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Many children with ADHD (particularly the combined or predominantly hyperactive-impulsive presentation) are risk-takers. Their parents report having made frequent trips to the hospital emergency room when the children were toddlers. These are the kids who were riding bikes without training wheels at the age of 2. They were the ones jumping from the couch onto the floor or flying off swingsets at the playground. In all these activities, they were highly attentive and focused on what they were doing. And when kids with ADHD are highly focused, they learn more and want to excel.
That level of attention and focus is often seen in the same children when they are engaged with a screen. Screen time is generally not considered to be a risky activity, but during a pandemic where kids are increasingly stuck indoors, it might be time to make screen time more dangerous.
As risk-taking kids with ADHD get older, they may gravitate toward activities such as skateboarding, surfing, rock climbing, or other extreme sports. They often excel at these sports and are self-motivated to improve their skills. Doesn't this tell us something about these kids? When we can get them engaged in high-risk, stimulating activities, their focus is intense, and the desire for improvement unparalleled. And if playing a video game spurs this interest, the COVID-19 pandemic is the time to try it.
Allowing screen time that can encourage these interests, such as The Climb, a VR rock-climbing game, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 +2, will encourage not only gameplay but also real-world experience.
Child development experts have recently begun to encourage parents to allow their kids to engage in more dangerous activities in the real world. National Public Radio hosted a story indicating that kids who engage in more risk-taking behavior may become better problem solvers. The program pointed out that adults who grew up in the 50s, 60s, and 70s had more opportunities to go outside, explore, and have real adventures. Part of the concern expressed by contemporary child experts is that parents have become too protective with their kids, shielding them from dealing with uncertainties and risks.
Given that some kids with ADHD are drawn to these risk-taking behaviors, maybe there are ways to channel this into problem-solving and adventuring. Maybe we shouldn’t enroll kids with ADHD in sports such as bull riding, heli-skiing, cliff diving, or street luging. But you might want to consider encouraging a child with ADHD to engage in some high-risk sports and activities where they could experience what it is like to sustain their attention and focus for an extended period of time.
Challenging sports and activities like these, which provide an element of danger, will engage kids with ADHD and keep them outdoors.
Land-based extreme sports: longboarding, skateboarding, BMX bike riding, rollerblading, and mountain biking
Motorized sports: four-wheeling, dirt-bike riding, and motocross
Water sports: surfing, rowing, whitewater kayaking, windsurfing, sailing, and scuba diving
Nature-based sports: rock climbing, caving, bouldering, and ice climbing
Other sports that require full focus and attention: fencing, martial arts, boxing, snowboarding, and skiing
There is a wide range of choices of sports and dangerous activities that could engage the full attention of a child with ADHD. The suggestions given here are not all-inclusive but illustrate many options that often do not require an inordinate investment of money, resources, and time. Many of these activities simply require you to be willing to take the time to encourage your child to pursue them.
Work with your child to find what interests them and best fits their individual needs. If you “play” it right, you might be able to leverage your child’s screen time into an interest that is healthy, even if a bit dangerous, and is a great fit for the world of COVID-19.
