Comments on: Five Focusing Hints – A Preview

By: micki801

micki801 — Mon, 30 May 2011 14:46:52 +0000

This is a great idea. I have two boys (9 & 12) with ADHD and I myself have ADD. This is a recipe for disaster on school mornings. The solution that has worked for us is that I get up an hour early and give them their medicine thenwe all go back to sleep (most of the time). When we get up and hour later their medicine has kicked in so that they are much easier to deal with and it provides for a much smoother morning. The only downside is that they don’t want to eat as much, but they are healthy and I believe the trade off is worth it! It took a long time to figure this out, so I hope this will help someone else. : )

By: Raquel

Raquel — Fri, 27 May 2011 20:38:35 +0000

I would just like to add that the routine goes so much smoother this way, that I dont have to wake up THAT much earlier. Instead of giving both kids the same 45 min to get ready I now give each child their ‘own’ private 30 minutes with me to get ready. They dont need as much time with my individual help and attention. They actually get through the routine faster and smoother. Ive only added about 30 minutes to my morning and I’ve eliminated a whole lot of screaming, groundings and horrible mornings. Now my kids have time for that second bowl of cereal and I can stop and tie a shoe at the door if I have to. I hope this helps!

By: ADHD and the Morning Routine

ADHD and the Morning Routine — Fri, 27 May 2011 15:59:35 +0000

[...] week, a mom posted a comment about the morning routine that gives an ingenious way to handle the multi-kid dilemma. She wakes up one child, gets him [...]

By: Kayla

Kayla — Fri, 27 May 2011 15:23:53 +0000

What a great way to handle things! I love the quote, “I realized that when you have more than 1 child in the house with ADHD, asking them both to accomplish the same tasks at the same time is almost impossible.” My thought was – try explaining this to someone who hasn’t been there done that!

I know it’s a lot more trouble to get up earlier – twice as early – but it has certainly paid off for you in the result. Love this!

By: Raquel

Raquel — Mon, 23 May 2011 16:47:08 +0000

Both my children have ADHD. One is inattentive while the other is more the Impulsive type. The morning routine in my house was a nightmare and I just couldnt make it work. My son could not get through any of the routine steps of getting dressed brushing teeth or going to breakfast with out constant reminders and my daughter couldnt get through the routine with out constant talking and movements. It finally dawned on me that 1 childs ADHD was clashing with my other childs ADHD.
My son cant focus as it is but when you add his hyper sister to the mix we just couldnt get anywhere. So, I started waking just my son up. Alone. I helped him get through the routine in quiet. Just me and him. Once he was 100% complete and ready to sit down to breakfast I would then wake up his sister. I walked her through the routine and by the time she was ready to eat, my
son would already be done and ready to go. I realized that when you have more than 1 child in the house with ADHD, asking them both to accomplish the same tasks at the same time is almost impossible. So I now, instead of sending both kids up to get dressed I will send 1 child up and wait until he is done and then send the second child up. It worked for me. Its worth a try if you have more than 1 child with ADHD. They function much better with out the second child distracting them. Now we have time for lifes liittle glitches and issues that may arise inevitably. Im not late for work when its time to find a shoe. Now we can look for the shoe and still be on time because we have eliminated 90% of the usual chaos by getting each child 100% ready early.