ADHD kids w/trash issues | ADHD Information
Had to chuckle but in a "I know what you are going through way"
I find candy wrappers, clothing tags, papers of all assorted categories, along with the general confusion. The room looks like Oscar Madison's in the Odd couple. My son didn't even think it was funny when he first saw the TV show. I found under his bed his first grade journal - he's in 8th grade now. When I can convince him to throw papers out he fills up at least two garbage bags with stuff still on the floor.
Seriously, I can't explain it. I do know that my son can't throw away anything and hates change. He doesn't handle it well at all. You have no idea what we had to go through to get him to paint his room and update the wallpaper boder. He was becoming a teenager but still wanted the baby paper! He was upset when we updated the kitchen "Missing the old stuff" Believe me - the old stuff was awful - outdated cabinets, cracked floor - non-functional.
BE CARFUL OF STARTING COLLECTIONS . With our kids, at least for mine, it is more of "accumulations" - collecting more stuff for the sake having more.
He was into collecting pez containers for the past few years. He even bought a book on assessing value. It was pez 24/7. People bought him pez as gifts; he had to buy one every time we went into a store that sold them; he used his own money; he used gift money - he probably has close to 100 all taking up EVERY BOOK SHELF SPACE ABOVE HIS DESK. He has since lost interest in pez except for the occassional checking them out at antique places. When I suggested it was time to take down the pez he said no he still likes them - they are collecting dust.
We lived through the Pokemon collection with I literally tossed because the obsession was not healthy; we lived through the yugio cards - again I tossed them and the Star Trek Cards - which are somewhere in the black hole in his room "where no man has boldly gone before" for fear of tripping.
We have lived through the antique novelty radio collection that is in a box. We lived through the t-shirt collection, which was practical since he wore it.
We are now living through the magic collection, which is not so bad since it is a good hobby and it's more entertaining then the mindless, head banging conversation of pokemon cards. He has a huge suitcase for the props.
We had a cactus collection, but it died - yes, even desert plants couldn't survive the mess.
We had the coin collection - again somewhere in the black hole of the room; the rock collection - the shell collection - the bug collection - He would obessses and do nothing but talk about it, accumulate more stuff and then forget it. Sad thing is, when I do stumble upon them, he won't let me get rid of them.
Oh, forgot to mention the legos - which he still insists he plays with - he never builds with them - never can finish anything - but sometimes he would. He always seemed to need to buy new pieces and sets.
If you do think it is beyond the normal ADHD/ADD innatentive characteristics and could be maybe a symptom of obsessive compulsive dissorder, I'd definately talk with a psychiatrist.
Other than that, welcome to my world.
rswf39412.521099537
[QUOTE=cali1234]Yes, collecting things for a hobby would be good for him, I just don't want them to be band-aid wrappers, used food wrappers, and sock packages...[/QUOTE]
This reminds me of the time my son had a 'sock collection'. I had been going through the sock bag weeding out the singles that I was certain had no mates. He refused to accept I was throwing these socks away. He took them over and carried them around for quite some time calling it is sock collection. I suppose because he didn't want me to toss them, but the bag finally went unattended and away they went. I am so mean! 
made any sort of mark or scribble on is special and cannot be thrown
away. He NEEDS it for something he is going to do. One day we were at
Ikea and there was a big display that caught his attention. I told him that
the round wire mesh bins were called "circular files" and they belonged
under desks. He could get one and keep all of his special papers there,
where he could find them whenever he needs them. It was the best
present ever. Of course he never goes looking for them, and every month
or so I put the bottom half in the recycling bin. The things we do to stay
sane.... < =text/>_popupControl(); My son tends to assign personalities and feelings to things and won't get rid of them, which worries me and which we are watching to see if it's age-related or more OCD/hoarding. I think it sounds like your son also tends to assign human feelings to things with faces or that people use, like cars. Cartoons and animated movies exacerbate this kind of thing. (Thanks, "Cars"!) Ihave no advice for you, since we are dealing with this kind of thing, too, but do suggest that you examine it with the psych.
