ADHD does not go away once a young person reaches adulthood, and if you’re the parent of an adult child with ADHD, this fact is obvious to you. However, the majority of the resources that exist for ADHD management and parenthood pertain to young children with ADHD. What do you do when you want to help your adult child thrive despite having a neurological disorder, though?
Fortunately, this article is designed specifically for parents whose adult children live with ADHD. Keep reading to discover a couple of simple tools you can use to help your young adult child navigate the world.
Alarms & Reminders
It can be hard for an adult with ADHD to keep track of time, so either providing reminder tools or encouraging your adult child to test them out can be highly beneficial. When your child keeps track of everything they need to get done in accordance with their time allotments, it becomes a lot easier to accomplish tasks on time, without forcing your child to scramble at the last minute.
If your adult child takes medication to manage his or her ADHD (or any other health condition), alarms or reminders may also help provide effective ways to mitigate and manage symptoms. By taking prescribed medications at the same time every day, there exists the likelihood that the drug will continue to work as intended.
Dedicated Containers
A good tool to use in tandem with alarms and reminders is a set of dedicated containers. Some people living with ADHD find it easier to manage their symptoms when they compartmentalize various aspects of their lives.
For example, you might offer your child a keychain medication container. This way, they’ll hear the pills moving inside the container when his or her keychain moves, and when it’s time to take the medication, it’ll always be nearby.
Wall-mounted mail slots, coat and hat hooks, key racks, and the like can also help your adult child stay organized by having a designated place for everything.
Planners & Calendars
Every person with ADHD has different elements they respond to, and for many, having a planner or calendar to use for plotting out the day, week, and month might be helpful. Plenty of people with ADHD have an easier go of getting things done when they’re able to visualize and check off one task at a time.
Charging Stations
If your child uses several devices throughout the day (phone, smartwatch, tablet, laptop, earbuds, etc.), it’s a good idea to create a charging station that can accommodate all of those devices at a time. ADHD can make it difficult to remember to switch individual chargers from one device to the next, so a station that only requires plugging and unplugging devices once a day can help ensure that your adult child’s devices are ready to go. Plus, a charging station makes staying organized easy, because all of your child’s electronic possessions are conveniently located in one place.
Having and managing ADHD symptoms is rarely easy, and the fact that you’re looking for ways to help your child shows how much you care. Being a strong ally for your adult child means more to them than you may initially assume. Hang in there and do your best to be the most helpful parent and advocate you can be.
