Brooke,
I have a seven year old son who is diagnosed with ADHD. I adore him and try very hard to be patient with him and have good thoughts about him. But I often struggle with feeling frustrated with him. I get calls from the school about his behavior about once a month. He has a really hard time sitting down to do his homework. He’s defiant and explosive at home. And he’s constantly making noise. He’s SO loud. Sometimes I feel like my brain is melting from the constant noise, and activity (jumping on the couch, climbing things, once I found him with a knife stabbing holes in the trampoline!) I have to be constantly vigilant because he hurts himself and his siblings often. I feel anxious and irritated much of the time he is home. I’m also concerned about the effect he is having on my other children. He terrorizes them constantly and they get angry and irritated too.
Like I said earlier, I work on my thoughts about him a lot and I’m actually functioning much better and being a kinder, more patient mother. I’m just wondering if you have any other advice for me. I guess I’m having a hard time really seeing this circumstance as neutral. I know in theory it is, but when he’s home it’s so disruptive to our whole family. When he’s screaming and being defiant, I feel like I’m in fight or flight mode and I have a hard time accessing the thoughts I have been practicing. Advice?