My 5 year old was diagnosed with ADHD in October. During his evaluations with the LCSW and the Psychiatrist I mentioned that when I clean his room, I often find things that I have thrown away. Candy wrappers, Hanes Socks wrappers, a newspaper ad with a car on it, you name it. No one showed much concern. It seems like now he doesn't want anything thrown away, and he has picked up a few new habits. I bought some Pop Tart's that had a Hot Wheels graphic on each pop tart. He had a major melt down demanding I return them to the store. Turns out he didn't want them to be eaten because they would be ruined. My husband and I tonight were discussing if we were going to put up our artifical tree or if we wanted to try out a real one. My son became upset and said he didn't want us to cut down a tree, and have to throw it away after Christmas. He also became upset when I bought some band-aids that had car designs on them. He said he didn't want to use them because they would need to be thrown away afterwards. Tonight he didn't want to open his Jelly Bellys because there was a little jelly bean man on the wrapper, and he didn't want anyone to throw it away.
I will mention that at times I have cleaned out his room and he has "caught" me throwing away old broken toys or giving them away, and became upset.
I don't know what to make of this. I know it is along the lines of ASD, but he has great social skills and eye contact, with no other unusual traits. Any ideas anyone? THanks
My 5 year old was diagnosed with ADHD in October. During his evaluations with the LCSW and the Psychiatrist I mentioned that when I clean his room, I often find things that I have thrown away. Candy wrappers, Hanes Socks wrappers, a newspaper ad with a car on it, you name it. No one showed much concern. It seems like now he doesn't want anything thrown away, and he has picked up a few new habits. I bought some Pop Tart's that had a Hot Wheels graphic on each pop tart. He had a major melt down demanding I return them to the store. Turns out he didn't want them to be eaten because they would be ruined. My husband and I tonight were discussing if we were going to put up our artifical tree or if we wanted to try out a real one. My son became upset and said he didn't want us to cut down a tree, and have to throw it away after Christmas. He also became upset when I bought some band-aids that had car designs on them. He said he didn't want to use them because they would need to be thrown away afterwards. Tonight he didn't want to open his Jelly Bellys because there was a little jelly bean man on the wrapper, and he didn't want anyone to throw it away.
I will mention that at times I have cleaned out his room and he has "caught" me throwing away old broken toys or giving them away, and became upset.
I don't know what to make of this. I know it is along the lines of ASD, but he has great social skills and eye contact, with no other unusual traits. Any ideas anyone? THanks
Has your son taken up an interest in ecology or watched a program/movie or been around something [such as a guest speaker in school] who has talked about how the planet is dying from garbage?
Is he the sensitive intelligent kind of kid who might pick up on that?
Has he ever said WHY he won't throw things away?
Consider that until 100 years ago--people DID NOT throw things away. They repaired them forever. [philosophical ponder] I wonder if kids aren't more normal than a consumer society when they see this as wasteful.
BTW I'm not so sure this is unusual in that age group.
I remember being a kid and crying over my old pillows when my mom bought new ones. I was sitting on the garbage can weeping and sobbing, "Goodbye old friends." which my family thought was hysterically funny. I hated it when my stuffed cats wore out and they'd buy me new ones. They eventually had to "transition in" the new stuffed cats [all named "Fluffy" of course!] because I kept melting down and sneaking the old mangy ones out of the garbage. I hated even a small piece of coloured paper I'd saved being thrown out.
Didja ever read "The Velveteen Rabbit"? There's a reason it's so popular
I hated when my mom cleaned my room because my stuff meant something to ME [even if it looked like garbage to everyone else] and very young I hated the invasion of privacy.
I'm just wondering if your son maybe feels the same sorts of reactions and if there's a way that you can get his co-operation in the clean-up operation
Maybe you can "transition out" the old stuff?Also, since many children go through this I suggest that's why the psychs aren't getting worked up over it.
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MetisRebel39411.2867592593I agree that some of it is just age-based. I got very attached to my stuff, too, as a kid. My son gets upset about some of the same things -- often very unpredictable. He hates it when I phase out his clothes, even if they are clearly too small!!When our son was little we called it his "Rules of Order" (like Roget's Rules of Order for conducting meetings). Things had to be a certain way, but we didn't have access to the rulebook, unfortunately, which caused a lot of meltdowns as he trained us
. That was part of our knowing that something was different about him, and it seemed so autism spectrum to me, too, but I knew that he didn't have the main autism traits. Even so, I think that a lot of ADHD kids have that need for routine and order and things to be a certain way, but according to their rules, not ours . [There's a thread somewhere around here about the ADHD/autism overlap since so many of the traits can be the same].A little OCD can be helpful in life, by the way, but if it interferes with getting things done, then it's a problem (spoken from experience). If he doesn't have full-blown OCD, then this phase will probably pass. Our son is now 8 and I've noticed that he has gotten better about getting rid of a few old things and isn't so particular any more. Plus, they become more introspective and can tell you why they feel a certain way. That's REALLY helpful with these kids because you can trace an idea back to the source.
