be fun to lie down with them and play verbal games like “I spy”, 20 questions or the shopping game.
8. Cloud Games
This activity is obviously dependent upon clouds being available, but sometimes when the kids are tired, it is good for them to hop outside and get some fresh air. Lying on the grass or on the trampoline and looking up at the sky to make shapes out the clouds, is a relaxing way for them to pass the time.
9. Lego
We have a huge container of Lego and all the kids (bar the baby of course who just eats it!) enjoy playing with Lego. They can make their creations as complicated or as simple as they wish, but it is an activity that they do quietly either by themselves or their siblings.
10. Pull Back
This is really something for me to do and it is to realise that the kids are tired and pull back appropriately on activities, so that they don’t reach the complete meltdown stage. For me this means things like staying home Saturday mornings to just let the young ones rest and limiting the number of Christmas catch ups we do.
How are your kids fairing at the moment? What do you do with tired kids?