This is a guest post written by Sarah Grace Del Rosario. Sarah is a mommy blogger and freelance event stylist at Del Rosario events. She also works as a community outreach specialist and blogger at Formuland.com, a company providing holle baby formula and other organic products for babies. When not busy working, you can see her showcasing her paintings and recipe failures at The Thrifty Senyorita.
When your child has ADHD, there’s a chance that you would usually argue with him because he is too active and he is already tiring you out. But please keep in mind that ADHD is one condition that your child is having some problems controlling. That is why it is important for you to try and understand your child instead of just arguing with him.
Wondering where to start understanding your ADHD child? Well, understanding always begins with listening and of course, listening can only be possible if you start talking with your child. If you wish to start fostering a great relationship with your child, the next best thing that you can do is to stop arguing with him and start talking to him. To properly do that, here are some tips that you should keep in mind:
- Establish open communication. Avoid having one sided conversations with your child. Do not do all the talking and do not let him do all the talking. Exchange opinions back and forth and listen to what he has to say too. As much as you can, try to keep the conversation going. Talk about everything under the sun— from school to friends to homework to playtime and many more.
- Praise them. We all have this tendency to focus on the negatives — to highlight what is wrong with your child. Sadly, doing this will cause us to neglect all the good things in him. No matter how hard it is, try to push yourself to focus on his strengths (what is he good at?), the things he does well, and of course, all of his accomplishments. No matter what their interests are, he can only excel in it if he has your support to lean on.
- Try to learn more about his condition. There are actually plenty of things to learn about the ADHD condition. You can discover more information about this by talking with his pediatrician. In addition to that, you should also try to reach out to support and advocacy groups in the area where you live. Talking to people who already have experience with this condition can certainly help you a lot because you can surely learn a lot from their experiences.
- Make your child feel loved and accepted. Children with ADHD have the tendency to look down on themselves. They tend to think that their loss of focus is because they have low intelligence and understanding. As a parent, it is up to you to help him understand that it has nothing to do with his ability or intelligence and that he should not feel any less than the other kids in his class.
No matter what condition your child has, you must always keep in mind that communication is always important. That is why you should never stop talking to your child. Follow the tips mentioned above so that you can communicate with your child properly.