It’s not easy having ADHD. Most often children and even teenagers with ADHD are having hard time to cope with this condition, especially dealing with their self – esteem. Somehow it is hard for them to feel good about themselves. The thought and the feeling that they are different from others make them lonesome, friendless, and unhappy.
On the other hand, other people most of the time may either focus on what they do wrong and even on the things that they are not good at, rather than focusing on the things that they can do well.
They need to appreciate themselves to help their self -esteem boost up. They need to feel that there are things that they are good at. You can help your ADHD child’s self – esteem to improve.
Here are some of the ways on how to help your ADHD child’s self – esteem.
There are things or activities that your child loves to do and they are certainly good at it. Discover and encourage them to do those things. As a parent, show to them that you are interested and let them feel that you are proud of them as they do it well. Patience and understanding is important. You have to understand that your child needs to accomplish a goal in a small step by step method. For more improvement, you can gradually make this goal a little difficult so that your child will have many probabilities to accomplish something and succeed. Every success your child gains, is step to increase their self – esteem. An ADHD child usually shows some negative behaviors that may annoy you. However, don’t focus on this negative behavior. Instead, try to ignore it. But in some cases, you need to explain to your child why certain bad behaviors must be stopped for them not to be tolerated and would get them out of trouble that may affect their self -esteem. Praises can make your child happy. Let them know that you are proud of them whenever they did something well. You can give them a hug or a star as a simple reward. With a happy feeling, they will feel good about themselves and certainly would increase their self-esteem in dealing with other people. As you give them simple task at home, let them feel that they are needed and what they do is significant. With this, they will feel that they are important at home and what they do matter. A quality time together can help your ADHD child a lot. They will feel that they are not alone and that you love them. So have fun with your ADHD child.
It may take time to do this, but doing so can certainly increase your ADHD child’s self-esteem.