Parents are talking about active-alert children.
There’s a name for those bossy, impatient kids with little or no friends.
They’re called active-alert kids.
According to psychologist Linda Budd, Ph.D., active-alert kids are…
Physically active, very smart and precocious children who notice everything but have few social graces. As a consequence, making friends and keeping them is a challenge.
Active-alert kids find life very stimulating and overwhelming, and they deal with it by controlling as much of their surroundings as they can. They do so by bossing other kids around – telling their friends what to play and how they’re supposed to play.
Dr. Budd presents several ways for parents and other adults to help active-alert kids. Here’s one of the ways…
- Personal Bubble
Make the active-alert child aware that everyone has an invisible bubble that protects them. Getting too close to the bubble can make it break, and that is a bad thing.
Teach the child that when they intrude on other kids’ spaces, they are breaking that bubble, which is a no-no.
Do you have an active-alert child? How do you deal with him or her? Join the discussion in the comments below.
Building Friendship Skills [Parenting Press]
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So glad you found Linda Budd’s material helpful! Yes, many of us do have creative, intense, impatient children, and we benefit tremendously from the advice in Dr. Budd’s “Living with the Active Alert Child.” Other valuable resources from Parenting Press are the complimentary monthly, “News for Parents,” which usually tackles a tough parenting question in each issue, and the quarterly for professionals, “Parenting Education Practitioner Talk,” a subscription-based publication that is packed with information on such challenges as children’s mental illness, preventing your child from becoming a bully, and advocating for your children in the school system.