Ever noticed how easily overwhelmed or activated your child with ADHD can become?
This is because their body is in a heightened or hyper state of arousal due to a highly sensitive nervous system.
Ashley, our ADHD-Specific Child & Family Therapist, shares about the “window of tolerance” in this short clip.
Here is a summary:
✔️ Children with ADHD are easily tipped outside of their “Window of Tolerance” or they may even spend large parts of their day in hyper-arousal.
✔️When children are REALLY heightened in a zone of arousal – their nervous system becomes flooded and overwhelmed. It sends a message to the brain and body to ignite a ‘survival’ behavioral response. These are known as fight, flight, freeze based responses!
✔️Even though your child might physically be safe in their environment, their body and brain connection triggers the perception that they are not OK.
✔️When children experience these behaviors they sometimes might want to control others, control the parent, or control the situation as a way to try and establish a sense of safety.
So what’s a parent to do?
One of the best things parents can do to help their children move back into regulated states is to focus on connection.
Have you ever heard the phrase “Connection Before Correction”?
Connection before correction means that before correcting a child, a caregiver takes time to connect with them.
Doing this moves the focus FROM the behavior that your child cannot manage TO connecting to their need in that moment.
It’s about connecting to their emotional experience and their nervous system state.
Children develop emotional regulation through the experience of attunement to their caregivers.
If parents can connect with their child’s experience before (or when appropriate, instead of) discipline, it leaves the child feeling seen, heard, and valued. All ingredients for a positive sense of self!
This builds the child’s confidence and in turn, helps the child to:
✔️ learn how to identify their feelings
✔️learn how to express their own emotional experience in healthier ways
✔️ develop prosocial behaviors
So, today, I encourage you to do something to CONNECT with your child.
One simple idea is to take a love languages quiz with them. A simple online quiz can be found here – https://www.5lovelanguages.com/quizzes/love-language
Taking this quiz will be something fun you can do WITH your child, but it will also provide you with invaluable information about how your child feels and experiences love from you.
Some days (let’s just be real here…) parenting a child with ADHD is HARD!!!!
And sometimes, it’s best to bring things back to basics – focus on connection. Focus on love. Focus on spending time with them.
You’ve got this, and we are here to help.
If you feel like you could benefit from MORE tips about how to parent a child with ADHD using strategies that ACTUALLY WORK, learn about our ADHD Thrive Jumpstart 4 Parenting Program here.
In this program, we have partnered with an ADHD-Specific, licensed Child and Family Therapist, who provides strategies to parents that work for children with ADHD.
Want to know more about how we can help YOU get to a place of peace and calm with your child using natural strategies?
Let’s talk!
Book your free call with one of my expert team members to help you take your next step toward a healthier, happier home. There is absolutely NO RISK. It’s free, and there are no obligations. All we will do is chat about how we can help you get to where you want to go!
Alternatively, for more details about how you can help reduce your child’s ADHD symptoms, sign up for my free online webinar today here.
And as always, I am not a medical doctor and the above post is based on my experience. No information on this site should be relied upon to make a medical diagnosis, treat, prevent or cure any disease or medical condition.
