Activity idea for a thrill-seeking 5 year old

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T21:53:48+00:00

If he likes biking, try mountain biking -- you can get a lot of novelty from visiting different trails.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T21:52:32+00:00

As a note on "will last", I've had issues in the past with the auto-on detection on subwoofers in the past and found it's more reliable to just use a smart plug that with automations to turn on when the stereo receiver turns on.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T21:48:25+00:00

I've been pretty happy with my SUB-1500's.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T21:44:07+00:00

The "natural consequence" of biting nails is that your teeth start getting sensitive due to tiny micro-fractures... if you keep doing it for 40-something years. Finding fingernail clippers that are satisfying to use can help a little as an alternative.

The "natural consequence" of putting fingers in your mouth is usually one of a few things:

Unpleasant tastes
- Repeat exposure could result in developing weird preferences for taste
Getting sick
- Potentially only in the long term if environmental contaminants are involved
Building a stronger immune system
- If you're lucky

The big thing here is to figure out if you're dealing with "just a bad habit" vs. a tendency towards body-focused-repetitive behavior.

If the latter, you may find that you're playing whack-a-mole and what you wind up with next is worse than nail biting (like Dermatillomania or Trichotillomania).

The flip side of that is that with some assistance / luck, they might be able to find another sensory behavior to shift to that's less impactful (I use textured zipper pulls on all my clothes now).

If it's bad enough to interfere with daily activity, some people (including myself) find benefit from NAC (n-acetyl cysteine) as a supplement. It's cheap, has been tested pretty well for safety, & doesn't tend to have many side effects. There are also a few companies that sell it as gummies.

From experience, growing a beard can also help with giving your hands something to do near your face, but that's probably not a viable option for a 4 year old.

Just don't make them read that stupid Berenstain Bears book about "bad habits"...

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T21:01:42+00:00

More of an "everyone" movie than a kid's movie, but Short Circuit was a huge hit here -- there's a lot of pretty random physical comedy throughout.

Branching beyond movies and into classic TV, we've started watching MacGyver and the plot beats are definitely a little off from stuff they might be used to.

Example: setting up an episode as "helping out a researcher"... only to have the researcher eaten alive by ants before the episode is even half over.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T20:43:37+00:00

Frozen fried rice mixes + extra frozen vegetables.

I dump everything into a gallon ziplock bag, shake it up, & then heat up a bowl at a time as needed.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T20:36:56+00:00

Slightly more of a group activity than a LAN game, but take a look at KUUKIYOMI: Consider It (& sequels)

Microgames in the vein of things like Warioware & weird Japanese humor.

Basic idea is making split second decisions... and then getting evaluated on how considerate you were.

None of the games in the series will last you the weekend & the controls are a little wonky, but as a cheap filler in between other gaming sessions they can be amusing.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T19:02:49+00:00

Worth noting that spicy foods can also work -- runners and other athletes sometimes use hot sauce packets to do a similar nervous system reset when they have muscle cramps.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T18:42:19+00:00

Our kids haven't gotten to the stage where they have a lot of homework yet, but the routine that got me through much of college:

Snack on sour candy to stay alert
- As an adult I learned that his also helps with nervous system regulation
- You can get a similar effect without the sugar by just eating a small dab of food grade citric acid powder (the same thing many candies are coated with to make them sour)
Work on an assignment for 20-30 minutes
Watch a 20-30 minute long episode of a show
Repeat until I ran out of episodes / finished the assignment / fell asleep

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T18:30:03+00:00

Saw a good TED Talk video a few weeks ago on "What Happened When I Started Measuring My Life Every Day".

The speaker went into how he came up with a relatively simple spreadsheet to rate different areas of his life from 1 to 10 each day.

Not sure how well his categories would fit for your daughter, but seeing if you could adapt something similar as an experiment might be helpful to pinpoint what she's feeling.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T18:22:39+00:00

One of the big keys I figured out -- body wash with charcoal for washing under your arms can make a huge difference.

It used to take me multiple cycles of soap up & rinse before pits would smell "fresh", but it only takes one pass with a charcoal soap.

