Why having a Routine can Minimize your Stress
Those of us with ADHD have been hearing about the need for routine, our whole lives! But guess what, having a routine is actually a benefit to all the busy people out there as well, regardless of whether they have ADHD or not. If you are making dozens, maybe hundreds of decisions every day, a […]
Excuses are a dead-end!
I mastered Excuses 101 somewhere around the 5th grade. And I rode that wagon all through school, and to some degree, through college. Having ADHD is hard enough when you’re in junior high/high school, but at least (hopefully!) you have parents and teachers helping you. When you move onto college, that structure, the support that […]
#81
A degree of structure & discipline should be maintained thru the summer. I like posting a list of rules where the kids can see them. I also believe in a reward/punishment system – nothing too complicated or military-like, but something that helps them grasp the concept of choices & consequences.
I think they key to this having any kind of benefit is two-fold: 1. You have to be consistent & stick with it and 2. You have to keep changing things up in the rewards department to keep it interesting for the kids and to keep them motivated to keep trying to do the right thing. I know that this is not a sure-fire way to get your kids to behave, and certainly the pay-off is not immediate, but without creating some kind of a well-defined reward/punishment system for kids to learn good behavior from bad, I really can’t imagine how they can become more manageable. Anyone else have any suggestions about teaching kids the concept of choices & consequences?
#45
Two weeks of travel can wreak havoc on my “home schedule”. It takes me 3-4 days to readjust to home unless I plan ahead. Even though ADHDers tend to do well in fluid settings, we still need some structure to make getting and staying on task possible. Before going on a long trip, I write down where I left off on my top 2-3 projects and what needs to be done when I return. This is a great tool to help me get back on track with minimum drama.
If you’re a list-maker, it’s important to not make the list too long and expansive. A big to-do list will just overwhelm. Get your “sympathetic enforcer” to help with narrowing down the list to the most important and urgent items.