Everyone just got home from school and is transitioning into evening activities. You are trying to get everyone settled, get dinner started, and set up for homework to be done. Suddenly, you hear screaming from the living room, and your child with ADHD has lost it. 

You go to stop the fighting and figure out what is happening, already knowing what happened. It turns into a finger-pointing game with your child with ADHD in an emotional rage.

You react in a moment that isn’t your finest, but this happens almost daily. You are losing patience. You feel overwhelmed, frustrated, uncertain, and hopeless about what to do and how to help while trying to hold onto your sanity.

Many parents we have worked with have done therapy and read books, yet nothing has changed. Why? Most approaches focus on the person with ADHD. But, when that person is little and still needs guidance from parents, the approach isn’t as simple as working with the person with ADHD.

An approach that creates lasting results provides tools and education to the parents of the ADHD child. Doing so ensures the parents have the knowledge and skills to reinforce the child’s work in the home. Helping your child manage their ADHD isn’t just a them thing. It takes the whole family.

Katelyn’s February 25 Journey with Me Through ADHD: A Podcast for Kids episode, “Why so many sibling fights?” provides you with a starting place with your child. Here are a few key takeaways:

• Take a look into the big intense emotions that siblings can trigger. These are often feelings of jealousy, competition, exclusion, and that something isn’t fair.
• When these emotions boil up, they take over the thinking brain and explode into frustrations resulting in a fight. 
• Parents and siblings don’t know how to react to these emotional meltdowns because they struggle to understand the thoughts and feelings running through their ADHD loved one’s brain at the time. 
• Sometimes, the ADHD brain gets bored and seeks to engage in something resulting in picking fights.

Small and consistent steps over time add up to significant change. Applying these takeaways will transform what sibling fights look like in your home and how you react. 

You do not have to figure all of this out alone. Katelyn Mabry and Focus Forward’s program Journey to Becoming Mom Again will provide you with the tools needed to implement the necessary steps to help your child overcome their ADHD struggles without wanting to pull your hair out. Schedule your consultation today to learn how.