I still haven't directly told my son about his ADHD (he is also ten) because I don't want it defining his perception of his own limitations (in other words, I don't want him to feel like it limits him). Instead we frame it like "areas in which he needs to practice/grow/develop" and that we ALL have such areas, diagnoses or not. My gut tells me this is what is best for him.
On the other hand, friends of ours have been very open to their son about his ADHD diagnosis, and it works equally well for that family. They told him long before he turned ten. He is also medicated and my son is not, so there may have been more need for a specific explanation, although they could have told their son the meds were vitamins, or hidden it in his food somehow. In any case they chose to be direct and forthcoming and I've chosen to think of the diagnosis as a sidebar, or a technicality, rather than a categorization, and each decision has worked out well for each child.
Anyway, listen to your gut, and if you're unsure, then wait or dispense the info in small doses. You know your son best, so follow your own instinct. I don't think there is a right or wrong in this situation.
Last edited by CCN; 12/24/14 12:00 PM.
