No More Meltdowns

I've been reading this book by Jed Baker called, No More Meltdowns. This is a phenomenal book. Not only does it come from the perspective of SPD, but it also helps parents identify reasons/situations as to WHY meltdowns are occuring.

Here is an example: EVERY, and I mean EVERY night at bathtime, we have a struggle which turns into a meltdown. When Turbo gets out of the bath/shower, he thinks a game is being played and he runs to hide. WHY? WE HAVE NO IDEA! But in some way or another, he gets hurt. He thinks that this is the time to play! EVEN WITH MOMMY AND DADDY having "THOSE" looks on their faces. And inevitably, with our small living quarters, Tank is woken up. And to get a sleeping baby back to sleep before his big brother goes to bed in the SAME room, is virtuatlly impossible. Which could also be the start of why our nights are so long with Tank. He still isn't sleeping through the night...which is a whole other struggle.

Anyways, during my midnight readings of this book, because well, Tank is up!, I was reading a chapter about identifying the cause of a meltdown. Let me assure you, I KNOW what the cause is, he doesn't want to go to sleep. And I know that if were to take this struggle to Ms. Renee, I know what she is going to tell me: Make A Plan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not to disrespect her in any way, but am I really going to have to Make A Plan for EVERY part of this kids life? Probably, so just get used to it.

So this is our plan: I made a sheet that has all the steps he needs to take to get ready for bed. If he does all these steps without getting sidetracked, then he gets to read books before bed. I am fully aware that we will have some battles on our hands the first few nights because he is going to test the waters. So I am preparing myself! We will see what happens. Here is to hoping.