Morning Help... | ADHD Information

I no longer reward my son with bribes because then he
was expecting *something* for every little thing he did
and that TO ME, is totally not acceptable and isn't
doing him any favors for what the "real life" world is
like. Yes, he's seven years old and needs motivation.
But, he does NOT need to be cajoled and sweet-talked
into doing every little thing that he KNOWS needs to be
done and is expected of him.

So ... for instance, my son has lost his DS playing
privileges, for a week. He's also lost his new lego sets
and can't play with them for a week. He had lost the Wii
but I did let him play it after school today because he
WAS shining star @ school (not an easy task!). However,
he will not be allowed to play it for more than 30mins.


but yes..... MORNINGS ARE HARD HERE! Defiant, yelling,
screaming, you name it, we do it here. It SUCKS!!!! Our
problems is my son hates his meds. He can't swallow
pills and we have to open the capsule up and put them in
something. We've used peanut butter, pudding, chocolate
milk, etc. The thing that seems to work the best is to
have a poptart, split it open (not easy to do, mind you
LOL!) and sprinkle the meds inside. He does it that way
just fine and he's happy as a clam to take them.

I told him the next time he pulls the stunt he did this
morning (i'll spare you the details) that ALL
electronics would be gone for him for a week and he
would not be participating in the wrestling tournament
this weekend. He's been excellent today! I
dare not mess with his wrestling (which he LOVES!).

I've noticed MY son responds better to
punishments/punitive things rather than rewards/praise.

HTH!

Jenn,

Our ds is the same way..."Mom, I was good at school today. What do I get?"  Seriously???? You get a punishment free day!  That's what I mean, this is tough-but he, like your son, LOVES the electronics. That is, often times, his punishment, too.  It just doesn't really affect him enough to get him MOTIVATED in the mornings. Little stinker!

 

 

I've been a member of this group for a while...so I know that mornings are rough for just about everyone. However, I'm reaching out again in hopes that someone has come up with something I haven't thought of.

I did the charts and a year ago ds was kicking booty getting ready-we were loving the charts! He got so good at it and then he just forgot about the charts. Well, now he won't look at them and I'm a screaming banchee every morning! I hate this...I woke up feeling so refreshed this morning and I was excited about that-you moms know what I mean. How often do you wake up ready to face the day? Yeah, me too.  Anyway, a half hour after ds woke up I found myself feeling overwhelmed and defeated already. "Get up, honey. Come on, sweetie, time to get up. Lots of sunshine waiting on you today...blah blah..." He's up so now it's "Come on, babe-get dressed. Come on, get your clothes on. GET YOUR CLOTHES ON" now he's moving..."Breakfast is ready...Yooohoooo Breakfast is ready, come on buddy....GET IN HERE AND EAT" okay, he's sitting "Hey, you need to finish up eating...come on, finish eating...your bus is going to be here EAT!" You get my point? Who the heck isn't at their witts end with that?????  Yowza!

So, what do you do to get them moving and finshing mainly on their own? He's 7 and has a 3 year old brother who does better in the mornings so I don't feel I'm asking too much of him...

At this point I am going through the same thing. We have bought him a DSI for him to earn by being respectful to me. So far it has been 2 weeks and he is doing a great job of respecting me and what I ask. 2 weeks to go. It doesn't have to be big, but try a bribe and see what happens. He still has a problem doing his list and need reminders occasionally as we have added more things to add responsibility.

I see exactly what you're saying...and it does work for our ds, too...However, let me forewarn you-It makes them very manipulative. We did the bribery method and it works wonderful, but now our ds is manipulative in every sense of the word.  Every little thing, he has learned to twist it and bribe US in a sneaky way...We've caught on to him but I'll be honest I love this sweet and loving boy of mine so much that I tend to 'forget' his ways or I fall for it plain as day...I really want him to just do it because LIFE requires that he do it. I want him to learn that getting up and functioning is just the way it has to be and just the way it is. I just don't know how to teach it.

DH thinks we should get the timer out...again. And he says to just set it beside DS' list of getting ready 'to do's and say "This is what you have to do. This is the amount of time you have to do it in." And if he isn't finished, he gets on the bus half done.  I don't know...It's hard being a mommy...