ADHD kids often have unconventional talents that don’t get rewarded in school.

I feel that whenever I leave my son alone, meaning he gets away with making a mess, not doing homework and watching TV too close, we have lesser fights. And the house is more peaceful in a way.

I know that I should learn to start picking up the things we argue about. He is ADHD after all. And as long as he knows the safety rules and doesn’t hurt his little sister or any other kid, that should be fine, right? Or should finishing his homework be something that we should argue about too.

I need to be constantly at his back whenever its homework time. And now that he will be starting Grade 6 in September 2, I know for sure he will get more homework and projects. But the school doesn’t give homework that will take more than an hour to finished, that’s just the way the school system here works. But a 30-minute homework will take us 2-3 hours, sometimes more to finish.

He loves to read! He knows the answers to the questions in his homework. The problem is making him sit down and write down those answers! This is my major problem. Here is a typical scenario:

ME: Start writing Pat.
PAT: [fidgeting, playing with his pen and notebooks, flipping through the books]

When I saw him starting to write I would turn my face to whatever I was doing… after 2 minutes, I would check up on him and he still didn’t write a single word. He just wrote 1 letter and stop.

ME: Pat, what are you doing? Start writing.

I would turn my face away from him once I see him writing… another 2-3 minutes, he would be holding a toy and playing with it,

ME: Give me your toy. Start writing!!! [voice getting louder]
Another 2-3 minutes, still nothing.
ME: Earth to Pat, earth to Pat. Start writing please [and I would start to stare at him and not take my eyes while he starts to write].
PAT: Stop staring at me mommy. I’m writing now.
ME: Make sure you continue writing.

And then this would repeat over and over again… until its time for me to prepare dinner. Then we both would move down to the dining table. I need him where I can see him. I need him to hear me say “start writing” over and over, again and again.

Some days are easier especially if the homework doesn’t entail too much writing like Math. Some days are just too frustrating. I honestly don’t have the face to face his teachers because he goes to school with unfinished work, most of the time.

So this summer, I tried to force him to write his 10 sentences everyday. He can write anything he wants as long as its 10 sentences long. I want him to get the hang of writing and improve on his spelling. But again, he would argue with me saying he didn’t know what to write. So I would suggest things he can write about, still NA-DA! I force him to do this the month of July and then I just stopped. I just don’t want to argue with him or ruin his summer on this one.

My son is very smart! He can talk about anything under the sun. He can even talk to adults and make lots of sense. He even knew things that I would have to research on to see if he’s right. He just didn’t want to write! If only school would give oral tests rather than written ones, I’m sure he will pass with flying colors.