Grandma has been in the house for ninety seconds. In that time your seven-year-old has shown her a loose tooth, a cartwheel, a Lego ship, the cartwheel again, and is now about four inches from her face explaining the entire plot of a movie. Grandma is still holding her suitcase.
This is Piko energy. Piko is our pop-pink bunny, and Piko's motto is "Let your energy shine." Piko is also learning something: how to notice other people's space while shining.
Both halves matter. The goal here is never a quieter, smaller kid.
Excitement is a good feeling
It's easy to end up correcting an excited child all day long. Too loud. Too close. Too much. Hear that often enough and a kid starts to think the feeling itself is the problem.
It isn't. Enthusiasm is a lovely thing to have in a family. What can use some coaching is the behavior around it: interrupting, grabbing, crowding, not noticing when a friend has had enough.
So try to say the first part out loud before the second. "I love how excited you are to see Grandma. Let's give her a minute to put her bag down."
Noticing other people is a skill
CASEL, the organization behind a widely used framework for social and emotional learning, lists social awareness as one of five core skill areas, which includes understanding other people's perspectives and showing empathy. It describes these as skills that can be taught and practiced at different ages, the same way reading is.
That's good news for the parent of a bouncy kid. Your child isn't being rude on purpose. They're still building the part that looks up and checks the room.
Teach the look-up
The Child Mind Institute suggests helping kids use other people's feelings as a guide for how to act. A simple way in is to teach kids what to look for:
Is my friend leaning in or leaning back?
Are they smiling, or has their face gone flat?
Are they still playing, or looking around for an exit?
Practice on calm days with books and shows. "Look at his face. Do you think he wants more tickling or less?"
In the moment, Child Mind recommends short, curious questions instead of a scolding: "How do you think Mark felt when you took his toy?" You want your child thinking about Mark, not about being in trouble.
Bodies and space go both ways
Child Mind frames personal space as a two-way rule. Nobody should touch your child without permission, and your child shouldn't hug, grab or climb on others without checking first.
If your child says "stop tickling" and you stop right away, you've taught the rule better than any talk could. Then it makes sense to ask, "Did you check if Sam wanted a hug?"
A quick, playful phrase helps. Some families use "bubble check." Arms out, turn around: that's your bubble, and everybody has one.
Practice the pause button
Waiting is hard when you're fizzing. Nemours KidsHealth suggests that kids around six to nine picture a stop sign and think before they act, and that parents praise them when they manage it.
Games are the painless way to practice. Child Mind recommends working on taking turns during family activities. Board games, freeze dance and "red light, green light" all sneak in the skill of stopping your body on purpose. Rehearsing ahead helps too: "When we get to the party, what's your plan for saying hi?"
Give the energy somewhere to go
Telling a Piko kid to simply have less energy rarely works. Give it a job. Ten cartwheels in the yard before Grandma arrives. A running race to the mailbox. Chief balloon blower. Energy with a destination is easier to steer.
And catch the good moments. "You noticed Lily wanted a turn and you handed it over. That was kind." Specific praise sticks.
For older kids and teens, the same skill shows up in conversation: leaving room for others to talk, noticing when a joke has gone too far. A quiet word afterward, never in front of friends, goes a long way.
Try this today
Say one thing you love about your child's energy, out loud, today.
Play one stop-and-go game, like freeze dance, for five minutes.
Do a "bubble check" together and practice asking, "Want a hug or a high five?"
Watch a show together and pause once to guess how a character feels.
Before the next exciting event, give the energy a job.
When to get more help
Lots of kids are loud, wiggly and gloriously enthusiastic. If your child's energy often gets in the way at school, makes friendships hard, or you find yourselves stuck in the same struggles day after day, it's worth talking it over with their pediatrician, teacher or school counselor, or a licensed mental health professional.
Feelumi shares general parenting information, not medical or psychological advice.
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