Sometimes you are just going to be tired | Toddling Through the Silicon Valley | Cheryl Bac | Palo Alto Online |

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Toddling Through the Silicon Valley

By Cheryl Bac

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About this blog: I'm a wife, stay-at-home mom, home cook, marathon runner, and PhD. I recently moved to the Silicon Valley after completing my PhD in Social Psychology and becoming a mother one month apart. Before that, I ran seven marathons incl...  (More)

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Sometimes you are just going to be tired

Uploaded: Jun 30, 2016
As parents, we understand that there are days, weeks, or even months when we are just going to be tired. When we have a newborn. When a child is sick. Or when we just choose to stay up later than usual.

This is a harder concept to explain to young kids. Some days they are also just going to be tired. If a sibling is sick and wakes up crying throughout the night. If we take a very early or a very late flight for a vacation. If they attend an event that goes past their normal bedtime. Or if they push themselves extra hard during a class or a camp.

When children misbehave, it's so easy to quickly say "oh, they are just tired" and excuse the bad behavior. But at a certain age, I think it's important for kids to learn some strategies to cope when they are tired. Will they nap? Spend more time reading/coloring and less time running? Sleep in late? Go to bed early for a few days? Eat more nutritious food?

Whenever our daughter is overtired, my son and I work together to figure out ways to help her. Maybe she should take an early nap. Maybe I should wear her in a carrier. Maybe we should read extra books. Maybe she should go to bed early. Sometimes our son comes up with the perfect way to calm her down. One day, maybe she can return the favor and help him when he is overtired.
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Comments

Posted by All over the place , a resident of Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park,
on Aug 2, 2016 at 11:34 am

Did your son write this post as well? it sure reads that way :)


Posted by Cheryl Bac, a Palo Alto Online blogger,
on Aug 2, 2016 at 8:06 pm

Cheryl Bac is a registered user.

All over the place - Thanks for sharing your thoughts.


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