Structure and Consistency is Key for ADHD

Children with ADHD are forgetful, disorganized and impulsive. They don't think before they act and lose things often. It can be so stressful and overwhelming to raise a child with ADHD and it's even more frustrating to be the person living with ADHD and trying to manage and cope with it. So, how can we as parents help make this easier? Consistency and structure are a big key in managing ADHD for both children and adults.

Consistency is having a routine and sticking to it daily. This goes with so many things in you and your child's life and even ties into the structure part of this post. Getting your child used to a routine and set times will help to keep him/her from losing and forgetting things as often. Make charts and/or checklists for your morning and bedtime routines, like the ones on this article to help your child remember what they need to do at these certain times.



Having a morning routine that your child does each day is helpful to get them used to constantly doing things that come natural to others, but children with ADHD will forget easily. Like brushing their teeth, making sure they have all their homework for school, and remembering to take their medications at the same time each day. Having him/her get in the routine of picking their clothes out each night will also help with your morning routine.


A set time for homework is also a wonderful help for kids with ADHD. Pick a time that suits your child the best, a time when you feel will be best for them to be able to focus and complete the homework with little distraction. Believe it or not, this helps reduce the stress of homework time by a lot. 

Have set night routine and bed time as well, even with older children. A night routine helps with the same factors as the morning one. It gets him/her to remember easier to brush their teeth and out on their bed clothes. During our night time routine our children, even the ones without ADHD, follow their normal bed clothes and brush your teeth routine and then they are told it is "calm down" time. This is a half hour to watch a program and relax and wind down and makes getting them to bed and asleep much easier.
Structure is also extremely important for ADHD children. It is important for all kids to have structure, however, ADHD children need more of it. Children with ADHD need to be watched more closely and have guidelines.

Have clear rules and consequences in your home, and always make sure to follow through with both rewards and consequences. Following through connects the consistency with structure and shows the child things that are appropriate and inappropriate. As I said, children with ADHD are impulsive and don't think before they act so having these guidelines in your house will help the child to manage his impulses better. By knowing the consequences to a particular action or the possible consequences and/or rewards the child will start to think about this and remember it.As with any child they will relate the action or rule to the reaction as a reward and/or punishment.


Make up a set of rules for in your home and write them down. Start small and also write the punishment for breaking each rule, of course depending on the severity of breaking it. Also, think of possible rewards for following the rules, this can be a weekly reward or a daily one. You can do a sticker system and for so many stickers a week they receive a reward, of course this will depend on the child's age, it can be a trip to the park or the movies, or they can work towards so many stickers for an event they wish to go to etc. 


Then make a chart of your rules, you can make one for free at Kids Pointz. Sit down and have a family meeting to discuss the chart, rules, rewards and consequences with the child or the while family. You can use this with all of your children since the rules are generally the same for them. 


The most important thing to remember in this article is to be consistent and follow through with the daily routines, rewards system, consequences and implementing your rules and behavior standards. It can be a struggle at first if you haven't been doing a routine or having been following through with things, but it will overall make things easier on both you and your ADHD child. Also, please remember that following through with the rewards and praises of what your ADHD child is doing correct is very important! ADHD children too often are criticized and not often enough praised for a job well done. This doesn't mean to overlook behaviors, it just means to make sure you nite the good as much as the bad, even if it is a small good it is something positive and will give him/her confidence and good self-esteem and this in turn will make them try harder to do well.