How to Calm William

William Tallis - He's dedicated, focused, innovative, and has a huge heart - but when something doesn't work his way and he loses some control of a situation, he loses his patience fast.  He's just like his mommy, the apple did not fall far - so I can relate. 

William's goal in life is to reinvent everything; it can always be better in his mind.  I call him my little engineer.  I bought an electric fireplace that came in two large boxes.  William loves boxes and loved the fact that these boxes contained styrofoam molds.  His mind started cooking at 6:30am - because he doesn't believe in sleeping in - sleep is a waste of create time.  William built a styrofoam sled with his new materials and three rolls of tape that I constantly supply him with from the Dollarama (fuel for his creativity).  I knew the design flaw, but every good engineer learns from his/her mistakes... right?  I suggested using it down the stairs with stuffed animals as his riders to save it from total destruction.  That worked for the morning.  After school, he tried it on the driveway using his sister as the driver - fail.  He was beyond consolible.  Lost his brains and started throwing it around with tears flying everywhere.  I felt bad, a little amused, but I knew that he needed to calm down and secondly - learn from it.

There's a few options if you have a son/daughter like mine.  William is 7 years old - so I find the calming jar to be a fantastic idea! 

If you want to make your own calming jar (good for moms as well) they are really easy! All you need to do is:

• jar or bottle with a lid
• 1 tbsp of clear glue (or glitter glue) to each 1 cup of (hot) water to fill the jar
• add in glitter (I added about 1 inch of glitter)
• food colouring (optional)

 

please note: Do not, I repeat, DO NOT give this jar to your child when they are in the middle of a fit… glass and angry/upset child will likely result in this beautiful jar smashed to pieces. If you would like to make one of these for a younger child I recommend a plastic bottle or jar instead. Also weather you are using a glass or plastic container please do not leave your child unsupervised when they are using the jar. There are many sites out there with variations on how to make your own “calming jar” (as we call it in our house) or “mind jar“.

I have been working on some relaxation techniques with William. 
I find that these are best after he has let his jar "calm" down

1. Move to the quiet place.

2. Sit on a chair, beanbag, or on the floor.

3. Think about a place that is relaxing for you

4. Breathe slowly and steadily.
5. Tense shoulders up, relax shoulders down.

6. Tense hands, relax hands.

7. Tense toes, relax toes.

8. Breathe slowly and steadily.

Finished !