Starting to help and getting distracted before you finished

What to do right now

You started something with your child and then your attention went elsewhere. They noticed. Go back now: "I got distracted. Where were we?" Returning to the task and finishing it is more important than explaining what happened. The return is the repair.

What your brain just did

Your body

You started helping your child and then you were somewhere else. On your phone, on a thought, on another task. The half-finished help sits between you.

Your brain

ADHD attention is interest-driven, not importance-driven. The task of helping your child lost the novelty signal partway through, and your attention followed the next interesting input. This isn't a choice. It's the dopamine system selecting for novelty over sustained effort.

What this did

Your child experienced being abandoned mid-help. They know you started. They watched you drift. The impact isn't the unfinished task. It's the message: you weren't interesting enough to hold my attention. Name what happened. 'I got distracted. Let me come back to this properly.'