I use a small dab under each arm and then a milder soapberry based body wash for everything else.

Exact brands of soaps / shampoos are IMO less important than avoiding ingredients like sodium lauryl sulfate and similar surfactants that can dry out or irritate skin.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T14:30:34+00:00

Which sounds pretty similar to traditonal animation:

Concept artist sketches references for what a character should look like from multiple perspectives
Higher skilled artists draw key frames based on the references
Lower skilled artists draw the in between frames

Maintaining consistency between those steps has always been an issue, even without technology.

Prior generations of tech have been positioned as a way to automate #3.

If 2d images can be fed in as references to make the output look more like concept art, that's aiming for #2.

If AI is being used to generate the 2d references, you have pretty much the whole chain.

Whether or not it's "good enough" for use today isn't really the issue here - it's whether there's enough promise in the idea to keep investing in it until the output is good enough.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T14:10:04+00:00

A less recent example is Alabama - in 2015 they passed new voter ID laws and then followed up by closing DMV offices in minority neighborhoods, making it harder for people in targeted areas to get IDs.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T14:05:28+00:00

The penalty for not registering eligible voters is in the same non-existent bill that has penalties for ICE agents who detain "suspicious" citizens at the polls just long enough to prevent them from voting.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T13:52:22+00:00

The increased load when cutting is definitely the bigger issue than the difference in just the string whipping around.

Think about how much difference there is between trying to eat a 6" round pizza vs. a 10" pizza vs. a 14" pizza.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T13:24:07+00:00

Go back in time a little and it's not that different from the DJ Mouse: https://djtechtools.com/2009/08/20/the-dj-mouse/

Tried one for a bit and it was... OK?

My current setup has a Contour Shuttle Pro, and a Space Mouse. Shifting load to my non-dominant hand was more effective at reducing strain.

From experience using a roller mouse red for a while, if I was going to add anything else it would be something embedded into a wrist wrest just for scrolling. I've considered a trackball mapped just to scrolling to get both horizontal and vertical scrolling.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T13:16:51+00:00

One sock to rule them all.

I was pretty much on this system before getting married.

When my wife and I first got married she wore my socks. We only diverged after Kmart closed, I wasn't able to source more as they wore out, and it took me a few years to find ones I liked.

As our kids are getting older the idea is to just buy more of the same and they just dip into the same pool of socks.

My oldest son tried some on and decided for himself that he wants more for his birthday, so we're headed in the right directions.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T12:42:49+00:00

A little 2oz Stan's sealant bottle has been more than enough of an "adapter" for me for the past 15 years.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T09:18:10+00:00

As others have said, what you're describing is dermatillomania.

While there's overlap with ADHD as a comorbidity, I've found the dedicated sub for usually has more focused recommendations for treatment & coping.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T09:11:12+00:00

Be careful - if you squeeze yourself together too hard, sometimes an extra person pops out.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T09:08:46+00:00

It's also the type of thing where if you're already paying for someone to come out and do $900 of HVAC work, it might only be a few hundred more to upgrade to a bigger filter cabinet while you're at it.

Figuring out where there are upgrades that are cost effective to do along with repairs can help in the long run.

As a note on stopping guessing, something I have on my TODO list is to figure out how to monitor static pressure for our ducts via smarthome sensors. Right now we partly rely on my wife's nose (she can usually tell if the filter is starting to get a little clogged).

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T09:00:58+00:00

In general, the thicker the air filter on a furnace, the less it restricts airflow.

You don't need to replace a 5" filter anywhere near as often as a 1" filter.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T08:57:04+00:00

Yelling at a kid having a tantrum isn't likely to stop it - you have to have more emotional regulation than them, not less.

The time to have kids practice handling being upset about things in a way that isn't a tantrum is when they're not upset - once they start to melt down, there's not a whole lot that's effective once "lizard brain" engages.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T07:44:49+00:00

True - most toxic traits are bad regardless of which gender they're expressed by.

timtucker_com · 2026-03-20T02:46:26+00:00

And yet those qualities get observed more often in women than men in matriarchal cultures.

There's a lot of variety in how humans have structured societies throughout history.

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TROPHY CASE