Almost since his birth, we have noticed that our sweet Krash was a bit on the HIGH energy side of life. Now at age 7, we have more than confirmed that his daily energy output is much more than the average child and literally exhausts adults around him! We choose to look at his massive energizer bunny state as a wonderful gift from God. If you ask him about it, he will tell you his abundant energy is a gift, not a problem. It is our job as his parents to help him channel this energy positively and teach him how to have self control when he needs to put his high activity level away.
Homeschooling can certainly be a challenge for me, and I am constantly trying new things to help our day run more smoothly. I learned early on that doing things the old fashioned way would never work with him, so we’ve always homeschooled a bit on the livelier end with him. Now, in 2nd grade, the subjects get a bit longer and the seat work required is a bit more. I am attacking the challenge head on and doing my best to adapt our environment to meet his needs, while also challenging him to learn self control and the ability to tone down the energy at specific times. We call it, “putting the energy in your pocket for now.” We never want him to think his energy is a nuisance, a problem, something that makes him a bad kid, or anything negative. We firmly believe God will use his boundless energy for great work in the Kingdom one day! We are thrilled that he was blessed with this gift, even if it does challenge us at times!
Many of the ideas I have in this post have come from lots of research I have done browsing around on OT {occupational therapy} sites. Krash isn’t diagnosed with anything, but I am always looking for ways to engage his energy seeking body. I am a student of my child and constantly reading, growing, and learning all about how to meet his needs
Here are some of the things we are doing during the school day {and all of the time} to help him channel this energy. Specifically, I have him do some highly energetic movement and some relaxing focused balance type work right before we begin any seat work. We have been going in this order and it has helped a lot.
You can follow me on Instagram to see many of the things he is doing, sometimes I show little videos of him. Here are a few if you haven’t seen them:..
{disclaimer ~ affiliate links are used below, thanks for your support!}
Energetic Work
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Jumping on the mini trampoline, often crashing into our huge beanbag {ahhprods.com}
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Jumping Rope
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Jumping Jacks
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Cartwheels, Round-Offs
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Running up and down the stairs a few times
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Play outside if weather and time permits
Focused, Calming, Balance Work
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Handstands, Headstands
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Using the balance ball for balance in many ways
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Lying on the floor for a balance or medicine ball “massage” from mom {basically I roll the ball over his back and arms to help relax and calm him}
Help While Working at the Table
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Balance Disk or Balance Board under feet
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Hand fidgets {sometimes helpful}
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Frequent wiggle breaks
- Obviously seat work is required for a 2nd grader, as much as he wishes it wasn’t! We have high expectations for him as he learns that there is a time to wiggle and a time to control the impulse to wiggle. We do provide him with some resources to try to help him, since even as an adult I struggle with the wiggles! We have found the Balance Board to be the best solution, with the Balance Disk coming in a close second.
We have tried sitting on the balance ball but it didn’t work for him, for now he is on a simple stool, but I’d love to find a better seating solution that is affordable. For now this has to work.
In the photo below he has the disk up on a stool but we had to remove that since our stool wasn’t sturdy enough and kept flipping {translated ~ driving mommy nuts}. Placing it on the floor {as shown above with the board} is working better because it forces him to sit closer to the edge of his stool which helps with the rocking back and forth on the stool {also drives me nuts}. He prefers the board {above} over the disk {below} right now.
Sometimes he uses a hand fidget {the purple spikey ball shown below}, but often for him they become a source of trouble. It varies from day to day whether it is a distraction or a help. For some kids it is a BIG help, it’s worth a try! You can also see the hands on math work he is doing, I bring as MUCH as possible for him to do with his hands. Here’s a simple blog post explaining what a fidget is if you’ve never heard of them.
The specific tools we have are listed below and throughout the post. We have acquired them over the years and have been adding to our collection as we are able to. Some of these are pricey, so I am putting them in the order we are using them most.
- Balance Ball {ours shown in this post is 55cm}
- Mini Trampoline {our exact trampoline was a Black Friday deal last year and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, so I linked to the category on Amazon, I would like to upgrade ours eventually}
- Balance Board
- Balance Pods
- Balance Disk
- Medicine Balls {we have one 2 lb ball right now}
- Bosu Ball ~ we don’t have this yet, it is on my wishlist!
Putting Krash in gymnastics was one of the best decisions we ever 
made, he is now on a competitive team and is thriving in so many ways. It has given him focus, determination, and helped his self esteem tremendously. If you have a child with boundless energy, I definitely think trying gymnastics is a great idea if you can afford it! It has been way more than just a sport for him, we are so grateful.
We love our little energizer bunny and are so grateful for the journey we are on with him. Children blessed with boundless energy are unique and wonderful, I feel it is our job as parents to help them see themselves this way. Often the world will look at them as being a problem, even close friends and family members will often see them this way. Our positive attitude towards our child’s energy can help them feel more confident in who God made them to be!
Do you have a child blessed with boundless energy?
What are some ways you are helping your child?