So, I've thought about this for a bit, and I think it would be a good idea to have a place where all our parenting tips can come together for a more "quick" refference. So, if anyone has any handy tips they'd like t pass on, please post. :)


Carnation Insstant Breakfast (or any brand really) can be mixed into milk to help gives kids the extra callories they might need is there are appatite/weigh issues due to medications.

Coating a pill in butter, or putting into applesauce can help kids swallow their pill better. You can possibly open/grind it into food too, but you MUST always check with the pharmacy FIRST! Some medication can NOT be taken that way.

Waking kids up a little before normal, long enough to take medication can make mornings more smooth (if the go back to sleep). That way the meds have time to kick in before the rush of getting ready for school.


um..OK. I can't think of any else right now, but I know there are more out there. Post! :)

Good idea!
I like the tip I got on here about the choreboard or reminder board so you don't have to say everything everytime just "check your board" much easier, thanks FrazzleDazzle!

Also to add calories, use Boost or Ensure(liquid food replacements) with a banana as a "milkshake" in a blender for snack etc.

That is all for right now.

Anyone else have any good tips they'd like to add?

My little boy can't swallow his tablet, so we put it inside a starburst sweet or a rolo. He then just chews the whole thing and swallows it all down! No good for slow release tablets though!

What a wonderful idea for a thread!! I am looking forward to all the great tips.

One tip I got yesterday on parenting teens:

When they come up to you to talk, STOP EVERYTHING, and listen. You may not get another chance, and if they leave to solve a problem of their own devices when you were too busy, ouch.

:-)

Here’s a few tricks I use:<O:p</O:p
Breathe. When your child starts a meltdown, it’s important that you do not escalate along with them. I found that letting out a deep breath immediately calms me, and let’s me take a step back from the situation.
Teach your child to breath as well. If you can interrupt and say, “take a deep breath in and out, then we´ll talk about it”, it can help.
Play into your child’s absent-mindedness. You know he’s going to forget his schoolbag/lunch/jacket unless you tell him, but you can’t be his memory all the time…teach him to put things by the door when he has them in his hand, so he won’t forget them when he leaves the house. Put yellow sticky notes in strategic places as reminders, and have them make lists when there’s more than one task to remember.
Use a combination of long-term and short term rewards. e.g, “if you pass all your subjects in school this year, you can have that playstation/bicycle/laptop you’ve been asking for”, and “if you sit and read quietly for an hour, you can watch the tv for an hour.”
Get them out of the house, doing physical activities. Try and tire them out. When my boy was five we would be the only ones in the park at 7 pm in the dark and frigid cold of winter; passerbys would look at me questioningly. But it was either that or have him destroy our apartment.I’ll post more as I think of my strategies…

Here’s a few tricks I use:<o>:p</o>:p
Breathe. When your child starts a meltdown, it’s important that you do not escalate along with them. I found that letting out a deep breath immediately calms me, and let’s me take a step back from the situation.
Teach your child to breath as well. If you can interrupt and say, “take a deep breath in and out, then we´ll talk about it”, it can help. I had to learn these pretty quickly with my oldest. Two other kids later and you realize some of them, believe it or not, don't have to be taught calming strategies :)

If I could add:


Do not let their frustrations become your frustrations.
Don't take their emotions as your own.
Don't assume they're acting in a negative way to get attention, manipulate, irritate - they may have very valid reasons for their behaviour that they just cannot articulate when overwhelmed. Later, if you let communication resume, you might be embarrassed that you didn't consider a very valid concern.
As to breathing, teach them when holding their chest how deep breathing can release the stress accumulating in their body, how unreleased stress gets worse if not released.
Ask them, if they are old enough, to call you on your facial expressions or tone of voice. You may not be aware how much you are adding to an already stressful situation.
If you can't do anything, step away.
If you know in advance certain refused requests might spark an "episode" or tantrum, tell them, "let me think about it." A lot of things can be worked out to everybody's benefit i.e. instead of a blank "no t.v." consider "you can watch t.v. after we've finished dinner."

I think a big thing is really knowing your child. My son was never one to get up and go when you asked him to. If we were at friends and it was time to go home and we said ok, lets go.. he would get very upset. The new plan for us to use was.. "we are leaving in 10 minutes" and he was fine with that. I have no idea why but he didn't like to be rushed. He wanted advanced warning.
KNowing what bothers your child and finding away around it while accomplishing the same thing is key I think.

I agree, advanced warning is a helpful tool in relieving anxiety.

Also it was suggested I add the following.

When my ADHD son starts new lessons or instructions like swimming lessons or soccer, I talk to the coach beforehand and tell him/her my son is ADD and needs direct eye contact when he is receiving instructions. If he doesn't have eye contact he will not be focused and will miss the instruction. It's hit and miss, but every little bit helps.

