Here's a quick tip on how to motivate your child to do anything – yes, anything!

Elaine: 
So, we get a gazillion questions regularly about motivation. How do I motivate my kid to do X, how do I get my kid to motivate themselves? And so understanding motivation is key to managing kids with complex issues and to helping them learn to manage themselves, which is the biggest key.

Diane:
Right. Because it has a different kind of role in the brain with executive function challenges than it does for most of us.

Elaine: 
I was just talking to a mom this week. It was like, you have a just get it done button, but your child does not. And so we have to help them find other ways to get it done because they're not going to do it to check it off a list or because it's the right thing to do or because it's good for them. They really need to figure out how to get themselves to do it in a different way. And so ...

Diane:
So there's an acronym that we created called PINCH. P-I-N-C-H, the five things that motivate the ADHD brain.

Elaine: 
Or executive function brain, anxiety, this goes for it too.

Diane:
Yes, exactly. So P is for play. So, that play might be creativity or humor or lightness, or that sort of thing.

Elaine: 
Yeah. All that stuff.

Diane:
I is for ...

Elaine: 
Interest.

Diane:
So if somebody is genuinely interested in something, they're going to be more motivated. N is for ...

Elaine: 
Novelty.

Diane:
So something's new –

Elaine: 
Different – Which is why kids love video games, right? There's always changing.

Diane:
Right. C is for competition, which –

Elaine: 
Works for some –

Diane:
– and not for others. And then H is for ...

Elaine: 
Hurry up.

Diane:
Hurry up, which is about urgency. Which is the one that we tend to default to. And the thing I would say about urgency is just to remember that that can be exhausting.

Elaine: 
And it's okay for kids to use urgency sometimes to get things done, but you don't want that to be the only strategy that they use.

Diane:
Exactly.

Elaine: 
Yes, we want them to learn, to find other ways to motivate themselves over time.

Bottom Line: 
There are many ways to motivate kids with ADHD and other complex issues. If you switch up techniques, you'll be able to more effectively motivate your child, and teach them to motivate themselves!