What can you do to Keep your Child with ADHD busy on Christmas vacation when you have to Work?

This is a tough one…Typically, parents have to work and certainly cannot be home the entire time when their child is off from school. That being said, what can you do to make sure that he is not on the computer for eight hours a day? Clearly, this situation applies either to children who have someone there supervising them or to a child who is old enough to stay at home alone.



If children with ADHD are left to their own devices, they will most typically spend eight hours per day on the computer or some other visual device. Why is this so? Children with ADHD look for stimulation of any kind to help them to lock in or to hyperfocus. As I have said before, if your child plays video games and does not respond when you ask him a question, he is hyperfocused into that visual experience. Some of hyperfocusing is good and some is not so good.


There is much research that definitively links too much television watching and/or too much time spent on a computer with clinical depression in children. I know that you are saying that you will not be at home, so therefore, you will have no control over how much time he spends on the computer, playing video games or watching television, for that matter.


Here is what you can do: Talk to your child and explain to him that if he uses the computer, computer games, video games and/or watches television for prolonged periods of time, that it is unhealthy for him. You can tell him that people whom you respect have told you that that is true.


Tell him that each day that you are not home, you are going to give him a checklist of activities to do so that he will not be spending solitary time on the computer. Tell him that playing on the computer will be integrated into that list, but not for more than thirty minutes at a time, however. Children with ADHD respond best to structure, so believe me, this will work. He is not going to be happy with this change of events, but if you explain to him that this is a decision that you and your spouse or partner has made, he will have no choice.


This is also a great opportunity for an older child to be independent and accountable. How? You can explain to the older child that since you will not be at home, you will not really know if he is completing all of these activities. Therefore, you will treat him as a mature individual and have him check off the activities that he has completed on the honor system and show you that list when you come home from work. He may not be able to complete all of the activities the first day, and may still “lose time,” but if he spends less time on the computer, then giving him this list is worth it.

In terms of the computer time, give him a kitchen timer or have him set his cell phone for thirty minutes so that if he is experiencing what I call “lost time” that the sound of the alarm will alert him. In that way, he will feel a sense of responsibility, which is a vital skill for children with ADHD to develop. You will also tell him that if he was less mature, then you could not have put him on an honor system. Also tell him that you know that you can trust him to be honest now and check off the activities that he has completed.


All of these activities are not huge, time-consuming activities. The list should incorporate playing video games as well, but not for more than thirty minutes at a time. Look for my next entry for an example of a list that you can design so that your child feels organized, structured and busy on vacation!