The End of Summer

We have another week and a half of camp, a week of hanging out, and then it's back to school.

We've been working on a new behavior chart that I based on one I found in the ADHD Workbook for Parents. It seems to be a success...Squirrel gets points added for doing whatever the positives are on the chart (in this case...making his bed, laying his clothes out for the next day etc.), and he gets points subtracted for negatives (hitting me, being rough with his brother, being argumentative). I call it "earning and burning" points.

The points can be redeemed for various things...TV after dinner, games after dinner (these require very few points, so he can have a "reward" ever day), and then there are bigger things, like trips he wants to take or whatever.

He and I had both been frustrated by the old behavior chart we were doing, b/c the reward was his allowance. I had to choose every day if he got the money or not...I feel that this system works much better, because he always gets rewarded for good behavior. We try to keep things as positive as possible!

I'll see if I can manage to put a picture of the chart in...don't have a scanner handy.

Happy end of summer! I know all of us ADHD moms dread school coming...so stressful.

Summer Camp

Squirrel is going to day camp. Now, knowing him, I tried to pick an active setting where the behavioral standards would be pretty loose. Nothing with lots of sitting around or picky rules. He's at the Y. They do a couple of field trips a week, some time in the playground every day, and they have swimming once a week.

But, it's 110 degrees in the shade this week, so...no real outdoor activity. The kids are a bit cooped up.

First day of camp...I get a report that he was using some foul language (this could be anything from your standard doodie kaka type of stuff all the way up through the F bomb--Squirrel swears that all he said was "shut up", and that he was saying it "to himself"--not that that isn't just as annoying as if he said it to anyone else) and not listening to the instructors.

So, I was asked to speak with the director. She wasn't in this AM, so I told Squirrel that under no circumstances am I to hear that he's been having a foul mouth, and that if he feels like he needs to blow off some steam, he should ask permission to go run around or jump or something rather than driving people nuts.

Hopefully, even though I haven't cleared this with the director, these tactics will be helpful.

After reading a bit about Daytrana, I'm thinking of giving this a try. The ritalin is just wearing off too fast, which I think may be part of the big guy's problem.

All I can say is that I'm really looking forward to next summer, when he goes to ADHD camp. He was too young this year. I can't tell you how relaxing it will be to have him in a setting where I am sure that everything is OK, and he isn't under some sort of threat of being tossed out.

It's just a constant pressure in my life--with school, camp...everywhere. What's he doing? Is his behavior OK? Are other kids avoiding him because he's annoying and acts strange?

Ugh.

The worst thing isn't so much that these things happen...I worry about the toll that they take on his self esteem. I'm sure if we continue to work hard, he'll develop the skills he needs to be successful. But it really is a battle, isn't it?