solutions from the sports world | ADHD Information

After ranting and raving about some small injustice involving glitter and craft foam this morning, and then getting sent to his room for crying and whining when I asked him to talk, my 10 yr. old has come up with this solution:

Yellow flags.  Like the kind the football coaches get to throw down when they disagree with the ref.  I love it.  I'm going to tear up an old yellow t-shirt and see if it works.  It would be great if the physical act of throwing it down would be enough to keep him from disolving into tears and shouting instead of making a semi-calm, rational argument when he feels something is unfair.

I only wonder if he's going to want to wear them tucked in his waistband all day like the coaches?

Has anyone else's kid coem up with a sports- related solution to everyday problems?  The sports thing really seems to make the connection for my son.

  

Ingenious idea from your son.  Hopefully, it will serve to have him feel a bit empowered and, in turn, defuse the situation a bit.   I've found that if I use the time-out sign (T) in the midst of a rant by my son, where I want him to listen to what I have to say, it usually works!  LOL.  Another thing - at times, I've "borrowed" sayings from his former football coach when I talk to DS.  Don't know if DS really "listens," but I try, anyway!  Any more ideas from anyone else? 

My son is using baseball has his theme for doing well.  We have a baseball diamond drawn out on a small posterboard and everytime his does a good deed like keeping his room clean, making his bed, avoiding a meltdown, etc he gets a base hit.  Depending on the good deed he can get a double, triple or homerun.  We started at 5 runs to get a reward, he is now up to 10 runs to get a reward.  If he does something bad, he gets a strike.  When he has three outs, he has to start over.  I use those thin sticky notes in different colors to mark the board.  He absolutely loves it.  It has helped him to make a better effort at doing the right thing.

The rewards are things like a frosty, choc. shake or trip to baskin robins.

My 7 year old daughter is using it too.

Very creative!   Football coaches get a limited number of challenges per game.  Are you going to limit how many challenges he has -- per day, per a time block (morning/afternoon/evening)?  Limiting the number of flags he can throw might make him stop and think whether it's worth using one of his limited challenge flags for this situation or whether it's better to save it for something more important.  I love this idea!