The foundation for good behavior lies in learning three important life skills: reading social situations, managing emotions, and problem-solving abilities. Children with ADHD tend to be deficit in these skills but they can be learned and reinforced with a little help from you and a therapist.
Family vacations are a great opportunity to bond with the children, and with winter break fast approaching you’re probably deciding where to go. But some vacation destinations might not be suitable for kids with ADHD. Long lines at theme park rides and restaurants, rainy days spent in a hotel room, hours in an airplane seat, noise, crowds – these are difficult for anyone, but especially if you’re traveling with someone who has ADHD. Kids with ADHD are very distractible, restless, impatient, and sensitive to bright lights and loud sounds. Although you might have gotten used to helping your child manage these symptoms at home, handling them in a strange new place is a different story. Vacations mean change and if you already had a routine set up for your child, the lack of structure during the trip might make the symptoms return full force.
While there’s no guarantee of a smooth-sailing vacation, planning ahead is one of two keys to having a great time. The other key is to know what your children want – are they more comfortable with quiet surroundings or the bustle of a big city? Do they prefer the ocean or do they flourish in the fresh mountain air?
Does your ADHD child have a habit of cutting you off in mid-sentence? Do you find it difficult to carry a conversation on the phone or with your spouse because of constant interruptions? Interrupting is a common behavior among kids with ADHD because they have a hard time keeping their impulses in check and censoring what they say. But just because this behavior occurs naturally, it doesn’t mean that it’s right, nor does it become any less annoying! Here are some ADHD parenting tips on dealing with kids who interrupt.
Well-meaning relatives, friends, and magazine articles have probably given you lots of advice on how to parent your ADHD child. However, the so-called “rules” of good parenting don’t always work, especially when many of these techniques are only fads. Here are the five most ineffective ADHD parenting approaches and how you can make them work for your child.
Taking care of a child with ADHD is a 24-hour challenge. From getting your child out of bed in the morning to making sure he sleeps at night, it feels like you’re engaged in a tug-of-war all day long. While there are certainly many resources that can help parents cope with ADHD behavioral problems, it seems that the more they read, the more confused they become as to how to discipline their child. The key to ADHD parenting is to realize that your child’s brain is wired differently from his peers. One-size-fit-all parenting approaches won’t always work with your child, but here are five secrets that do.
When counseling parents of children with ADHD, one of the most common questions I receive is whether or not their child is ready for a sleepover. Parents are only happy to help their kids build friendships, especially when their child has had difficulties doing so in the past. At the same time, they worry that their child’s ADHD symptoms might be too much for the host to handle, that they might cause trouble, or that their child might feel homesick. While these instances are certainly plausible, your child can enjoy a fun sleepover at a friend’s or relative’s house with a few preparations. Before saying yes to the slumber party, consider these issues first.
If there is one ADHD symptom that creates awkward social situations and hurt feelings, it has to be the lack of tact. It’s normal for children of all ages to say what’s on their mind, but those with ADHD are even more likely to have no sense of control over their speech. Regardless of whether or not your child was speaking the truth (and chances are, he or she is probably right), every parent needs to deflect these inappropriate statements. Once the words have been said, someone is bound to get offended and you, the parent, might feel helpless or embarrassed.
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Next to questions about ADHD treatment, many parents turn to me for advice on how to discipline ADHD children effectively. Although natural treatments will help reduce behavioral problems in the long run, parents have to contend with their children’s stubbornness, hyperactive tendencies, and other misbehaviors today. Parenting an ADHD child is no easy task. Even the most patient parents end up dropping their compassionate approach for a cycle of nagging, yelling, and punishing, which only seems to make their children misbehave even more.
So how do you get an ADHD child to behave? As with ADHD treatments, there is no magic bullet or formula to better discipline; each child responds to different techniques. There are a few general guidelines you can follow to keep your child’s misdeeds in check.
A colleague once remarked that in his experience working with families and children with ADHD, fathers rarely participate in behavior modification programs. This phenomenon has more to do with cultural forces than anything else; generally speaking, topics covered in these programs fall under the mother’s domain (time management, organization, and self-control). Such traditional parenting programs seem more relevant to mothers than fathers. However, the success of a holistic ADHD treatment program requires the involvement and active participation of both parents. Fathers have just as much influence as mothers when it comes to a child’s academic achievement and self-esteem.
As a parent of a child with ADHD, you’ve probably noticed something I observe among my patients: kids with ADHD don’t do well in the winter. As fall turns to winter and a blanket of snow covers the streets, kids with ADHD tend to:
Does this sound like your child?