My son has ADHD - he's been severely inattentive from birth. Everything you describe is something he used to do from, 7 (when I taught him to shower by himself) to high school. He would literally get distracted from tying his shoes. Start tying, look up, glaze over, daydream, then I'd notice and tell him to hurry up, and he'd finish tying his shoes. Or I'd give him one instruction, he walk to do it, forget the instruction on the way, then stand around daydreaming. EVERYTHING was like this. He's in college now. It's gotten better, but he'll never be quick and on the ball. I still have to repeat myself a lot when I talk to him.

If you find that her attention is a daily issue at home and at school, then you can have her evaluated for ADHD. You need to see the behavior in several different settings.

My 11yo struggles with this. She told me she was putting her pajamas on 20 mins ago and went upstairs…. It was silent , she still hasn’t done it. She started reading a magazine.
Just got diagnosed with adhd so I’m blaming it on that and trying to work on giving more basic instructions and then following thru on my end too.

Anonymous wrote:I can't answer what age, but I have a 7.5 DS and he does the same thing. It's so frustrating, and I have had the same question because it seems like he should be old enough to do it without constantly getting distracted. He can concentrate on some other things with many steps really well, but showering and other stuff, even without many steps ("go wash your hands", then two minutes later he hasn't gotten all the way to the bathroom) seems to be difficult.

Exactly! I’m glad I’m not alone.

I can't answer what age, but I have a 7.5 DS and he does the same thing. It's so frustrating, and I have had the same question because it seems like he should be old enough to do it without constantly getting distracted. He can concentrate on some other things with many steps really well, but showering and other stuff, even without many steps ("go wash your hands", then two minutes later he hasn't gotten all the way to the bathroom) seems to be difficult.

Anonymous wrote:Are for me. Also have an 8 year old DD and i cant imagine her showering herself. She can do a lot of other things but showering has many steps.

I’m not asking her to do the entire process. We go upstairs together for the sole purpose of her taking a shower. I tell her to get undressed, and she says okay, goes into her room, and gets distracted. I follow up and she eventually gets in the shower. I give her a cloth. I say wash your face, put soap on the cloth, and wash your body. She says I know mom, and then gets distracted….

She is like this with a lot of stuff, I’m just frustrated about the shower this evening and I guess venting on here/asking if this is normal. I really try to be patient and not show her when I’m frustrated.

Are for me. Also have an 8 year old DD and i cant imagine her showering herself. She can do a lot of other things but showering has many steps.

At what age is it reasonable to expect a child to not get distracted when trying to accomplish a task?

Current frustration is with 8 yo DD who cannot get into or through the shower alone. She got distracted getting undressed, got distracted while in the shower and forgot to wash her body, forgot to let me know she was done washing so I can help with her hair. I know she needs physical help with her hair because it is long and thick, but keeping her on task to get to that point seems like it’s too hard. Are my expectations unreasonable?