Parenting and Family Education

Posts Tagged ‘Adhd’

Parenting ADHD children can be stressful, frustrating and overwhelming. ADHD children have a shorter attention span than other kids and they often anger easily when they dont get their way.

Parenting through these difficulties will help raise a happy, healthy child. Here are 9 ADHD parenting tips to help you cope with and support your ADHD child.

1. Be consistent and set down specific rules. Changing the rules mid-stream can be confusing to the ADHD child. Be sure that both parents are on-board with the same rules.

2. Establish routines. All children thrive when they follow a routine but this is especially true of ADHD children. Be strict about the times that things take place but be aware of the fact that your child may have a short attention span. Limit the time children can watch television, play video games or listen to music. Sticking to these rules allows time for the children to think on their own and to use their creativity.

3. Assign weekly or daily chores. Use a chart to keep track of progress. Children love to get a gold star when they complete a task. For ADHD children, this can be a great ego boost. Be sure to explain exactly how to complete the task and even demonstrate it to them yourself.

4. Choose your battles wisely. Decide early on what things are most important and make sure that these things are the ones that get done. If the child wavers on an unimportant item let it go. What strikes the child one way one day may change the next. Be sure that your core values and beliefs are being honored.

5. Teach time management skills. ADHD children can benefit tremendously from learning the art of prioritization and time management. Often the child does not yet understand how to make these types of decisions. For older children utilize a planner or electronic organizers.

6. Break tasks down. Children with ADHD may not be able to stay focused on one task, especially if it is a large one. Break down each task into smaller, more manageable pieces. This will reduce the frustration level of you and your child.

7. Have patience. Parents already know that it takes lots of patience to raise their children with ADHD. To keep your own patience level up try giving tasks when there is plenty of time to complete them and enough time for you to follow up. Try to allow some room for error and always accentuate the positive things your child does.

8. Communicate with your child. One of the best ways to help ADHD children is to spend time with them. Set aside some time each day to talk to your child and get to know him. Help him to learn to communicate well with others and to know that he can come to you with any problems.

9. Be a good role model to your child. This is one of the biggest factors that will determine the outcome of your child as an adult. Although it may not seem like it, your child watches you and strives to be like you.

Millions of children with ADHD grow up to be well balanced responsible adults. That is probably due to a number of factors, the home environment, school and above all parents who know and apply a few basic parenting techniques. The ADHD child will always respond to positive parenting. For those who do not have the love and affectionate support at home are at risk of running into trouble with the law and carrying ADHD into adulthood. That can lead to career and relationship ruin.

How can you make your home a place where positive parenting is the norm and not the exception Here are a few tips which can help the ADHD child.

Make sure your child knows the limits. Explain what is required and give examples of stepping over the limits. You have a system of rewards in place and these are dispensed for good behaviour and the child is rewarded promptly. These can range from new toys, treats, outings, computer time. By the way, paediatricians are now telling us that media time should be no more than two hours a day. Having a points or star system is also a good idea and you can develop that into a response cost program where the child loses what he earns through bad behaviour.

Consequences should also be explained and you can even make a list and what happens when these are not followed. Using time-out is favoured by many parents although it is probably better to stay with the child rather than send him to another room.

Explaining things like routine and schedules are another way to positive parenting. Routine and times for various activities are well established . When a change in routine is in the offing, it needs to be explained to the child as sudden changes can be a bit disorientating.

But what happens when your pre teen ADHD child starts arguing and turns into an impossible child? Defiant kids can be a real handful and when they start to pick fights with parents and attack their siblings, then you may need to look at ADHD behavioral therapy which is basically a set of techniques to follow when all else has failed. This is positive parenting at its best because you are regaining control over your children.