This may seem totally obvious to you experienced parents, but we just had a morning revamp here and I'm so happy with how it is working out I wanted to share.
Our youngest (now 11) is the poster boy for ADHD.
Getting him ready in the morning used to involve dozens of reminders of things that he had to get done, and still half the time he'd leave the house without half of them- pill and snack money left on the counter, yesterday's shirt on, homework sitting on the table.
He'd also complain the whole time that I was yelling at him (I never yell, but he interpreted all my reminders (nagging) as yelling, but if I didn't remind him he wouldn't do anything).
We had tried not letting him use the computer in the morning and making a list of things he had to do a few years ago, but somehow it didn't work. I don't remember how or why, but it was a complete flop.
Last week I got desperate enough that I complained to Master about how horrible our morning was, and he said no more computer for the child in the morning before EVERYTHING is done. I made him a list of what had to be done: breakfast eaten, pill taken, clean clothes, brush teeth, backpack packed etc.
This whole week, he has been checking his list, he doesn't use the computer, and he's all ready to go 45 minutes before time. It's amazing.
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My 12 year old son is exactly the same! LOL I've just accepted the fact that I'm going to have to remind him to do things in the morning- and I've gotten us on a pretty regular routine: get up at 6:30am, he gets himself dressed and has breakfast while I pack lunches for him and Q and make Q's coffee and put it in a thermos for him. Then I get my kiddo to take his vitamins and allergy meds while I'm still in the kitchen. Then send him off to brush his teeth, deoderent, brush hair, and then get socks and shoes on. At exactly 7am, I ask if he's got everything he needs in his backpack, his planner, homework, books, etc. and tell him to get a snack to take and a bottle of water. Then at exactly 7:10am, we're out the door, and the bus generally comes at 7:14-7:15am. If I forget to spot check him, he sometimes remembers but sometimes forgets. And I let him watch TV and/or play on the computer when/if he has everything done. But yeah- some mornings it's a little like herding cats if one of us is off our schedule or if we accidentally got up late or he forgot to do some homework or something. Then it's a mad scramble. LOL
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