Ask Dr. Ada: Boisterous 5 Year Old Boy
Dear Dr. Ada:
My two sons, 5 and 3½, are both very physical, energetic, into fighting play, and they have a hard time sitting still, keeping their hands to themselves, etc.
My boisterous 5 year old boy is going to kindergarten this year and I am worried that he is not going to respond well to the more structured environment of elementary school.
What do you advise?
Response:
I have seen very active and physical preschoolers who learn to settle down in a structured kindergarten environment, when there is a good experienced teacher in charge. Maintain close communication with your son’s teacher, and make sure the boy has many opportunities to engage in gross motor activity at home to release his excessive energy. You may also discuss your concern with your son’s pediatrician, who is the one to determine if the child’s behavior requires any medication.
Dr. Ada Anbar
Ada Anbar holds a Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education from the University at Buffalo, and, after a 40-year teaching career, is now a full-time writer.
She is passionate about children and their mothers and likes to reduce the amount of stress in their lives. She wants children to develop their best potential and mothers to have the peace of mind to achieve their best.
She works toward these goals through her books which discuss the different issues in early childhood development and the difficulties that mothers have in balancing their needs with the needs of their children.
The author of several parenting books, Dr. Anbar lives in Phoenix, Arizona close to her children and is the proud mother of two sons and grandmother of six grandchildren.
Ada’s most recent book focuses on one of the aspects at the other end of human development, dementia.
Based on her recent experience with her husband, her new book is “When Love Meets Dementia — Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD) and the Family”.
Now available for purchase at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and other fine bookstores.
