My 6 year old behavior problems

[sptravis]

My son will be 6 years old in the next few weeks. Over the last year I have noticed repeat behavior from my son that for some reason we are unable to correct. Maybe we are expecting to much of him but we are ready to pull our hair out.
My son is a very sweet harted person. He is kind to friends. Has no problems in school. But when it comes to every day routines and behavoirs at home there seems to be a block. When we explain things to him he looks at us like we are not there. So we don't know if what we are saying to him is really sinking in. We even try to limit our explanations for doing things so that it doesn't become confusing to him but things are still not sinking in.
We have been teaching him for a year to tie his own shoes, and still he struggles with it. He can be very lazy as well. If he doesn't feel like lacing his shoes then he just pulls them on. When he does tie his shoes he asks several times for someone to help him and he just does not want to do it.
Things like brushing his teeth and washing his hands and brushing his hair in the morning before he goes to school is another battle. We often have to remind him of these things everyday. He cries very easily over anything. It really is a lot of repetative behavior that we are constantly working at. The same things everyday and it just doesn't seem to sink in. Please help us.
Thank You.

Balding Parents

[PARSLEY424]

Does your son also leave his zipper down ALL the time??? Your son sounds similar to mine. He is ADHD. When u c a psychologist have him rule it out. it"s painless & could change all of your lives. Trust me your son doesn't like all those things about himself either. If he is ADHD then that helps explain the laziness too.My son had low self esteem,shy, very very smart. grades went down a lot in 2nd grade now he's in the gold class last 2 yrs & he has more friends. He's not perfect,but he's as perfect as he is suppose to be. He's 11 now. My 6 yr old is ADHD too,but symptoms are magnified. If a child is ADHD & gets the correct treatment for them, then who they really are is able to come out. I always comment that I like this book "the power of a positive mom" it helped me say no or maybe in positive yes kinda way. I just kinda take what is useful to me. I am 40. I was diagnosed ADHD at about 30. It changed my life. I do wish my parents would have known so they could help me...Hope this helps. Best wishes for all of you,
PARSLEY424

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

I'm going to suggest two things for you to do. First, arrange an evaluation for your son with a child psychologist or other pediatric mental health professional. The purpose of the evaluation is to rule out that he is displaying any emotional disorder. The second thing is to obtain some guidance about parenting. The clinician who evaluates your son should be able to offer you some guidance and direction in that regard.