Parenting The ADD Child: Change Your Focus To Improve Your Child's Behavior.

A highly effective strategy that I've used with my ADHD son is to emphasize the positive and
downplay the negative as much as possible.

Because they are so boisterous, impulsive and more generally more difficult to manage than others, these kids hear ‘no’ many times a day. In fact if you're not careful most of your interaction with your ADD child could be negative in nature. This is totally destructive to his developing self-concept.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for you, as a parent, is finding out what the child is doing right and focusing on those aspects instead of focusing on all the things he does wrong.

What we focus on expands. So if you focus on and praise your child for good behavior, the more likely he is to repeat it.

Behavior that is ignored decreases. So it makes sense to ignore behavior that you don't want ....if it's not harmful or dangerous.

At the moment you may be doing the exact opposite. Try ignoring minor things that your child does that irritate you and praise him when he behaves in ways that you approve of , and watch his behavior and self-worth improve.