When ADHD Goes on Summer Break: Strategies for Parents

There’s a great opening scene in the movie, “High School Musical 2,” where it’s the last day of school and all the kids sitting in class are obsessively focused on watching the clock tick down to SUMMER.  When the bell rings they explode out of the school doors (of course with a musical dance number!) and tear off into summer break:  freedom, fun - and most especially - NO SCHOOL.  It’s a great scene because who can’t relate to that feeling of excitement on the last day of school? 

For families with ADHD, though, summer can bring a unique set of challenges.  School may have its own set of difficulties, but one great thing it provides is structure.   For kids with ADHD when summer starts and the school structure is gone, it can feel overwhelming and they may need some special attention.  Below are some ideas for parents to navigate summer break time so that both your kids AND YOU can experience more of that freedom and fun:

STRUCTURE

Structure is one of the most important components of an ADHD-er’s life.  But when the inherent structure of school goes away, it’s up to parents to keep it intact for their kids.  Some effective ways you can build structure into your child’s life this summer might be:

Camps, camps, camps!  Sports camps, family camps, church camps, activity camps…they all provide a structured design for kids to have fun, and they give kids a chance to build their social skills. 

Predictable morning & bedtime routines.  As some kids get older, they get excited for summer because it means staying up until 2:00 a.m. and sleeping til…whenever.  For kids with ADHD this can be problematic both for them and their parents.  If your kids are old enough, decide with them the morning and bedtime routines for summer that you can both live with.  For example, choose together a one hour window of time in the morning when they will wake up, and a one hour window of time when they will be in bed at night.   In the morning, give them a visual schedule for the day, showing them in advance what they will be doing.  For younger kids’ evening routines, include some winding down non-screen activity like reading a story, talking about the best parts of the day, or listening to a calming piece of music. 

Ditch the screens at bedtime.  This is a big one!  Tough to implement sometimes…but extremely important for kids, especially those with ADHD.  As regular as brushing their teeth and putting on their jammies, try to make leaving screen devices with you a part of their regular bedtime routine. 

Engaging, interactive schedules.  In the morning, show your kids a visual schedule of their day’s activities.  For younger kids, make it a physical schedule that’s fun to interact with – use stickers or check-marks, and fun colored markers….whatever makes sense for your child.  To increase their engagement with it, design it with them as a fun project you do together.  For older kids there are some good apps for making a daily schedule – if your child will be more excited about interacting with a digital schedule, find one together that you both like and put it to daily use.

Free time.  Between the morning and bedtime routines, and around the scheduled summer activities, there is plenty of great time for being with friends and having unstructured free time.  While ADHD brains work well with structure, it’s important for everyone to have unstructured, free time.  For kids with ADHD, add those times with friends or to relax on their own to the daily schedule.  This way kids know it’s part of the larger structure and can more easily transition in and out of it. 

INTEREST

Summer is a great time to let kids focus on the things they love.  Kids with ADHD have a powerful ability to focus and engage when it’s something they are interested in.  As you plan summer activities or family vacations, pack them full of the stuff that will draw your kids’ attention and interest. 

DIET

One of the best investments our family made when my kids were younger was a small machine  that made Hawaiian-style shaved ice treats.  We LOVED it!  In fact, it’s still in my kichen, along with the huge variety of flavored, sugary syrups.  ADHD brains need brain-healthy diets, no question.  But it’s also SUMMER…so it’s okay to let kids indulge in some sweet treats occasionally.  But think about how to make summer diets fun AND healthy.  I also have in my kitchen another summer snack-maker that my kids loved:  a popsicle mold.  We made popsicles with their favorite healthy fruit juices or smoothies.  The internet is full of great ideas for healthy summer snacks that are fun for families...explore some of them!

YOU MATTER TOO

Parenting in the summer means you have to adjust to new routines too. So take time to re-energize yourself this summer.  Give yourself spaces for down time.  Make use of babysitters that are also on summer break to get out for a couple of hours and do whatever is good for renewing YOU.  You are the biggest blessing in your child’s life, and the better you are, the better they are.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!  -- Ellen