Simply Home Remedies

Natural Remedies For ADD & ADHD:Part 2 Lifestyle

by Marye Audet on August 21st, 2008

If you are expecting to read about herbal remedies for add/adhd that is coming.  It is just that I think people run to medications too quickly for an easy fix rather than changing some of the things that may be causing the problem.

It is my opinion that we’re creating alot of the problem of ADD/ADHD by our lifestyles.  In the late 1800s anyone who was able to read was able to read Charles Dickens or GA Henty.  In fact these authors were read by children in the sixth and seventh grades.  Complex sentences, long passages of descriptive phrase.

Today many adolescents are unable to concentrate long enough to read comic books.  That is not a learning disability that is a teaching disability.

Children and adults with ADD can learn to concentrate.  They will never, however, learn to concentrate as long as they watch t.v., play video games, or surf the net.  The more their brains get used to thinks that move quickly and change quickly the less success they will have in being able to fix on a thought for a longer period of time.

• T.V should be very limited. Like once a week or less, if at all.
• Video games should be banished to the wilds of outer Mongolia where a bored monk will find them and spend the rest of his days exercising his thumbs.
• Computer should be limited. Research can easily be done without computer.  It is called encyclopedias.  Learning to use one is a great way to learn to concentrate.
• Read aloud to your children from early ages.  Not just picture books.  When they are very young start reading from a chapter book daily to help them learn to concentrate, retain, and imagine.
• Play- adults and children alike need to spend time outside in the fresh air daily.  Play frisbee, run relays, play hide and seek…it is important be active.  Sunlight is important too.  Research has found that some people that have seasonal affective disorder (SADD) are  mistakenly diagnosed with ADD.
• Discipline. Gosh I know.  Bad word. I am not going to tell you how to discipline your kid…just that you need to do it consistently.  An out of control child may be having a particularly bad ADHD day or the parent may just have failed in their training.  Either is a strong possibility.  In our house there are not alot of rules, however the rules we have are written in stone.  All ten of them. ;)  No exceptions.  Discipline is not being mean, it is preparing your child for the future where people don’t call him “pumpkin” and “sweetie-butt”, and they don’t really care that he has ADHD.  In other words, work on teaching your child to live within the social rules rather than expecting society to bow to his disability.  Reality bites.
• Have him work on a craft.  Crafting and creating are very therapeudic and help children learn concentration skills.

Too much stimuli is one one the biggest problems.  Minimalism is helpful in this.  I have 7 sweaters to wear in the winter, and 7 tops to wear in the summer. I have 3 pairs of jeans and 4 outfits for church.  I have 1 pair of dress casual pants and a top to go with them for dates with Marc. Other than lingerie, that is about it.  It makes it easy to do laundry, and easy to choose what to wear.  The more ADD prone one of my children is the less clothes and toys that they have for the same reason.

Keeping life simple can be really hard but for the person with ADD/ADHD it is imperative.  Confusion and too much stimulation will cause meltdown, it is that simple.

If you have an ADD child don’t play music constantly at home. Some people do not realize how distracting and irritating constant music, constant sound of any sort, is. Your child may not realize it or know how to tell you that it is making him lose it.  The same with any type of background noise. Having a quiet environment, with a strong routine, and definite boundaries will make a huge difference for you and your child.

Image: Morgue File 

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POSTED IN: Handling Stress, Kids