How is your child’s behavior after school? Have you noticed any changes in their attitude? Are they more defiant or having frequent meltdowns when they get home?
What if I told you that this is normal. That school can sometimes by overwhelming, especially for littler ones, and that after school restraint collapse is a thing.
Believe it or not, it’s the comfort of you and your home that triggers this response. When your child is comfortable, and feeling their safest, they are comfortable enough to let it all out and they release their stored-up emotions. Children are still growing emotionally and sometimes they just can’t handle their feelings productively, instead of saying, “I’m tired and today was tough” they might just be defiant, throw a tantrum or start sobbing.
As a parent, this is difficult to deal with. Being companionate and listening to your child can help you both to handle the situation and to calm the storm. That being said, these meltdowns can also be easily avoided by changing the way we do things once our kids get home.
Here are 5 Sure Fire way to stop meltdowns dead in their tracks:
Don’t Ask Questions
When we see our children after a day at school we want to know how it went, so naturally, we ask them about their day; what they did, if they made friends, do they have any homework. This can be overwhelming.
Nobody wants to be bombarded with questions as soon as they get home. Think of it this way, what do you want to do after a long hard day of work? My guess – talk to no one and rest.
So instead of asking them the usual questions, greet them by telling them that it’s good to see them, what you missed them and that you are happy they are home. Then you can ask them if they’d like to talk about their day now or maybe during dinner. This gives them an opportunity to decide when they want to talk without them getting upset.
When you do ask questions about their day – try to keep them open ended:
“What did you learn about today?”
“What kind of things did you do today?”
“Who did you play with today?”
Asking questions that cannot be answered with yes or no gives them an opportunity to talk more… when they are ready to do the talking that is.