We've also had great success with individual instruction as opposed to group instruction. Moving from group swimming lessons to private lessons has helped immensely. Instead of 2 or 3 attempts at group lessons and the associated costs, he moves through multiple levels in 1 lesson session in private lessons. It actually balances the additional costs and works much better for him. He succeeds instead of fails.

He's also been seeing a tutor for the last year and is in grade 3 now, so he started in grade 2. This may seem young but even in the early grades forming letters, writing and memorizing math are all skills that need to be learned early. If they master these, then they have a much easier time later on. Again the one on one instruction in the tutor environment is much better than the group work of the standard classroom. He is doing 1 hour per week and it is sufficient to keep the school work up to par with the rest of the class. It improves self confidence and isn't the parent nagging! Get a really good tutor with experience with kids the same age, not a high school student trying to make a few bucks. They need experience with the challenges of ADD and how to engage the creativity and energy in a positive manner. We've been extremely lucky in this area!

Last thing for now, we switched from cereal and toast in the mornings to a protein shake with toast and peanut butter.

1 scoop whey isolate protein unflavored
1 tablespoon flaxseed oil with lignans (organic if you can)
2 capsules of calcium/magnesium powder opened
1 tablespoon of vitamin C powder
12 oz of brown rice milk
2.5 tablespoons of quick chocolate mix

Mix all in a blender for about 3 minutes, pour into a glass and serve with a straw and the toast.

This speeds up morning prep time immensely and nobody ever runs out of energy or gets hungry before lunch. They get this 5 days a week. You can alternate the toast with a banana or apple or bowl of fruit, but the morning protein seems to work best for us!

My son always needs to be told in advance especially to come off the computer. If i tell him 10 minutes sometimes he doesn't take in what i have said, i now use a timer and place it in front of him so that he can see exactly how long he has left.

A Punch bag is a good idea as well, we have it hanging from a tree in the garden.

Great idea!

I agree with protein for breakfast.
I do a hard boiled egg, or a sunny side up egg with flax sprinkled on the back and Jones all natural sausage , also a multi vitamin (with no artificials) and some fish oil.

Try making a connection between your childs behavior and what they eat. For example kids eat alot of junk at a party. I used to think my son was running circles because of the stimulation, but it turns out it was the food.
How do they act after eating alot of candy, red food, chocolate or strawberry milk. Alot of times we think they are tired from doing or going places, but there are also alot of processed foods and candies in these types of environments. My son ran up to a kid in soccer and pushed him for no reason, now I know it was the red gatoraide he was drinking. Also look out for reactions to school lunches and eating out.

Someone gave me this tip.
Pick two things you want your kid to work on.
Take a jar and everytime they do what they are supposed to put a macaroni in the jar. If they don't do it take one out (I skip this step) When it's full they get an ice cream or something small.
or
put candy, dimes or something in a jar and tell them they will get whatever is in the jar at the end of a determined amount of time. Everytime they don't do what they are supposed to take one out.

Make special time with your kids who don't have ADHD. So much of my time is spent giving 1-1 attention to my sons school work and I spend alot of time boasting how well he does to other family. I make sure I boast about my non adhd daughter and her acomplishments too and we watch American Idol just the two of us snuggling on the couch.

I have learned to go to the doctor, but research on my own too. There are alot of products etc. out there you can throw your money away on, and there are some that can really help you. And of course nothing is a cure all for everyone. But just keep figuring your situation out and roll with the punches.

Not ADHD specific, but a good idea anyway.

Wrapping Presents.

We all know how annoying getting kids toys out of the box is these days. With all those stupid twist ties, screws, etc that keep people from stealing out of the package, but that also takes us 20 min to open with an antsy kid bugging us the whole time because they want to play with it NOW!

So, before you wrap the gift, take it out of the box and get rid of all those. Then, if you can put it back in the box and wrap it. Viola! They unwrap, and can play right away., If it won't go back into the box, repackage it in another box, or a gift bag.

We did this at Christmas with Brandon, and it worked great! He was able to pull his extra cool dinosaur out and play with it right away. So much better then having to wait while I take 5 min to get the dumb thing package fee.

I use a timer. Kids do like warning so they can wrap things up, so I give them 10 minutes and then set the timer for ten minutes then they know it is time to go to bed or school or what ever.

The other time I use a timer is for chores. My 10 year old could spend a week putting a few dishes in the dishwasher. So I set the timer. That puts his ADHD brain into crisis mode. It helps him to focus on the task. (If he has worked steadily for 10 minutes and he is still not done, I give him more time.

Finally, if you have not talked to your doctor about Daytrana patches, I suggest you consider it. The meds kick in faster. They last the entire school day and they give better symptom relief. Furthermore, they can have a good breakfast, light lunch and if they remove the patch at 3:00 pm they are ready for dinner at 6 or 7:00 pm. I do not own stock in Daytrana, I just use it for my two sons and myself and love it.