Childrens reaction to over-excitement

[Camper]

Hello, I'm brand new so I hope I get this right.

 

I am concerned about my Grand daughter - aged Four and just about to start school.

 

Last week I took her to the park and she wanted to go on the swings. I pushed her and took her to the height where she was very giggly, then stopped so she could slow down. She went quiet and then all of a sudden, threw herself backwards and I had to grab her to stop her falling out of the chair. I was a bit concerned but didn't tell her Mum.

 

Yesterday while at another park, she wanted to go on a roundabout. Same thing; after she became very excited I stopped spinning it but after five seconds or so she threw herself backwards and almost out of the chair.

 

There is no loss of conciousness and she is not distressed in any way when I pick her up, but the second occasion really scared me. Has anybody come across this or can anyone advise where I may find more information?

 

Thank you

[PhDwannabe]

Hey Camper:

 

I've not come across this personally, and it's difficult to really get a sense of what's going on just reading a text description of it and not viewing the behavior itself. To me, it sounds like we're seeing a kid that's giddy with play and is playing a game--"hey, catch me!" Both of the instances you describe take place in the context of a park playground, which is less worrisome than if you'd have observed it in a variety of different settings. Usually, while kids of this age are certainly clumsy and accident-prone, they don't do things that would clearly and obviously bring harm to themselves. Kids as young as six months old will refuse to walk off a cliff, even if mom is beckoning them to do so. If a child is not being cautious in even the basic way we'd expect at a developmental stage that they're at (which is, mind you, nowhere near the caution and carefulness of adulthood or even later childhood) it certainly can be part of an array of developmental problems. However, those problems would almost certainly be showing up in other--indeed, more obvious--ways. It's very likely that other developmental milestones (walking, talking, potty training, sociality of various kinds) would not be being met on time.

 

So, bottom line--it's a guess at a distance, of course--is that any serious problems would manifest themselves in other ways that you'd have also mentioned. (This is just going off of the way your story seemed when I read it--there may be things you left out.) The behavior seems to be limited, not terribly unusual, and not extraordinary dangerous, given what 4-year-olds do. Because development at this age is so rapid, you can observe children do and say all sorts of goofy things, and then very quickly grow out of the behavior. You may remember your own child or children doing things in toddlerhood/early childhood that, while different than this, may have seemed equally as silly.

 

That said, if you think it's part of a larger pattern of other behaviors that also warrant concern, have her mom run it by a pediatrician--that's the place you want to start for absolutely any concern you'd have. The first step, though, would be sharing your observations with mom! Maybe she's seen something like it; maybe she hasn't--either way, there's no reason not to let her know.