Routine, warnings when changes are afoot and looking for the positive side of a youngster's traits can help with the management of an over-exuberant child.
Sensory overload should also be considered, as these youngsters are often ultrasensitive to everything happening around them.
Think about all the things that happen around you all day, every day: the many sounds, smells, people and activity you just block out automatically minute by minute because they have no immediate relevance.
Now think of the supermarket's crowded aisles, people talking, a background of piped music and checkout scanners beeping, trolleys, flickering fluorescent lighting and multiplicity of colours. There are smells, chilled sections and enticing displays of confectionery. And then there's your mood. Perhaps you're under pressure of time and feeling stressed.
It can be very difficult for these youngsters to do the sort of sensory sifting you do, so they take in all these things equally and become overwhelmed by everything going on around them. So the child you felt was settled enough to take to the supermarket suddenly becomes a major handful for no apparent reason.
Watch for how your child responds in these sorts of situations. Get to know the early signs and head somewhere quiet for a break or cut short whatever it is you're doing and head home.
If you can do this without anger or frustration that's great, because this child will also be ultrasensitive to your moods. In fact, they can even begin reacting to them before you realise the frame of mind you're in. So if you are feeling somewhat on edge they will pick it, become unsettled and invariably do things that will ensure that you certainly know you are stressed.
This perceptiveness can be a strength later in life because they'll often notice things that no-one else does. But as children, it can also mean that they're easily distracted by things on the way to doing something else. If that happens, don't yell but be interested and then move them on with another positive distraction of your own.
Hanging on to more than one or two instructions can be difficult, and those you give should not be vague or negative. "Be good'' and "don't do that'' aren't specific enough. Spell out what the good behaviour is and keep it simple.
Instead of yelling "don't climb over the gate'' tell them what they should be doing: "open the gate''. Rather than "don't go near the edge'' tell them to "stay behind the yellow line, those rocks''. Avoid choices wherever you can.
As they grow you can help them get to know the warning signs for themselves and good ways of dealing with a developing situation.
