The home is a place where children feel safe and secure. They feel accepted and loved. But children can also act out at home; they can fight with siblings, talk back or not listen to their parents and be defiant. Children with ADHD are more difficult to discipline than those without ADHD. They tend to forget more often. They tend to not respond to normal discipline methods.
Parents need to provide a consistent level of discipline. They need to show they are united and stay together in their discipline measures. If parents are not in agreement, children will see this as an opportunity to misbehave. Maybe one parent is tough on certain behaviors while the other parent is willing to ignore the action. Without presenting a united front, chaos in the household can run rampant.
Working together with your spouse to create a long-term plan will help your family discover a method of discipline that is acceptable to both of you. It will help you to stay on track, no matter which one may be handling the discipline at any given time.
There are a number of steps you can take to create your own discipline process:
Step One: Planning
As parents, we do not always see the need for planning our discipline process. We see our children misbehave and we give the appropriate punishment. But sometimes that is not enough. Sometimes we need to measure how discipline is handed out and sometimes we need to be sure that both parents (and any caregivers) are all consistent in their approach. For children with ADHD, consistency is of utmost importance. Take the time to sit down with your spouse to prepare before completing a discipline plan.
1) Work in the evenings, after you have put the children to bed. Before beginning, discuss your thoughts on discipline and decide that this will not be a time for arguments, that you each may need to compromise on certain points in order to show that you are united in your decisions. Let your spouse know that once the plan is in place, both of you will need to follow it completely.
