The word difficult is far below the actual reality of ADHD kids as parenting with an ADHD child is not only difficult but a challenging task. Sometimes the impulsive behaviors of the child are so much at their peak that it seems like a test to the parent’s patience and stamina. Besides consulting to a child psychologist and relying on medications may give short term results but there are several other strategies as well that can play well in the overall development of the child’s mind.
What Is ADHD?
There is so much difference between a normal child and those suffering from any mental disorder, in cases like these, traditional parenting style fails to understand the child psychology and thus requires serious mindful parenting tricks and strategies. Before any further discussion let us get a brief description about what ADHD is? ADHD typically known as Attention deficit hyperactivity disorderis a child mental disorder where the child’s brain activity is hyper strong that causes them difficulty in paying attention to things for even a shorter time span. This attention deficiency and an urge to impulsive behavioral patterns prevent them from engaging in everyday chores and forces the child to lack behind in several activities like playing a specific game again and again, following instructions, school learning and doing homework,etc.
How To Cope With ADHD Children At Home?
Sometimes it can be a hectic procedure to communicate to your child especially when he has his mind working along multiple dimensions. In situations like these figuring out whether the child has understood what you just said is extremely doubtful. So read on later to know the interesting homely coping therapies that work best on ADHD children.
Prepare A Plan
Kids suffering from ADHD are more prone to lose their attention easily so it’s very important to prepare a plan for everyday tasks. Set timings and use colorful taskbars and calendars for every task to attract the kid’s attention and make it more appealing. For instance mention specific timings for bedtime, playtime, screen, homework,and dinner using highlighting contrasting colors and themes. Involve them in everyday rituals like praying before the meal which will teach them how to wait for things and reduce their behavior impulsivity.
Social Connections
As kids with ADHD have low self-esteem try to boost their confidence by praising them for every good effort like teaching them to raise their hand before speaking in class, greet everyone with morning wishes as you see them, be kind and generous towards others,etc. Try to engage them in public gatherings where they can interact and enjoy with the peer group like birthday parties, summer camps,and parks. Social skill training is also helpful therapy to boost the self-esteem of such children. Here the therapist conducts a group setting and acts appropriate behaviors whereby, the kids are asked to imitate and repeat the actions. This teaches them how to observe other’s behaviors and how to act more adequately.
Be Patient
Remember patience is the key here, you need to put constant efforts for a period of time to enjoy the slow reaping results. The behaviors of ADHD children are notoriously irregular as such children will act miraculously manner full one day and completely stubborn and disrespectful on the other day, so be very patient and remind yourself that the actions are a consequence of the ADHD disorder and not the sole personality.
Restful Sleep
Studies suggest that a quality night sleep and a healthy diet both correspond in improving the ADHD symptoms. For this enforce a timely bedtime routine, choose a calm and quiet room for the child, keep the room neat and avoid anything that may cause unnecessary disturbance like tv, phones, or a noisy fan, quit any physical as well as other activities atleast an hour before sleeping time so the child’s active mind can relax. Similarly, try to plan a good nutritional diet, for instance, include the intake of Omega3 fatty acids, iron, zinc, magnesium,and protein in the diet to decrease hyperactivity and impulsivity in behavior.
Involve Multi-Curricular Activities
As children with ADHD get bored with any activity too easily so encountering them with interactive constructive activities is not only a good way to gain back their attention but also a fun way to learn some good skills. Parents should focus on the child’s extracurricular activities like taking them to exercise, cycling, playing some sporty game at the playgrounds, taking care of a pet or encourage them to take some voice lessons in the home such as piano, guitar or anything that the child likes.
Engage Into A Friendly Talk
An effective way to deal with an ADHD child is to have a friendly conversation. Take atleast a portion of the day to have a peaceful, childish one to one conversation with your child. Making eye contact and physical connection like placing a hand on the shoulder, holding the child’s hands softly also plays a role in gaining his attention while communicating and transferring the essential information. Psychologists suggest doing this while bedtime as the child’s subconscious mind will catch all of the information as it is without any filtration so it’s the best time to teach them about good habits and positive social behaviors.
Reinforcement Therapy
Behavioral therapy works wonders in teaching children the dos and don’ts of society. This therapy basically relies on two factors; positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement.
Positive reinforcement- Set some limits for what is good and what is bad. Reward the child whenever he does something good for e.g. rewarding after he cleans his room when he completes his homework timely when he behaves manner fully etc. This will make him adopt the acceptable behaviors of society more quickly.
Negative reinforcement- Punish or taking away a reward as a consequence of an unacceptable behavior for e.g. taking away a toy, giving timeouts, pausing screen time, skipping a favorite snack,etc. This will teach him the relation between actions and consequences.
Well, this is the end, we agree that an ADHD child is surely not an easy one to handle but if you try to practice these7 strategies, we bet you will soon be seeing positive results in your child’s personality. Connect with us if you know any other helpful parenting tip for ADHD children.
