Honestly? We had to rule with an iron fist from 8-14. It was brutal for her, brutal for us. The above situation with the standing at the sink for 6 hours? That kind of thing was common for a few years. Any time we let her go without doing them (or any chore, homework, etc) it's like she knew she got away with it and immediately her behaviour would worsen. She would try to get out of it again and again, regressing to crying etc. if we let her get away with something even once.

We had to stick to our guns, every single time. Eventually she would realise that doing dishes was something we were going to make her do, no matter what, and she couldn't do anything fun until they were done, and finally started just doing them.

However the thing about AuDHD kids (in my opinion) is that they cannot apply a lesson or rule to other common sense situations. Like, you say no food in your room, they think "This is candy, not food, therefore allowed" and you end up having to reiterate and refine the rule for each situation.

The same is true with them learning how to do any chore, school work, life skill like brushing their teeth. It will require an exhausting amount of micromanagement and honestly there were times when we cried, raged, or plain old gave up. Every life skill had to be taught, and each situation that it applied to had to be taught separately.

You say that your reminders anger him? Good. He can be angry, that is allowed. He has to respect you, but he can be angry when you make him do something. Remember that he is 8 and your window to change any dynamics is closing rapidly, so if you need to change your parenting style, get help and do it now!

What helped us with the reminders thing is remembering that people with adhd experience time differently, so when he needs to do something, give a soft reminder first "Hey in 5 minutes we need to do xyz." and also respect his interests, we never shut off her pc in the middle of a game or whatever. "After that game, I need you to do xyz."

Of course this gets push back, and that's when we had to get "mean". Taking away devices or scheduling when her internet or phone would not work were the big guns, but around 9 or 10 years old she went through a phase where no punishment or incentive did shit to sway her. She literally ended up in a completely bare room like it was a prison because she couldn't be reasoned with and nothing was a consequence to her. She just doubled down until we had to take something else away. This is typical of AuDHD kids I think, they are strong willed and can go full "monk" and nothing will bother them. Which sucks when you must get through to them when something is not ok. Thankfully that stage didn't last long and it quickly got better after that.

Also, we put her into social activities immediately and through her whole time in primary and high school. Kids with AuDHD are... assholes. People don't like them. Teachers don't like them. She would come home and tell me a teacher was mean to her and I felt terrible for her. Kids were just awful to her.

Putting her in drama classes, dance classes, judo, scouts, you name it meant she had to learn how to deal with other kids, and the acting and drama classes were great for helping her learn how to mask in public. The short one hour class meant everyone had a chance to cool off until next week.

We spent a lot of time watching her social interactions and asking questions about them, examining them with her. "Do you think that girl was backing away from you because you might have been in her personal space?" "Why do you think your friend got mad at you earlier?"

At home we don't have to mask, but in public, around others, the reality is we do. We cannot say to our friends mom "This is disgusting" when they ask what we think of dinner. We cannot tell a friend they look fat in that dress, or invade people's personal space etc.

When we don't learn how to act we hurt people we care about, and we end up hurting ourselves.

She's now 20, going to uni, and doing well. She still sucks with executive functioning, the dishes are still her nemesis, but I am so proud of her. For a while we wondered if she would ever be able to live independently, and now we are sure she will be ready in a year or two.

Sorry for the novel. I know how hard this is for you. Sending you strength!