Is getting your child to sit down at dinner and stay at the table an arduous task?

I would say that the most important part day is the family dinner. Why? Because that time is a precious and rare time for each and every family member to touch base and share what they have been doing, where they have been, people with whom they have met and with whom they have made friends, their struggles at school, at work and socially as well as their successful experiences.
 

 Now, if one of the parents comes home at 9:00 P.M. and your children are very young, it is difficult for them to wait for dinner. The goal in my mind is to have a family dinner as many nights of the week as possible.  The alternative is to have a family breakfast or lunch, if those are more applicable. 

That being said, how do you get your child with ADHD to stay in his seat for more than a second? Here is a way to teach a young child to remain quietly in his seat at dinner. Place a colored clock at his seat at the table that counts down the time by color that he is sitting quietly. (You can buy this timer, called a Time Timer, from timetimer.com.) They come in a three-inch, an eight-inch, or a twelve-inch size. If the child is older or can tell time, you can use a timer or a regular clock. (I would not use a kitchen timer, because it is just too noisy and distracting.)You can start out with the child staying in his seat for five seconds if that is the longest time that he can sit.

Find a reinforcement or reward that really interests him. You need to give the child the reinforcement intermittently so that the child does not know when he is receiving it. The idea is that if he is not sure when he is receiving the reward, he will sit and sit and sit. Rewards do not typically work if the child is not interested in what he is receiving, however. Therefore, before instituting this reinforcement schedule ask the child to tell you about his interests, so that you can collaboratively decide on a reward. You can increase the time required to receive the reward. Eventually, you will fade out the reward so that the child is sitting for longer periods of time.