I have been MIA for quite some time now. Amidst sonny’s school break, tonnes of art and craft projects, family functions and the general holidaying mood, the urge to even look at my computer (leave alone type in a few words) had happily receded to the back burners of my blissful leisurely existence.
Now that the school break is over and the last-minute frenzy to get sonny’s homework completed is gone, I look at my semi-abandoned laptop and suddenly the need to type in a few words resurfaces.
So here I am back from my brief (?) hiatus talking about a “chaotic event” which turned my life topsy-turvy during the last week, for about 4-5 days. It’s called a “growth spurt” in children.
When sonny was an infant, growth spurts were very easy to predict thanks to tonnes of readily available information detailing the weeks when it was supposed to happen (usually) and I braced myself for those cluster nursing sessions quite well, all set with my Netflix moviethons, comfy bed and the steely resolve to ignore each and every housework.
But as a child grows up and becomes a unique individual, so does his growth spurts turn unique and morph into unpredictable events specific to him and him alone. There are no warnings regarding when he will be in the throes of a growth spurt or even whether there will be any distinguishable growth spurt at all.
For a while now, sonny has grown physically and skill-wise in a linear fashion without any marked growth spurts and I assumed that they were a thing of his infant past. Turns out I was wrong and they are very much a part of his life, as long as he is a growing boy, that is.
So, in case you are wondering what the tell-tale signs are that your school going kid is going through a growth spurt right now, here are a few pointers to help you out:
1. Constant Hunger:
This is, of course, the most obvious sign of a growth spurt. Even kids like sonny who run away at the mention of the word “food”, suddenly find themselves in the clutches of severe hunger pangs. “I am hungry. I want to eat something.” becomes their mantra day in and day out.
They will drag you to the kitchen and demand that you cook their preferred dishes. Or will even help themselves out of the fridge and pantry while you stare at them in utter disbelief with your jaws dropping to the floor.
And you will definitely need one or more grocery runs in the middle of the week because suddenly you will run out of several food items all at once!
2. Decrease In Picky Eating Behavior:
Constant craving also means that suddenly your picky eater will not be so picky anymore. He will be quite open to trying new things with gusto, even the things that he found inedible (aka “yucky” “pheweye” “stinky” in sonny’s lingo) in the past.
