My Child is a Perfectionist! What to Do?
Many times parents tell me that their child takes forever to do homework. This is extremely common for students with ADHD. Sometimes the reason is a slow processing speed. Sometimes, distractibility and lack of focus when the subject is not an interesting topic is the cause.
Commonly, homework takes longer because these children erase their answers or sentences over and over again to the point of frustration and, sometimes, giving up.
Parents often tell me that they never encourage their children to be perfectionists, which may not actually be true. Often the parents of these children are perfectionists themselves! Ninety-five percent of learning how to do something occurs through modeling; only five percent comes through listening to someone tell us how to do it! Parents, be careful what you say and also what you DO that might be indirectly encouraging perfectionist behaviors from your children.
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