Puberty has started and hygiene is suddenly a daily fight
ADHD child behaviour
Puberty piles new hygiene tasks, deodorant, daily showering, changing underwear, managing body hair, onto an executive function system already at capacity, and each is another sequence to start, remember, and sustain while hormones, identity, and social pressure draw on the same resources. Treat it as skill-building, not character correction. Put written checklists in the bathroom, let them choose their own products, and keep every conversation free of shame.
What to do right now
Puberty added new hygiene demands to a brain that was already struggling with the old ones. Deodorant, showering daily, changing underwear, managing body hair. Each one is a new executive function task arriving at a developmental stage where the child is also managing identity, social pressure, and hormonal changes. Approach it as skill-building, not character correction. Written checklists in the bathroom. Products they chose themselves. Zero shame.
What your brain just did
Your body
New hygiene demands arrived alongside hormonal changes, social pressure, and identity formation. Everything is harder simultaneously.
Your brain
Puberty adds executive function demands to a system that was already at capacity. Each new hygiene task is another sequence to initiate, remember, and sustain. The child is also managing emotional and social changes that consume the same regulatory resources.
What this did
Written checklists in the bathroom. Products they chose. Zero shame. Approach every hygiene conversation as skill-building, not character correction. They need systems, not lectures.