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If he is specifically dropping them on the floor, I'd agree that is unusual (but not freak-out-worthy). I'd ask him why. Not in an accusatory way but honestly...maybe he has a reason (in his head) for doing it that way. My guess is that he puts them on the "little desk" and they roll off, ending up on the floor. Either way though, as long as he is the one to pick them up and put them away when he is done, I just don't get the issue. The lesson is, that if we make a mess, we are the ones responsible to clean it up and our things need to be put away when we are done, before moving on to another activity.....
Instead of focusing on how he handles crayons while in use, I recommend simply having him clean up the crayons when he is done.
That seems the most logical solution. I do many activities (painting, cooking, etc) that when I am actually doing them, the materials are pretty much everywhere... but it all gets put away when the activity is over. Just a matter of saying "Okay- time to pick this area up if we're done using these things. Let's put them where they belong now."
If he is specifically dropping them on the floor, I'd agree that is unusual (but not freak-out-worthy). I'd ask him why. Not in an accusatory way but honestly...maybe he has a reason (in his head) for doing it that way. My guess is that he puts them on the "little desk" and they roll off, ending up on the floor. Either way though, as long as he is the one to pick them up and put them away when he is done, I just don't get the issue. The lesson is, that if we make a mess, we are the ones responsible to clean it up and our things need to be put away when we are done, before moving on to another activity.....
MM...I am curious, because if it's a "trance-like" behavior, an "out-of-it" kind of thing where the hand simply moves to the side and drops those things on the floor...that most certainly could be something "ominous". That's why I asked about whether he's watched this motion, repeatedly, at home.If it was my child, I'd be searching for solutions too.
Some to be focusing in on this being some sort of tick, which if that's the case, then there maybe something there.
However, just based on the example you gave, I don't see anything wrong or unusual about his behavior. My kids do the same thing when they are playing with crayons and paper (anythign really). They are so focused on what they are doing that they aren't conscious about making the mess. The key we have used is to be organized (bins, everything in a place, etc.) and teach them through normal reward/punish behaviors that we need to clean up one mess before making another.
If we make a mess with crayons and paper, we clean it up before getting out our lego's. If we don't clean it up, the crayons and paper get taken away for a little while. Same goes with toys that we organized into a bin system. We don't dump out all of our Ninja Turtles, play with them for 5 minutes and then go get our Transformers and dump them out, etc. We obviously have some leniency for the moments mutant turtles need to fight robot cars, but you get the point. Anything not cleaned up before we move on, gets taken away.
The most opportune time to reinforce this is at transition times. Going up for "quiet time" means everything is cleaned up before we go up. Leaving quiet time, means the mess from quiet time is cleaned up. Heading out to the park, we clean up before we leave, etc.
I really think at that age you should be focusing more on what happens after the mess, than on trying to get him not to make a mess in the first place. Using our method it didn't take long for my now 6 1/2 year old to realize around say age 5 or so that if he cleaned up as he went along that he wouldn't need to spend so much time doing it afterward. Being neat was almost a self taught habit. The key was placing the onous on them to clean up their own mess, the result of not doing so was losing what they were playing with.
I don't think it is a trance...she isn't even there when it happens. She just notices that there is a mess when she goes into his room later....
Quote:
"Every time, I can predict with 100% accuracy (and I do mean 100%) that as soon as he gets a crayon in his hand it will automatically and unconsciously be dropped on the floor when the next one is used. When his "down" time is over, I go to his room and there is ALWAYS a mess on the floor from him inattentively dropping the crayons, pieces of cut paper, legos or whatever else he used at his desk."
Since she isn't there when it happens, she really doesn't know that it was dropped on the floor and whether he was in a trance-like state. If he is actually coloring and writing, my guess is, he's just more focused on what he is doing than in being a neat little child.
Every time, I can predict with 100% accuracy (and I do mean 100%) that as soon as he gets a crayon in his hand it will automatically and unconsciously be dropped on the floor when the next one is used. When his "down" time is over, I go to his room and there is ALWAYS a mess on the floor from him inattentively dropping the crayons, pieces of cut paper, legos or whatever else he used at his desk.
I trained him 1000000000 times to focus, pay attention and place the crayons back in the box when he is done with each one of them, instead of letting them drop on the floor; I showed him how, step by step, methodically - but they STILL end up on the floor, regardless of what I do, say, plead, beg, etc.
Am I the only person who sees a very creative child at work here?
Syracusa do you know any artists? I do. Many of them make messes as they work. Their brains are focused on the color of the tree they are painting, not putting the crayon neatly away. Their brain is saying, "I need a mint green here. Done with forest green." Plop. Forest green is forgotten and the mint green is used. Happily.
I think it's telling that when he gets up from his nap he draws. He could be sneaking down the hallway to flush his leggos down the loo. No! He heads for his little desk to create!