Yeah and as an ADHD'er we can have some pretty odd "sources" to trace back to....
Maybe you should get him to write the rulebook to improve his literacy skills
My older brother (adhd) has always done stuff that others consider somewhat OCD. He wasn't dx'ed until his 30s, although many of us realized what was going on years ago, so he was often considered to be somewhat of a spaz. Really it's just a coping mechanism. Things must be "just so" or he gets distracted. Rountine is also very important for people with adhd.
I think becoming attached to things is just part of the age, too. I remember doing stuff like that, and my kids do too.
And since he doesn't want to throw away the things with charachters on them, just think of all the money you can save not buying the "character" brand everything!
My son did have a program at preschool last year about recycling, but it didn't seem to phase him any. He has no problem throwing away some things. We do recycle our plastics and soda cans, but I'm not sure he even knows why we do it.
He does get attached to things. When we got our new kitchen table a few weeks ago , he was very sad when we got rid of the old. Explaining that a family that didn't have a table was going to receive it helped smooth thing over a little.
It could be ocd, come to think of it, he does have other ocd traits, like insisting things go how he expects. When reading a book, if I skip a word for example, he says "now we have to start all over". I usually will read one page over, but I refuse to start the entire book over.
His teacher says he often insists he does things there at school to. Pushing in classmates chairs, closing cabinets etc... instead of focusing on his work.
I have asked him why he does these things. He doesn't have an answer. When I ask "or what", he just looks at me. We will mention this to his psych, thanks.
[QUOTE=cali1234]My son did have a program at preschool last year about recycling, but it didn't seem to phase him any. He has no problem throwing away some things. We do recycle our plastics and soda cans, but I'm not sure he even knows why we do it.
He does get attached to things. When we got our new kitchen table a few weeks ago , he was very sad when we got rid of the old. Explaining that a family that didn't have a table was going to receive it helped smooth thing over a little.
It could be ocd, come to think of it, he does have other ocd traits, like insisting things go how he expects. When reading a book, if I skip a word for example, he says "now we have to start all over". I usually will read one page over, but I refuse to start the entire book over.
His teacher says he often insists he does things there at school to. Pushing in classmates chairs, closing cabinets etc... instead of focusing on his work.
I have asked him why he does these things. He doesn't have an answer. When I ask "or what", he just looks at me. We will mention this to his psych, thanks.
[/QUOTE]He seems to need routine--some ADHD'ers are very uncomfortable with things being out of place and attachment to the familiar. Could be OCD if he "counts" the stuff [like chairs must be pushed 3x] I'd bring it up with the psych and also check out child psychology phases on the web. Remember too, if he's ADHD he may have some traits that are prevalent in children younger by about 3 years...
Yes, collecting things for a hobby would be good for him, I just don't want them to be band-aid wrappers, used food wrappers, and sock packages...I have half a notion that this is related to the ADHD, It sounds like they all have this hoarding trait and can't get rid of nothing! For whatever reason, I din't know, I believe this is yet another ADHD control issue. We need to control our enviroment, And you never know when you might need something (LOL). My 9 year old saves ice cream wrappers because they had wrestlers photos on them . Gross, all lined up un his room.We have weekly trash go throughs and it disgusts me(I hoard in a different way.I just let paperwork pile up) all the trash we find behind his bed and dresser. He is getting better with age I'd say but far from perfect and he won't own the add so he won't even take meds.
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He seems to need routine--some ADHD'ers are very uncomfortable with things being out of place and attachment to the familiar. Could be OCD if he "counts" the stuff [like chairs must be pushed 3x] I'd bring it up with the psych and also check out child psychology phases on the web. Remember too, if he's ADHD he may have some traits that are prevalent in children younger by about 3 years...
