For the last six months, L has been DYING to play football.  Seems reasonable enough.  So we signed him up for Flag Football, which starts in about a month.

Thing is, I’m getting nervous.  If the practices and games are during times when he’s on his ADHD meds, then I’m confident he’ll behave well, try hard, etc – but he may not be as fast as we know he can be.  If they’re in the evenings, then there’s a good chance that L will be uncontrolled, intimidate the other kids, and be overwhelmed by everything that’s going on.

So why enroll him?  Why not wait till next year?  Because I think this is going to be worth trying.  I’d rather try and fail, then never try.  So long as its not a completely horrible experience, that is.

So what can I do to help L succeed?

In response to yesterday’s post, we tried a new routine this morning.  Instead of waiting till AFTER the kids were ready to school to let them watch cartoons, we let them watch them as they were eating their breakfast.

Why?  I remembered that during the holidays, that’s what they did.  And L exhibited none of his hyper behaviors.  I’m guessing that either the distraction of the cartoons is what helps, or that it allows for a more gradual beginning to the morning.

Anyway, it worked beautifully.  In fact, they all got ready FASTER than they usually do once the cartoons were over.

Of course, this is only day one, and day one of any routine change is usually successful.  But this felt different somehow.  It was a truly easy morning.

One of yesterday’s posters recommended giving L his meds before he officially wakes up – if this new routine doesn’t work, that’s going to be our next plan.

I’ve come to dread the mornings, especially school days.  L takes his ADHD med (Focalin) first thing, but it takes a good half hour before it kicks in.  In the meantime, he’s so unfocused that he literally has a hard time eating his cereal!  He runs around, makes more noise than you thought could come out of a kid, and can’t get dressed without serious prompting.

But of all our kids, L is the one who most WANTS to be focused, and do what’s expected of him.  So in addition to the ADHD behavior, we sometimes get the angry behavior because he gets so frustrated.

I know its only a half hour, but its the first half hour of the day, and I hate having it start so negatively so often.  Is there a better way?