So when he eats, does he take a bit of food and then drop the sandwhich on the floor. Eat half a pretzel and drop the other half on the floor? I'm betting not.
Artists don't process like the rest of us. I'm fairly creative as a writer and when I'm working I make a mess. If I need a reference book I look up what I need then toss it aside because I need to think about the idea I am putting down on paper. The last thing I can do is stop and put the book back on the shelf. It would break my train of thought. That would result in total frustration.
Were he my son I'd let him be. I'd teach him that when he's done he needs to clean up his work area. Papers into a pile. Crayons back in the box. But while he's working, let the expression flow.
Am I the only person who sees a very creative child at work here?
Syracusa do you know any artists? I do. Many of them make messes as they work. Their brains are focused on the color of the tree they are painting, not putting the crayon neatly away. Their brain is saying, "I need a mint green here. Done with forest green." Plop. Forest green is forgotten and the mint green is used. Happily.
I think it's telling that when he gets up from his nap he draws. He could be sneaking down the hallway to flush his leggos down the loo. No! He heads for his little desk to create!
So when he eats, does he take a bit of food and then drop the sandwhich on the floor. Eat half a pretzel and drop the other half on the floor? I'm betting not.
Artists don't process like the rest of us. I'm fairly creative as a writer and when I'm working I make a mess. If I need a reference book I look up what I need then toss it aside because I need to think about the idea I am putting down on paper. The last thing I can do is stop and put the book back on the shelf. It would break my train of thought. That would result in total frustration.
Were he my son I'd let him be. I'd teach him that when he's done he needs to clean up his work area. Papers into a pile. Crayons back in the box. But while he's working, let the expression flow.
Am I the only person who sees a very creative child at work here?
Syracusa do you know any artists? I do. Many of them make messes as they work. Their brains are focused on the color of the tree they are painting, not putting the crayon neatly away. Their brain is saying, "I need a mint green here. Done with forest green." Plop. Forest green is forgotten and the mint green is used. Happily.
I think it's telling that when he gets up from his nap he draws. He could be sneaking down the hallway to flush his leggos down the loo. No! He heads for his little desk to create!
So when he eats, does he take a bit of food and then drop the sandwhich on the floor. Eat half a pretzel and drop the other half on the floor? I'm betting not.
Artists don't process like the rest of us. I'm fairly creative as a writer and when I'm working I make a mess. If I need a reference book I look up what I need then toss it aside because I need to think about the idea I am putting down on paper. The last thing I can do is stop and put the book back on the shelf. It would break my train of thought. That would result in total frustration.
Were he my son I'd let him be. I'd teach him that when he's done he needs to clean up his work area. Papers into a pile. Crayons back in the box. But while he's working, let the expression flow.
Need to spread it around, blah, blah, blah...but I agree.
I don't know, weren't kids put on this earth to drive us nuts? That's what my mother always told me, right before she told me to wait until you have kids!
Really, there is no reason to stress out about the little things and you may as well get used to it now. Today it's crayons on the floor, preteen it will be trading cards and teenager it will be clothes. Kids will be kids. Why attribute normal stuff to adhd? I don't get it
Am I the only person who sees a very creative child at work here?
Syracusa do you know any artists? I do. Many of them make messes as they work. Their brains are focused on the color of the tree they are painting, not putting the crayon neatly away. Their brain is saying, "I need a mint green here. Done with forest green." Plop. Forest green is forgotten and the mint green is used. Happily.
I think it's telling that when he gets up from his nap he draws. He could be sneaking down the hallway to flush his leggos down the loo. No! He heads for his little desk to create!
So when he eats, does he take a bit of food and then drop the sandwhich on the floor. Eat half a pretzel and drop the other half on the floor? I'm betting not.
Artists don't process like the rest of us. I'm fairly creative as a writer and when I'm working I make a mess. If I need a reference book I look up what I need then toss it aside because I need to think about the idea I am putting down on paper. The last thing I can do is stop and put the book back on the shelf. It would break my train of thought. That would result in total frustration.
Were he my son I'd let him be. I'd teach him that when he's done he needs to clean up his work area. Papers into a pile. Crayons back in the box. But while he's working, let the expression flow.
Good one DDI.... I agree, that's definitely a possibility. Incredibly creative people are NOT the "neatest" most organized folks out there, at least when they're in the middle of a project. Taking the time to put things away, definitely can break your focus. MY curiousness here though, is based on whether he NEEDS to put the crayons on the floor, does that make sense? I'm more curious as to whether this is an unconscious obsession, or simply the need to remain focused on his project, hence, can't be worried about where that crayon goes, because it doesn't matter, cuz he's done with that one. LOL
There is definitely something "unusual" about the behavior, but then I could be reading more into it than is really there...if that makes sense. Unusual though, doesn't have to mean "negative".
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