Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums GT Research Sleep! A favorite topic!

On a more upbeat note Mana, our second child, a little over 4 years after the first, was almost effortless to raise in his early years in comparison. Our eldest DS with the over active mind? He's now double majoring in Physics and Psychology, the later more to figure himself out than anything I think (laffin) He's paying for most of his own education through multiple academic scholarships.....hang in there. Silver linings and all you know!

Old Dad, how old was your son when he learned how to meditate? When my DS3 is older, I would like to teach him. Actually it is something I need to learn. I tried it once, but my mind wouldn't sit still.

EmeraldCity, I cannot meditate either. One of my close college friends was a zen monk and he tried to help me for years but my mind refuses to be still (ADHD).

The closest thing I can do to meditation is knitting. It saved my sanity when I thought I was going to lose it when DD was younger.

Old Dad, I often hear that you get one of each (hardest/easiest) and it sounds like that is exactly what happened with your family. DD's toddler class teacher declared after spending 30 minutes with her that DD is an exceptionally strong-willed child and it's going to be very hard for us when she is young but once she is older, we won't be worrying about her much since she'd be driven and independent. I'm not sure if this "prophecy" will come true for DD but it seems to describe your DS pretty well.

Mana, great idea!! When we went fabric shopping for DS's Halloween costume (he chose to be a volcano at the same time I was reading "The Explosive Child"... how apt!), I remember all the silky yarn in so many saturated colors and thinking how gratifying it would be to knit.

*OT alert*

Hmmm. You seem susceptible to yarn stash addiction. It's a dangerous path. There are so many helpful knitting technique videos online and well-written free patterns on www.ravelry.com these days that you no longer need to know something who is willing to teach you or take a class.

Once I got beyond the basics, I got into lace knitting. That really forced me to focus on nothing but on the pattern and my mind was calm and quite for the first time in decades. I plan on teaching DD how to knit as soon as possible and instead of story time before bed which goes on forever, we can have knitting time to slow her mind down. I'm not sure what would work for boys in a similar way.

It's also a lot of fun to knit for you child especially when he is young enough to want to wear what you've made for him. Most older children only want to wear what their peers are wearing so the window is usually rather short. If you're thinking about starting, you should join revelry. Some of the patterns might inspire you.

DS was about 8-9 when we taught him to meditate. These days, training at the gym intensely fills that place. I think anything that they can do which focuses their mind on one thing intensely helps them to temporarily rest their mind. Usually, the very active mind is darting all over the place, even a half hour or hour of it only focused on one thing (better yet to empty) is rest in comparison.

Thanks for the website referral, Mana! Now I'm really looking forward to learning and possibly even better sleep.