Is this typical for a 7 yo?

[Mommy22alyns]

Rebecca has always been super active, bouncy, bubbly, etc. Every now and then we wonder if her behavior is just typical for her age or if she could possibly have ADHD. This is one of those times...

 

How distractible is your ~7 year old? I can tell Becca to get her gymnastics leotard on, but she will go do 3 other things before getting to that. It takes her forever to get dressed, pick things up, etc. I always have to follow up and tell her again and again. Is this standard behavior for a 7 year old?

 

Um... or is this a discipline issue? If so, please help!

[NanceXToo]

My 9 y/o gets easily distracted, too, and can be poky about getting things done. I don't think it's ADD or anything like that. I think she's just like that.

[Lara in Colo]

I have a 9yr old who can't focus on anything and never could. She stayed on the playground in 2nd grade until there were no children left (she didn't notice her class had gone inside 45min earlier) She always lost her lunch money. She can be sent to the fridge for eggs and come back with milk. She is the "absent minded professor. She's going to an outdoor lab for 3 days--I requested (and got) a high school 1:1 student for her (she wanders off a lot). She has no problems. She's ...herself. I think she has sooo much going on, she can't focus on one thing at a time.

 

 

Lara

[Jean in Newcastle]

For a child like that you might try getting out a stopwatch - tell her, "Let's see how long it takes for you to run and get your leo on. Ready, set, go!" Make it fun.

[RegularMom]

My dd's are 9 and 7, and they're very much like what you describe. I'm not too worried about it. I like the stopwatch idea, though. I may try that. :)

[Dandelion]

My 6.5 year old is like that... I wouldn't worry about it.

 

One thing we do (which is similar to the stopwatch idea suggested by a previous poster) is make a game out of it. For example, I'll say "Let's see if you can get completely dressed before I count to 30" or I'll set the kitchen timer and say "Let's see if you can wipe down the table before the timer goes off". At night, when it's time for his bath, I "race" him to the bathroom (because otherwise he'll dawdle) and then we "race" to his room after the bath... It's fun, it really doesn't take much extra effort on my part, and it helps him stay focused. :)

[Starr]

All I can think of is how it doesn't improve with age. :tongue_smilie:

[jewellsmommy]

I know this sounds weird but, give her coffee. If her focus seems to improve slightly then she might actually be ADHD. My dd loses focus easily and is quite active. I don't know that there is such thing as 'normal' but I wanted to try the coffee thing because my dh has ADD issues. It helped a little. But, it is not so bad that I would medicate her.

 

We have just learned to work around it. I do have to tell her things over and over quite often. We use the accountable kids system for her chores and daily things like brush your hair, put on your glasses, brush your teeth etc. You can see it at http://www.accountablekids.com.

 

For school: I can see when I start to 'lose' her and I will bring her back into focus. I also let her stand or sit and bounce on an exercise ball. That really seems to help. You can find those big exercise balls relatively inexpensive now. I bought one for $5. I will also let her 'play' with little things to keep her fingers busy depending on what subject we are doing. I just throw out a lot of questions to make sure she is listening.

 

I hope that helps.

[Lara in Colo]

Honestly, for us food helps. Low carb, high protein, frequent meals throughout the day.

 

Lara