10 Days to a Less Distracted Child
By Jeffrey Bernstein (Marlowe, $14.95 paper)
Does your child seem lazy and unmotivated? Extremely challenging to manage? Psychologist Jeffrey Bernstein packs this book with strategies for dealing with kids who have trouble paying attention.
1. Children who have difficulty attending to tasks aren’t deliberately being forgetful, irresponsible, absent-minded or lazy. Let go of those labels.
2. While attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common cause of distractibility, other sources are anxiety, depression, learning disabilities and autism. Vision and hearing problems can also make a child appear inattentive.
3. There are numerous ways to understand/talk to your distracted child, which is the first step toward helping her. These include: holding back on negative reactions, not attacking your child’s character; acknowledging his feelings, and keeping communication uncomplicated and direct.
4. Frequent overreaction to your child’s behavior can worsen the problem. Overreactions include yelling, throwing up your hands, mocking or ignoring him, and frequent nagging and lecturing.
5. Be optimistic but expect ups and downs.
