Parenting Styles for Children with ADHD

There are different aspects that form the guidelines upon which parents and society exercise their role in bringing up their children. Essentially, parents and the society have the ultimate role to play in bringing up their young ones within different environmental set ups. However, despite the ordinary parenting roles that each parent assumes, there are other special instances where the parents exercise their roles in the making the growth and development of children with special needs mature properly by undergoing normal stages of growth. Among the children with special needs includes children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In essence, parents undergo through various challenges in bringing up such children. According to George Kapalka, a psychologist, children with ADHD suffer a loss of track for their own things. Besides that, ADHD patients (children) encounter hardships in keeping a track of their noble duties such as performing their class work.  Additionally, such children also show less commitment to any assigned tasks and therefore low concentration. Other than the loss of concentration, children also undergo thorough impulsivity. This latter refer to a condition whereby the child exhibits features that suggests over stimulation while at the same time reacts excessively to aggravation s and failure (Sonna, 2005).

Lucy Jo palladino, a psychologist also postulates that ADHD kids patients also posses hair triggers or escalated reactions to external attacks such as distresses. This therefore means that parents encounter hardships in enforcing domestic rules and therefore fond of conflict all through their parenting tasks where loose regulations works at the expense of any pressure. Indeed, it is clear that children suffering from ADHD often are aware of what to do in life but rarely do they do what they may be required to do. From the later parents are faced with the challenge of making the right decision on to whether to exercise force as to enforce rules at home and when necessary this might be. In addition, the parents also experience hardships in striking a balance between their knowledge of the children’s ability while at the same time playing the role of protecting the child from various externalities and pitfalls of their ADHD conditions. Indeed, this calls for the parents to gauge the optimum authority that they may exercise on their children without hurting or posing unnecessary tension within their children whose consciousness may seem to take a reverse direction through a self-doubt within the conscience of the child. However, despite the prevailing challenges that face parents, there are a variety of strategies that parents can adopt while putting up the children with the ADHD conditions in order to overcome the challenges of ADHD (Sonna, 2005).

Essentially, the study of the strategic handling of children with ADHD symptoms and feature is quite important to the future development of the lifespan of the child as it helps parents to adequately accommodate the peculiar features of their children and also assist them in leading normal lives just of other children with normal life style characteristics. Moreover, children suffering from the ADHD often exhibit instant responses and may not give a though to a certain topic before posing a response with regard to it. However, this may be disastrous as it may prevent mutual understanding of the children with their counterparts as well as the parents.  More importantly, children with ADHD symptoms may not also be in a position to sit down in classroom settings. This may pose a challenge to the parental care provider in the school environment such as the teachers if they may suffer deficiency of the strategic way of handling such incidences without necessarily putting excessive pressure on the child which may lead to unnecessary commotion between them and the child and may also derail the course of lifespan of the child due to loss of self acceptance (Feldman, 2004).

Furthermore, in the school environment, teachers may also assist such children as they may fall captives of fidgety and may even fall off the desks or chairs and cause unnecessary damages to their bodies such as fractures. As a matter of facts, such incidences aggregately lead derailing the lifespan of the child. Furthermore, such children also exhibit inability to play and engage in leisurely activities. Such also amounts to the weakened lifespan due to lack of rest and leisure. However, amidst all this challenges, the knowledge of ADHD enables the parental care service providers to take advantage of the fact that such children can concentrate for a considerable stretch of time within certain preferred activities (Lloyd & Cohen, et al. 2006).

Besides that, children with ADHD symptom also seems interested in certain activities that are more appealing to their senses of hearing, sight and touch. Consequently, the child ought to be exposed to certain selected attention which should lead to motivations and improve engagement in the activity thereon. As a matter of facts, the ADHD children may not also exhibit maturity features relative to their peer. Consequently, knowledge of their weaknesses as they strain to fit within their peer group also promotes social well beings and promotes the process of formulating accommodative social policies. It is also important to note that children with the ADHD problems may not be able adjust in accordance with the rules and regulations within the society and other settings within their survival (Lloyd & Cohen, et al. 2006).

 Essentially, such children may not be able to decode a social cue that seems obvious and ordinary in life. With this understanding, parents and other stakeholders may be able to accommodate these children and help them fit in society amidst the differences that may exist due to lack of consistency in use and application of community values. This helps the children adjust their behaviors closer to the demands of the specific circumstances. In other situations like playgrounds within and without the school environment, ADHD children may also intervene in other groups’ games or conversation without prior invitation. In addition, they may overlook the freedom of their counterpart children by flailing into their friends, pushing and shoving them away. Indeed, the children may not have any intimate anger while making their moves but their actions often results in a commotion and unprecedented quarrel. The child’s behavior as an ADHD patient may also shape up the child’s personality as they develop (Feldman, 2004).

