After-School Restraint Collapse is a fancy term for the way children melt down and crumble to pieces after coming home from school. 🤯 This is common for young children and it is due to their sense of being overwhelmed, overstimulated, tired, hungry, and finally being in a safe place where they feel like they can fully express their emotions. 😟 The more we understand about why they’re acting this way, and what we can do to assist them through this transition, the better the household mood will be for the rest the evening! 🤗 Here a few ideas on how you can set up an environment for your child to release these big emotions and give them space to unwind immediately after school: ⛺️ Create a Sensory Den such as a tent or fort! We use the Nugget from @nuggetcomfort to create a small space where my daughter can feel safe and cozy. 💜 Provide sensory toys or a weighted plush toy like Flutter the Dragonfly, to offer calming deep pressure input. 👉👉 Comment “Flutter” and I’ll DM you the link! 🔗🔗 🍎 Prepare a big snack for them, and ideally have it ready the moment they walk in the door. 📚 Provide some type of activity for them to enjoy independently. This could be drawing, reading, listening to a podcast, or watching a low stimulation show/ movie. Additional unwind activities may include playing on a playground, going for a hike, doing a water activity outside, making a craft, or taking a warm bath. Discovering the right calm down activity for your child, depends on their interests and sensory preferences! Give this a try and let me know it helps reduce your child’s after-school meltdowns! 💚