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I have never seen him count things, as far as the OCD. After reading these threads, I'm beginning to see the hoarding issue is much more common than I thought. Being an everday thing though, I will still mention it to his Dr. Thanks.
cali1234,
My son loves to not open things, save them, etc. He also collects trash(to me), rocks, paper clips, erasers, yellow post-its, anything he finds worth picking up off the floor at school. He also finds LOTS of $ - even a bill because he is always looking! He also does't want anything thrown out in his bedroom. I maintain it, so it always is presentable, but it could be better.
I think it my son's personality trait like a hobby or interest, maybe adhd as well, but not OCD nor aspbergers at all.
Have a great day and I look forward to your updated post!!
I'm not sure if this is an ADHD or an OCD thing. The last time my son saw the doctor she did mention OCD because he asks the same questions over and over and over - even when he knows the answer. She said she wanted him tested, but he is since without insurance so we have had to put it off.
Since you have mentioned the trash hoarding I'm almost putting two and two together myself. My son has for as long as I can remember wanted to save trash. He hates throwing anything away - Usually when it has a favorite character or says something he likes. We have had fights and meltdowns over popped popcorn bags because he liked the graphics and refused to throw it away. The yogurt that comes in a tube...They must all be washed and saved. I can't tell you how many times I have washed plastic wrappers to avoid a tantrum. Trying to reason with him does no good. The good news for me is that having ADHD he often forgets about these things in a day or two and I toss them in the garbage. I do have to make sure he doesn't see them in the trash can. He has every now and then come back to ask me about something and I'll say, "Gee, honey, there is no telling where it is now. Have you seen how messy your room is?" This is usually upsetting news for him, but he tends to just stamp his feet and accept that it's 'there somewhere' and goes on about his business without much fuss.
I actually just always thought of his trash hoarding as a quirky personality trait since it's never been our biggest issue it tends to get ignored. I wonder how many other things us parents of ADHDer's ignore because something else is always nagging at our attention...For me it's the hyperactivity. I can deal with most everything but the hyperactivity always takes center stage. I get little else accomplished when he is moving and talking like malfunctioning robot.
I wonder if our ADHD need for stuff is related to the fact that we need concrete evidence? EG: I must have eaten the yogurt because there's the container.Also, because we are so attracted to colourful items I wonder how much this plays into this trait? Lonergirl you mentioned he liked the graphics on the popcorn bags...I "get" this in a weird sort of way. I love bottles. Glass is pretty. You can paint 'em. They all look so interesting....
[QUOTE=MetisRebel]I wonder if our ADHD need for stuff is related to the fact that we need concrete evidence? EG: I must have eaten the yogurt because there's the container.
Also, because we are so attracted to colourful items I wonder how much this plays into this trait? Lonergirl you mentioned he liked the graphics on the popcorn bags...I "get" this in a weird sort of way. I love bottles. Glass is pretty. You can paint 'em. They all look so interesting....
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I have to say, once again, MetisRebel, you are the voice of reason. Everytime you respond you always make me think a little deeper. I like that. I like how I can see something as crazy or weird and you make it seem so natural.
Many times I have gone to make a purchase and thought...They come in 7 colors. Hmmm, I want one of each. Knowing that there is clearly no way one can use 7 of this item. But, since I tend to be a hoarder of a different sort...I collect dolls. I suppose the difference lies within the value of the object. Maybe I can transfer this need of his to hoard into a nice hobby.
Lonergirl I think that is a good idea! Collecting something could help the need to hoard turn into something positive! Good thinkin'Mestisrebel - none of my son's collections are worth much. The rocks are just rocks. The Pez may actually be worth something but only to other pez heads.
The novelty radios have some value and that is why they are in a box out of his room.
You can't keep everything indefinately.
cali - you do have a more serious problem than me. My kid doesn't save pine needles - ofcourse we have pine trees and we have a huge collection outside.
Seriously - I think you need to see talk to a pro about this one - it will only get worse. You got to get handle on this. There is a syndrome or dissorder where people hoard things and literally get buried in their junk.
My son will toss things eventually. He will clean, relunctantly. Months ago we made up a story that we found bugs in his room so we had to clean it.
My son keeps a pretty clean room. Er, uh, I should say I keep a pretty clean room for him. I put the needles in a ziploc bag, but, he didn't mention it, whew, got a break this time..
