Tips for Managing Little Ones Who are Too Active

Is your Little One unable to stay still? You are not alone. There are quite a lot of parents who are overwhelmed when facing Little Ones who are too active. They always want to do activities, such as running, jumping, playing, or exploring the house and making a mess. This can surely make the parents and those around them feel troublesome. This overactive behaviour also often becomes troublesome when out of the house.

Parents should understand that if the Little One is active, this does not necessarily mean that they have an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Children with ADHD have symptoms of hyperactive behaviour with a tendency to be impulsive, along with a lack of concentration. Therefore, children with ADHD often experience learning disorders due to difficulties in focusing.

Children who are active have a high kinesthetic intelligence, and so they tend to be unable to stay still but can still focus when learning. In other words, active behaviour does not represent a specific condition. However, parents should know how to appropriately nurture and educate Little Ones who are too active.

Each child is an individual with different traits and behaviours. In nurturing and educating the Little One, parents should be able to adapt to their learning style. One child can not be compared with another, especially in terms of their learning processes and learning styles.

Learning style refers to the way an individual absorbs information. Understanding the learning style of the Little One can help parents to stimulate their intelligence optimally. Different learning styles include visual learning style (sight), auditory learning style (hearing), and kinesthetic learning style (movement).

Each individual is endowed with these three learning styles (nature). However, the development of each learning style is also influenced by experience as well as environmental stimulation (nurture), leading to a learning style that is more dominantly developed.

A Little One who is active tends to be more suited to the kinesthetic learning style. The kinesthetic learning style requires them to move more and interact with the learning object. Parents should find various positive activities that can be conducted by the Little One. For instance, if parents are cooking, involve the Little One to take part in a simple task, so they do not disrupt the activity that is being done by their parents. For outdoor activities, choose activities that can satisfy the desire of the Little One to move, such as playing in the park or swimming.

In terms of learning, Little Ones with a kinesthetic learning style prefers to learn by directly practicing the things that they are learning about. Parents can use props or teach the Little One to directly practice it. For instance, when learning mathematics, use toys that are shaped like numbers.

Things that are no less important is the parenting style of Dad and Mom. There are four types of parenting styles, which are authoritarian, authoritative (democratic), uninvolved, and indulgent (permissive). These four parenting styles can be applied alternately according to the situations and conditions encountered. When the Little One is in danger, the authoritarian parenting style can be applied. This is an effective way to apply parenting styles to the Little One.

Parents should keep in mind that when caring for a Little One with kinesthetic learning style, they should avoid scolding or punishing them due to being unable to stay still. This will affect their mental condition. It is better to provide an explanation for when the Little one should stay silent, such as in class, in the theatre, or in other public places, to avoid disrupting the comfort of other individuals.

With the appropriate parenting styles and learning patterns, a Little One who is overly active can grow to become an intelligent child in the future.