Other than the behavioral response to the ADHD, the condition is also treatable through exposure to certain elements and lifestyles. Among the peak solutions to ADHD children includes the cognitive behavioral therapy.  Indeed, the latter enables the child exercise control on their aggression behaviors besides modulating their social behaviors. Furthermore, the exercise also enables minimize the movements made by the children and therefore cut down on the physical torture that they may incur as a result of unnecessary movements. While at it the parental care service providers recognize and encourage positive behaviors and offer rewards on the same in order to help encourage the continuity of the desirable features (Lloyd & Cohen, et al. 2006).

In addition, the parents also take ADHD children through a rigorous social skill training that seeks to improve the character and ability of the children as well as fostering desirable features that promote the social well being amongst children and their peers. More often than not, parent also partake in their own children’s training teams and therefore offers a singular opportunity to practice the learnt skills for their children while away from the rest of the team, most probably at home. This helps the children progress from simple to more complex behavior change activity which essentially helps promote positive character formation and molding of personality (Feldman, 2004).

Other than the latter, parents also engage their children in a parental based training curriculums. In such programs, the parents also learn specific strategies upon which they would manage the differences exhibited by their children in order to enhance their fitness within the society. Such skills are basically entrenched on the ability of the parents to communicate effectively with their children as well as positive reinforcement techniques. Finally in this context, ADHD children may also be engaged through family therapy which basically addresses the distress that emanates within the family from living with children with ADHD. In some situations however and during the course of treatment, the parents may also be discovered to have the characteristic of the disorder as well. Consequently, the treatment of such parents may aid in behavior change of the child and the recovery too. This is generally because; the parent’s condition may be an impediment to the Childs response to treatment (Sonna, 2005).

In essence, the above represents two main streams upon which the knowledge on how to handle ADHD children may be effected. However, the two exhibits varying pros and cons over their use. Media helps reach and educate a large group of people both parents and children at the comfort of their homes and may be relatively cheaper as it minimizes movement as well as other overhead costs that may accrue from the rehabilitative practices. However, media may be less appealing and provide no appeal to the vast majority as it suffers inadequate accountability on the part of the respondent. Other media may also be less accessible to the vast majority of the parents and children who may be in dire survival tactics with the ADHD symptoms. The radio for instance is dependent on power supply which may be insufficient or completely absent. However, the media remains relatively convenient as it is cheap to acquire and maintain while at the same time provides an appeal to the audience due to its ability to decode sounds (Lloyd & Cohen, et al. 2006).

 On the other hand, parental care magazine may be used as a source of requisite information pertaining to care and guidance of ADHD children. While at it, such magazine may however be less convenient as they may only appeal to the literate members of the society while sidelining the rest. Consequently, this may not appeal to the vast majority of parents and children who may need it. In propagating the demands of the ADHD children, there also need be an accommodative social policy that is all-round binding and which enhances consistency in improving social coherence among different members of the society among them, the ADHD children. Alternatively, social policies should seek to bridge the gap between children with the disorder versus those without in order to bring the society into a mutually inclusive where children are given attention that meets their natural demands in order to create a self-less society of beings and enable the realization of special ability amidst the prevailing natural challenges (Lloyd & Cohen, et al. 2006).

Finally, this information is pertinent in the sense that it may be used in offering parental guidance for the parents living with such condition of their children and therefore helps tap distinct abilities that may go unrealized if the children are mishandled owing to the hyperactivity. The realization of the parental role in spearheading recovery of their affected children may also be a significant boost to the society’s way of life as well as the acceptable codes of conduct. ADHD disorder should not be a barrier to effective character and personality formation in the child development.

 

 

 

References

Sonna, L. (2005). The everything parent's guide to children with ADD/ADHD: A reassuring

 guide to getting the right diagnosis, understanding treatments, and helping your child

 focus. Avon, MA: Adams Media.

Lloyd, G., Stead, J., & Cohen, D. (2006). Critical new perspectives on ADHD. London:

            Routledge.
Feldman, A. D. (2004). Parenting style and behaviors associated with attention

 deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in at-risk adolescents in the Orthodox Jewish

 community.