Syncing a Morning Routine Goes a Long Way in Kids with ADHD

Morning routines for most households can be a chaotic and disorganized mess. After all, with waking up your kid, getting them ready for school and cooking their food, mornings have a lot of things to be done in a short period of time.

Mornings can never become restful times for parents of ADHD children, but they can decrease the amount of stress involved by inculcating a regular habit in your child right from a very small age. Managing ADHD symptoms is enough stress already, and you need to find more ways of reducing ADHD stress. Starting your day off with a stressful morning just doesn’t create a positive launch for the rest of the day.

Launching the day is stressful for any parent,  especially for those of us whose children have attention deficit disorder (ADHD) — who are easily side-tracked. When your child has day-to-day routines and a good schedule to follow, this creates structure in their lives. Consistent house rules, expectations, and consequences that are clearly understood by your child help to maintain a predictable environment for their future.

In a well-structured and planned environment, your child knows what to expect and what he’s expected to do. This knowledge creates a sense of security for the parents and children, which is why most children benefit from structure whether they have ADHD or not. 

You can Try these ideas for starting the day on a better note.

Always try to Establish and review the morning routine by sitting Together with your child, and create a chart that details the sequence in which each morning different activities should take place. Help them to get into the habit of referring to the chart every day after waking up from bed. For your pre-readers, use pictures to denote activities, such as a toothpaste advertisement clipped from a magazine to represent teeth-brushing time you can also use some cartoons for illustration which will catch your child's attention. Or have your child make a tape recording in which he reminds himself what he has to do and when it is to be done.

The Night Before

Always Plan for an early bedtime for your child as Catching enough sleep is essential for kids with ADHD. Start your evening routine of preparing food early enough for your child to get at least 10 hours of sack time he needs to wake up physically and mentally refreshed. Have your child take his bath or shower every day before bedtime. He’ll sleep better if there will be fewer rushed items in the surroundings and less conflict in the morning.

Try Providing a protein-rich bedtime snack Tryptophan, the protein that occurs in milk, turkey, and chicken is a natural sleep inducer.  Any protein-rich snack about 30 minutes before bedtime is a very efficient get-to-sleep aid. Try eating oatmeal, whole-wheat cereal, an egg, some meat or fish, cheese, pumpkin or sunflower seeds.

Make some decisions at night only like Choosing the clothes for school the night before  Also try to set breakfast and lunch menus to avoid discussions about them in the morning.

Waking Up

Invest in a good alarm clock with claiming sound. You’ll probably need one that will wake the dead for your sleepy head. 

Or you can Gently awaken with a touch. Many kids with ADHD are extremely sensitive to touch and any gesture when they are unconscious. You can also Try gently wiping a cool, damp washcloth over your sleepy kid’s brow and cheeks while whispering a morning greeting. 

Let light into the room fall from the sun. If it’s naturally dark outside at night, make the bedroom curtains parted to allow natural light to prod your child into wakefulness in the morning. Or install a dimmer switch to slowly turn up the light gradually on dark mornings.

Consider pre-wakeup meds

 If your child is on ADHD medication, ask his doctor about giving him a minimal dose of short-acting  30 minutes before the alarm is set to ring and then letting him rest until wakeup time. This small amount of medication should not replace, the prescribed morning dosage.

Getting from Bed to Door

Spare some time for Eating breakfast together, except when it isn’t too late for your kid to reach school. If your child makes war at the table, or just has trouble sitting down and eating, let him enjoy his meal in his own way. You can also give him breakfast to go in the form of a piece of fruit, a chunk of cheese, and a breakfast bar. 

Always try to never start yourself in a negative mood or with a lurch. Rather, you need to start your days with positive thoughts and you should be prepared for the long day to come. You should keep in mind that all of these things are part of your life now and what really matters to you is the happiness and the health of your child, so try to stay calm and happy during the start of the day as the start impacts the direction the rest of your day will take. If you are following these rituals on daily basis your kids will become habitual to these and these will stay with your child