Something to sleep on

A couple times over the past few weeks, Will has gotten too little sleep at night and then had a major meltdown or two the following day. When he gets tired he tends to regress a year, and that three-year-old occasional tantrumer rears his beastly head again. Yesterday this story on NPR pointed to sleep disorders and snoring in children as a cause of behavior and learning problems. If you suspect your child may be getting too little sleep or less-than-peaceful sleep, you might want to check it out. There’s a related story on adult snoring for those of you whose significant others are the ones keeping every one awake in the house.

And moving from causes to coping strategies:
When Will launched into one of his overtired meltdowns last week, I suddenly decided to try art therapy. “Do you want to draw how you’re feeling – you could pick a color and try to draw how mad you are,” I suggested, doubting he would take me up on it. But Will agreed, stopped crying, chose a red crayon and got to work, and within 30 seconds he announced, “I’m not going to draw how mad I am; I’m just going to draw something else.” And he drew himself sitting on a treehouse with a rainbow hovering just above his head and a fire truck arriving at the scene. That picture doused the frustration completely.