Having a child with ADHD can be a frustrating experience for both you and your child. We talked about 7 steps to managing your childs ADHD in our last post but wanted to give you some more tips. Your child’s school will encourage you to place him or her on a regime of medication, but there are other methods which you can use in addition to medication to help manage your child’s ADHD.
A Positive, Healthy You
Running, running, and more running is what a parent of an ADHD child does all day, every day. All that running around will eventually run you down. In order to maintain a positive attitude, you must keep yourself healthy by eating well, getting plenty of sleep, and, most importantly, making some time for yourself.
Be Honest
Do not try to hide the truth from your child. Your child already feels different and apart from other children. He or she knows there is something going on, they just don’t know what that something is. By explaining the disorder you are allowing your child to take part in the management of it.
Set the Tone
Explain to your child what behaviors are and are not acceptable. By telling him or her in advance, you are letting your child know that they have a responsibility when it comes to monitoring behavior. Set your expectations and don’t waver from them.
Structure
ADHD children must have structure. Set routines, as much quiet as possible, and organization are of the utmost importance when dealing with ADHD. Once your child settles in to these routines don’t alter them without first letting your child know.
The Right Foods
Eating right is important not just for you, but for your child too. Get rid of fatty foods, high sugar content, and start your child on a daily vitamin and mineral supplement in order to help control some the ADHD signatures.
Movement is Important
Encouraging your ADHD child to move around sounds counterproductive, but studies have shown that ADHD children who take part in organized sports burn off a lot of that pent up energy. If you can’t get your child interested in sports, organize family fitness by taking walks together or riding bikes.
Making Friends
This is super hard for ADHD children. Teach your child about social skills and help them to reach out to others. Join an ADHD support group. This allows your child to interact with other children.