The After-School Meltdown and the Morning Refusal: Why They’re the Same Problem
For a child with ADHD, “I hate school and everyone there” at pickup and “I’m not going” the next morning can be the same nervous system sending the same signal twice.
Your child gets in the car or through the front door and says it before their coat is off: “I hate school and I hate everyone there.” It is not usually a complaint about one worksheet or one child, but a rejection of the whole day. The instinct is to talk them out of it – It can’t be everyone. What happened? – but that rarely works. The sentence is often less a report than what is left after a full day of effort has run out.