I awoke the other day to the pitter-patter of little feet in the hallway.
Ok, that's a lie....
They were a men's size 8, half running.
Must be Sean. Can only be Sean.
Why did I take out the carpeting and put in fake hardwood floors???
"Slow" is not part of Sean's physical vocabulary. He runs or "fast walks" everywhere. I understand it at home. He's afraid of the dark, afraid of the open doorways in the hallway. I actually remember doing the very same thing when I was little. Heck, I walk the halls of a closed building as part of my job now at the age of 43. I've been known to put a little hustle in my bustle....
Running... oh wait... "fast walking"... has landed Sean in a heap of trouble over and over again. For years we have been trying to break him of the habit.
Is he afraid? Is he anxious? Is he overly excited to get into the school building, get to that class where he is going to sit for the next 45 minutes?
I don't know.
And until I can figure it out or that miracle happens and Sean can tell me the "why" behind it, he will continue walking at warp speed. Unfortunately, he will also continue getting into trouble for it.
He's almost 13 years old. I started driving on my learner's permit shortly after I turned 15. Two years.... scary. He wants to drive. He learned cursive so he could get a license. I've tried the analogy of obeying speed limits.
FAIL!!!!
Sean is now in a school with almost ten times as many students as his regular day school. The hallways are crowded. The entrances are crowded. He's like the silver ball in the pinball machine - somewhat chaotic and bouncing off of people.
He doesn't even know he's doing it....
That's my problem. How can I get Sean to change a behaviour that he's not even aware he's doing???
He's a big kid - about 125 pounds. He's strong as an ox from years of gymnastics. I worry about him bumping into a little sixth grader and the kid flying across the hallway, possibly getting hurt.
Then again, he'll be in high school in 18 months. What if he bumps into the captain of the varsity football team? Ouch.
I better figure out how to break this habit...quick!
Have you tried music? Something that has him go slow during parts and fast during others- I have a bunch of kids music from when my son did Kindermusik that helped us with regulating his walk/run patterns... getting him to listen to the tempo and then reminding him to have slow music playing in his mind when he walks through school hallways might work?
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