- Ordered on working days before 23.00, shipped the same day
- Customer satisfaction of 9.2/10
“The school mornings are the hardest!” I regularly hear this in conversations with parents with children with attention and concentration problems. For example, parents say that their children with ADHD often have trouble getting out of bed, finishing breakfast on time, getting dressed and packing the school bag.
It is often a huge race against time for parents to get out the door to school on time.
If your child has ADHD, then the mornings (especially school days) are stressful and chaotic. Here are 5 tips for creating a pleasant morning routine with less stress.
“Mornings are definitely the worst part of the day. It’s hard to get my 8-year-old out of bed. We open his window to let in some fresh fresh air and I pull his blanket off his bed before I go into the shower. Some things work for a while, but then the novelty wears off and we have to try something new. “
“My daughter has both ADHD and sensory processing problems. She is always tired in the morning, and often she suffers from her clothing. Dressing can therefore take between ten minutes and 45 minutes. Nowadays I get up extra early so that I can wake her up in time, so that we can leave the house in time to go to school after all the struggles. At first, I always wanted to let her sleep as long as I could, but I couldn’t handle the chaotic panic of rushing to get everyone ready on time. The morning rhythm is still slow, but there is now more peace with me and also with my daughter.
Morning routine checklists, visible to your child, with a clear plan for what needs to be done and when, can help, but they’re often not enough to reduce the morning chaos that most households face at 7 a.m.
Read more about overstimulation and autism here
Smooth mornings actually start the night before.
The most important thing is that your child has a positive intention for how he wants the morning to go. Writing down or stating intentions helps a child prepare for the next day and can lead to the development of positive habits.
Planning and keeping an overview is sometimes difficult enough on regular school days, let alone that a dentist visit, sports tournament or school test are suddenly on the agenda. Making a weekly overview of the changes in the regular daily routine and going over it with your child every evening can make your child feel safer. After all, you reduce the unpredictability for your child. Make the weekly schedule transparent with, for example, a weekly planner.
For many (sensitive) children with ADHD, change is difficult. You can help your child by clarifying the path for your child. This can be done by means of visual cues. Use pictograms to remind your child what needs to be done, also make sure that the most important distractors are out of sight.
My son is now learning to shape his own morning rhythm: he lays out his clothes and on a notebook he writes down a reminder for the next morning if necessary before he goes to bed. The checkpad offers a solution for visualizing the morning, but also the evening routine.
Children with ADHD benefit from direct reward. Agree on a reward with your child that he or she can do after the morning routine is done. Think, for example, of a game or TV movie on the tablet, but also drawing/coloring can be a nice reward. For older children, you can choose to allow them to collect coins or points that they can redeem for rewards (such as eating ice cream, watching a video together, or playing a game).
Our sensitive children are well attuned to our energy, so if we feel rushed, stressed, or frustrated, our children will know (probably before we do). It is crucial that we take good care of ourselves. This can be done, for example, by taking time for yourself every morning, use a guided meditation, go for a walk early in the morning or do yoga. [Children also need moments of rest, read here how to set up a snoezel place]. Taking this time helps suppress the morning chaos and puts us in a better frame of mind to deal with the challenging situations that may arise. [Read these tips to calm yourself down].
Make sure your child sleeps well, after all, a good night’s sleep ensures better focus and less irritability. Many children have a full head and difficulty relaxing. The book Slaapklet can be supportive to create peace. Read more tips for a better night’s sleep here.
Do you have any valuable tips?
