Aidan Soliano: Living With A High-Energy Tot

My 1-year old is most definitely high-energy who possesses the incessant need to be on the go and active from dawn to dusk. Sitting still is most definitely not his forté. He's like endlessly plugged into a recharge dock.

Aidan has an infinite amount of energy. He's always busy. He would barely engage with one thing for more than 10 minutes before something else would catch his attention and off he goes to investigate that. He would be climbing the sofa, the windows and even scale the dining table.

That being said, being an active toddler, he seems happy. But should I be worried?

Living with a high-energy child has many obvious challenges. How do I keep him safe? How do I keep up with him, at the same time, let him burn the energy so gets tired fast? And most importantly, how do I support and even encourage his temperaments when I say, "NO"?

Don't get me wrong. I like that my boy is active. That way, I know that he is exploring and learning in the process. He is hands-on involved with what's going on around him. My constant worry is he would hurt himself. My weakness is I can't keep up. And because I am constantly worrying about his safety, I limit his activities. And because I can't keep up with him, I limit his movement. How did he become so high-spirited? Again, don't get me wrong, but I'm not liking for being so discouraging.

This is the 1-year old who's brimming with energy and curious about the world, I'm talking about. Imagine when he gets bigger.

So here's how we cope. DS believes in letting Aidan play outside at the park and playgrounds. He lets Aidan go to a space where it's OK to be running around wild and free, burning off that energy. Just as long as it's safe. With a kid so energetic, we can never take an eye off him, can't we? I'm starting to think of enrolling Aidan in sports (like tennis or football) when he gets bigger. Sports could definitely provide him with a positive outlet for his high activity level.

Now here's what we don't usually do. We know that his energy is off the charts, so we don't expect him to sit through a 2 or 3-hour road trip. We usually travel at night so he'll sleep through the journey. We haven't taken him to the cinema yet and we're not letting him sit through an hour and a half long movie. Because he's still a baby. We don't let him walk sedately by our sides in the supermarkets or shopping malls. Ain't gonna happen, boy. Well, not just yet. We always put him either in his stroller or the supermarket cart. We just don't set him (or ourselves) up for failure.

Are we worried that we are limiting his boundaries to explore and learn? Yes and no. Yes because he may be blooming slower than naturally. No because HE IS ALREADY doing it! Lol. Limited boundaries what not, he still finds his way through those restrictions to explore.

I guess we as parents can never really limit our young children enough. No matter how hard we try, they'll figure out a way to do whatever their hearts desire. What we can do is trust them and watch, either closely or from a distance. The only thing that matters is that they're safe, right?

It is also important that we don't make our high-energy children feel there is something wrong with them. It is our responsibility as their parents to find creative ways to help them channel their energy and satisfy that burning need they have to move around.