News Flash: Vigorous activity helps kids sleep

To say my son is active is an understatement. He is constantly charged. I called him “rambunctious” this weekend – much to my MIL’s dismay. That was after a stack of pancakes with syrup, two doughnuts, and a slice of cinnamon roll cake. (We were at the grandparents.) He was confined to the house, somewhat, because of the constant rain we’ve been having, but he made due tossing packing peanuts about like snowflakes, tumbling over furniture, and dancing in the rain. When we packed up the car and left for home that evening, my son took his first nap in months.

I have always been a believer in wearing kids out for the benefit of a swift and peaceful bedtime. Now a University of Ackland, New Zealand, study shows that there is some truth to that belief. The study’s lead author, Dr. Ed A. Mitchell, looked at 591 seven-year-olds and found that kids who spent more time in sedentary activities took longer to fall asleep after they went to bed. The study also showed that one in six parents of school-aged kids say their children have trouble falling to sleep at night.

Most children take about 26 minutes to fall asleep once they hit the bed at night. If the child has been active during the day, the less time it takes for him to nod off. As much as one hour of vigorous activity can shave as much as 6 minutes off a kid’s fall-asleep time. The study also showed that children who fall asleep faster tend to stay asleep longer.

Ingenious? Maybe. But I’ve found if my son goes to bed too exhausted he tends to wake up more during the night and sometimes has frightening night terrors.

Source, ABC News
Photo, JWJourney

DYI kids

One of my son’s last temper tantrums happened when he was outside and I was inside working on dinner. Just before walking out the door he said, “I’m going to make a hot tub,” and I said something like, “OK. Have fun.”

A few minutes passed and my son called out to me. “Mommy,” he said, “ where’s the shovel?” I said, “Why do you need a shovel?” He said, “I’m making a hot tub and I need a shovel to dig the hole where the water will go.” This got me out of the kitchen and I looked down on him from the deck. “What? You’re doing what?”

“A hot tub. I told you that a million times! I need a shovel. Please get me Daddy’s shovel.”

I said no, and that’s when he started to lose his cool, doing that wailing and whining thing and it was several minutes before I could sit him down and explain that hot tubs require a little more than a shovel to make. They require heavy equipment and, well, professionals who know what they’re doing. This didn’t sit well with him. He wanted to make it himself and though that hot tub tantrum was several months ago, my son still insists he will one day put a hot tub in our backyard.

Truman’s do-it-yourself attitude was the first thing I thought of when someone shared this funny New Zealand Do-It-Yourself video with me. Take look. It just may bring a smile to your face as well.

Video, YouTube, YepitsCharlie