Woosh 1.4

I finally sit down to eat when I notice a disturbing odor coming from the couch...

Supper used to be a very challenging time. We like to sit down and eat together as a family and this was hard to do as Dalence was usually having some sort of behaviour during that time. He would rarely sit and eat with us. He may have a few bites of food and then he’d be off doing any imaginable combination of these behaviours: continually requesting that someone go lay in the bedroom with him; guzzling water and spitting it all over the floor; going to the couch and pooping his pants; getting into the dirty sink; running around the house yelling; going to my bedroom, ripping all of the bedding off and possibly vomiting on the mattress; and/or having an extremely aggressive tantrum.

He needed constant supervision.

Either myself or my husband would constantly be trying to prevent him from doing something; usually we were cleaning up after him. Often my daughter was left eating by herself and what was meant to be a meaningful family evening turned into a stressful disaster.

Three years ago, my Qi Creative team helped me figure out a plan and implement it. The main goals were: Exercise: Dalence will have as much exercise throughout the afternoon as possible (2-3 hours), especially right before supper (30 minutes). This helped Dalence be in a calmer mood when he came in for supper and he was usually hungrier!

Last Snack: Dalence’s last snack will be at 3:30 (3.5 hours before supper). Dalence was hungrier and he would sit down and eat supper with us.

Self-Regulation: Dalence will be redirected to the mini trampoline. Dalence will learn to do deep breathing to help calm down. Whenever Dalence was running around the house, too hyper or silly, we would consistently redirect him to the minitrampoline. We also worked on deep breathing exercises when he was calm so we could get him to take deep breaths when overstimulated.

Independently Choosing an Activity: Dalence will learn to do an appropriate activity.

Every time Dalence was away from the table we redirected him to an appropriate activity and we would help him continue to do that activity, if necessary, until supper was over. After some time, I could start telling him “couch, trampoline, or sit and eat” without getting up from the table!

Wanting Attention: Dalence will learn to wait until his family is finished eating until spending time together. “I’m still eating.”