Are You the Parent of a Child with ADD?
Posted on May 13, 2012 by Rhonda Harryman, One of Thousands of ADD ADHD Coaches on Noomii.
Coaching Exhausted and Stressed Out Parents of Children with ADD
Exhausted from Parenting? – Explore a Change of Thinking
Parenting can be the most exhausting job on the planet. It can also be the most rewarding when both parent and child can come to the point of understanding how to self-regulate their emotions. Whether your are a stay-at-home mom or a professional working outside the home, stress, a non-stop schedule and fear of the future can keep a parent stuck in “overwhelm” when what they truly want is a loving and fulfilling relationship with their children.
If one or more of the children has special needs (e.g. developmental disabilities, ADHD, autism, emotional disturbance or physical disabilities) the time consuming care and stress level can increase significantly. Having worked with parents and children of all ages for more than thirty years, as well as being the parent of a teenager, myself, I recognize the great need for support and compassionate understanding. However, understanding alone is not enough. Parents need practical resources and specific strategies that make life more manageable for both themselves and their child.
Sometimes it may take a total change of thinking from previously learned philosophies and techniques. Parents can actually make huge changes in the dynamics of their parent-child relationship by working with a coach who can help them understand their own emotional reactions to frustrating behaviors. When parents learn to regulate their own emotions by seeing the situation from a very different point of view it can deescalate difficulties tremendously and allow the child to be approached in a way that calms the area of their brain that leads them to a fight or flight response.
The bottom line in coaching is consistent support and accountability as the parent sets weekly systematic goals for themselves that lead to consistency in the relationship and making use of their own strengths to alleviate much of the stress that has kept them in a place of feeling totally overwhelmed and living beyond their window of tolerance.
If I can be of assistance to you with this type of accountability and support, I would love to hear from you through my website www.GraceLifeCoaching.com
Rhonda L. Harryman, M. Ed, CLC
Certified Life Coaching
Emeritus Faculty, C.O.E.
University of Central Oklahoma
405 340-1300
