Kids with ADHD may argue or throw tantrums to get out of boring things. It can be tempting to give them their way, but that can teach them that misbehaving works. Instead, it's helpful to learn parenting strategies that can help kids improve their behavior over time. Losing your temper usually doesn't help.
Argumentative and even caustic behavior, even among smart and capable children with ADHD, often stems from weak perspective-taking skills and a lack of cognitive flexibility.
Children with ADHD tend to be more argumentative and have more explosive emotions than those without ADHD. In fact, it is often noted that those with ADHD may feel emotions up to 3 times MORE intensely than those without ADHD.
Emotional regulation can be challenging for children with ADHD, and bouts of anger are common. In fact, it's estimated that anywhere between 40–65 percent of children diagnosed with ADHD also have a condition called Oppositional Defiant Disorder, or ODD, which includes anger as one of its symptoms.
Many kids with ADHD are prone to losing their tempers and arguing with others. They may get in physical fights, too, which can cause them to get injured or hurt someone else. They might do things that start a fight, like deliberately annoying their friends or people around them.
Many people with ADHD are, if anything, argument-averse. And certainly, you needn't have ADHD to be an argumentative son of a gun. Yet, some individuals with ADHD do habitually bait others into heated disagreements. It's typically a subconscious behavior.
ADHD causes kids to be more inattentive, hyperactive, and impulsive than is normal for their age. ADHD makes it harder for kids to develop the skills that control attention, behavior, emotions, and activity. As a result, they often act in ways that are hard for parents manage.
Sometimes, people living with ADHD may behave in ways that come off as rude or disrespectful. These behaviors can stem from challenges with self-control, executive functioning, and self-stimulating actions. How you perceive their behavior often depends on your understanding of ADHD symptoms.
Weak emotional control is a common ADHD side effect. In children, this may manifest as dysregulated yelling, indiscriminate lying, and repeating the same mistake over and over with empty apologies but no change in behavior.
Yelling doesn't help kids with ADHD learn better behavior. In fact, harsh punishment can lead them to act out more in the future. Try these calm, collected ways to deal with discipline instead.
Since people with ADHD struggle to understand the emotions of others and can find social interactions difficult, it just follows that they might struggle with confrontation as well. Sometimes, the issue with confrontation involves simply not understanding the other person's emotions in the situation.
Because the underlying brain mechanisms that help manage emotions are affected by ADHD, emotional regulation development is delayed. Emotion hits them more quickly and it more easily overwhelms them. The result? Big, exaggerated overreactions.
Excessive talking is a common symptom for kids with ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder), who often have trouble inhibiting and controlling their responses. 1 They may blurt out whatever first comes to mind, whether appropriate or not, without thinking through how their words may be received.
Youth with ADHD often have more stress than their peers without ADHD due to the symptoms they live with. Disruptions in daily routines can add to stress as well. Stress is an emotional response to difficult circumstances.
Punishing a child with ADHD for difficult behaviors is ineffective and counterproductive because they don't have the luxuries of regulating their emotions and behaviors like a neurotypical child would. Punishment only results in them feeling guilty and ashamed for what they couldn't control.
Over time, children with ADHD may become frustrated and demoralized because of their symptoms. They may develop feelings of a lack of control over what happens in their environment or become depressed as they experience repeated failures or negative interactions in school, at home, and in other settings.
Sometimes it may feel that way, but raising a child with ADHD to be a well-behaved child is not impossible. You just need to develop strategies for developing positive behaviors, while curbing negative ones.
A popular misconception is that all children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are naturally smarter and have a higher IQ than children without ADHD. However, there is no correlation between this condition and intelligence.
Lack of consistency. Toxic communication — such as contempt, criticism, and sarcasm. Controlling behavior and distrust. Abusive — this is also inclusive of emotionally abusive behaviors, such as gaslighting, love bombing, breadcrumbing etc.
Many people with ADHD have behaviors that get them in trouble. Some people might tell lies. Others may have angry outbursts. These actions or words can be hurtful to others.