Does your child seem to become more hyperactive on the holidays?

I think that many of us become very excited and a little overwhelmed on a holiday such as Thanksgiving. How do you help your child with ADHD to settle down? Keep him busy by getting him involved in the preparation of the food and the setting of the table. If your child is on the periphery of all of the preparations, he is more likely to behave in a more hyperactive manner. On the other hand, if he is involved in a specific job, such as helping you to cook, he will be stimulated, which will keep him focused and calm. Children with ADHD look for stimulation, and when they find it, they are less hyperactive and less distractible.



Children with ADHD also are able to control their behavior more effectively when there is some structure. If you have a chart of the jobs that he will be doing throughout the day, he will remain calmer, more attentive and less hyperactive. The best thing to do is to make a list of jobs that he will be doing and break each job down into small parts. In that way, he can complete a specific job component, check it off on the list and feel successful. You can use an Excel chart or just write the list out by hand. Use different colored markers so that he will be stimulated by the colors, and be able to pay attention to the specific jobs that you have assigned to him. It sounds like this is a lot of work for you, especially on Thanksgiving, but trust me, everything that you are trying to do yourself will take much longer if you spend your time constantly telling him to settle down, stop running around and relax.