[QUOTE=rswf]Woman, you HAVE to start a blog or something. You made my whole day. I hadda put a potty under the computer chair. This was incredibly well written and screamingly funny
Had to chuckle but in a "I know what you are going through way"
I find candy wrappers, clothing tags, papers of all assorted categories, along with the general confusion. The room looks like Oscar Madison's in the Odd couple. My son didn't even think it was funny when he first saw the TV show.
I couldn't figure out what Felix was going on about, either--Oscar's room looked better than mine...
I found under his bed his first grade journal - he's in 8th grade now. When I can convince him to throw papers out he fills up at least two garbage bags with stuff still on the floor.
I am soooo there
Seriously, I can't explain it. I do know that my son can't throw away anything and hates change. He doesn't handle it well at all. You have no idea what we had to go through to get him to paint his room and update the wallpaper boder. He was becoming a teenager but still wanted the baby paper!
There's something wrong with Big Bird wallpaper? Say it isn't so!!!!
He was upset when we updated the kitchen "Missing the old stuff" Believe me - the old stuff was awful - outdated cabinets, cracked floor - non-functional.
BE CARFUL OF STARTING COLLECTIONS . With our kids, at least for mine, it is more of "accumulations" - collecting more stuff for the sake having more.
He was into collecting pez containers for the past few years. He even bought a book on assessing value. It was pez 24/7. People bought him pez as gifts; he had to buy one every time we went into a store that sold them; he used his own money; he used gift money - he probably has close to 100 all taking up EVERY BOOK SHELF SPACE ABOVE HIS DESK. He has since lost interest in pez except for the occassional checking them out at antique places. When I suggested it was time to take down the pez he said no he still likes them - they are collecting dust.
Somebody got me ONE elephant when I was a kid--the next thing I knew they were breeding all over and marching in the dust bunny revolt...
We lived through the Pokemon collection with I literally tossed because the obsession was not healthy; we lived through the yugio cards - again I tossed them and the Star Trek Cards - which are somewhere in the black hole in his room "where no man has boldly gone before" for fear of tripping.
Didja find my old Superman comics while you were in there changing the wallpaper borders?
We have lived through the antique novelty radio collection that is in a box. We lived through the t-shirt collection, which was practical since he wore it.
We are now living through the magic collection, which is not so bad since it is a good hobby and it's more entertaining then the mindless, head banging conversation of pokemon cards. He has a huge suitcase for the props.
I have THREE art portfolios. I mean, how much art can one person carry at a time? I soooooooooo get this kid
We had a cactus collection, but it died - yes, even desert plants couldn't survive the mess.
They've all gone to the great greenhouse in the sky to commune with my medicinal plant collection...
We had the coin collection - again somewhere in the black hole of the room; the rock collection - the shell collection - the bug collection - He would obessses and do nothing but talk about it, accumulate more stuff and then forget it. Sad thing is, when I do stumble upon them, he won't let me get rid of them.
Of course not! Might be valuable some day y'know!
Oh, forgot to mention the legos - which he still insists he plays with - he never builds with them - never can finish anything - but sometimes he would. He always seemed to need to buy new pieces and sets.
Wait until he discovers the world of art supplies...I'll send ya a gift certificate for antihistamines...
If you do think it is beyond the normal ADHD/ADD innatentive characteristics and could be maybe a symptom of obsessive compulsive dissorder, I'd definately talk with a psychiatrist.
Other than that, welcome to my world.
AND MINE!
[/QUOTE]MetisRebel39412.6886574074
Whew, I can't win. Nice to know I'm not alone though.
Remember in my OP I mentioned my 5 year old didn't want a real Christmas tree because it would need to be cut down, then throw away after Christmas? Well, tonight we finish decorating the artificial tree. I go to get the vacuum out to get the needles off the floor. He demanded we pick up each needle. Of course I didn't give in! When I asked why, he said he would never see them again if I vacuumed them. Aggghhh! I told him he could keep them if he was willing to pick up each one. He was tired after 2. I have decided tomorrow I will vacuum while he is at school, and put a few in a ziploc bag to avoid any meltdowns. 
I'm realizing this is much more common than I thought, but the fact that these episodes are happening about 3-5 times a day is very concerning to me!