It is very difficult for ADHD childen to handle tasks which require organization either to follow a plan or to create one. Why do we put our kids and ourselves through hell about cleaning up their rooms? Because we are captives of our culture and its traditional child rearing rules, a product of our beliefs and values and what a good parent should teach their children, clean your room. My son, upon request carried a bag of garbage out to the garage to be deposited in a larger container. A nice gross motor activity that occurred three times a week and which he was very successful at as well as having fullfilled some cultural mandate that we teach our kids to be responsible for the care of the home, especially their area. Three or four times a week I would cruise through my son's room and do a little straightening up for a minute or so. I preferred that to standing around giving directions for this and for that for 30 minutes. I felt good, he felt good. No conflict, frustation or anger. Besides you will never teach them to do that. They don't see the room as messy in the first place, but if they did there is no way they can organize a method to straighten it up. One alternative they can handle if you insist on Saturday room cleaning is keep it simple. The rule is get everything off the floor onto the bed, then call me. Stand there and give him objects saying put this away, put this away, put this away or just say " Thanks, good job I'll do the rest, thanks for helping, I'm proud of you." Nothing more. Keep it real. Keep it genuine. Let's not even get started with the book bag. But we must. Parenting rules again. The kid will come home with a disorganized bag and never be able to organize it. Even college, same for his room. What he will learn is that it is supposed to be organized from watching you do it while he starts his homework, one of the ADHD parents worse nightmares. From a young age, second grade, my son came home from school, took off and dropped in a pile there at his feet at the front door, his coat, scarf, gloves (if not lost that day )and hat. Next he bolted to the dining room table with his book bag where he always did his homework, hollering, "Come on Dad let's get started." I then organized homework, searched for important messages from school and organized the bag for the next day while he began his homework. No break. Snack at the table if his Ritalin supressed apetite wanted one. Our kids don't transition well. Especially from something they like to something they don't like. Like homework. But we had a rule that never changed and took him through to high school, "Nothing occurred until homework was completed to my satisfaction. Absolutely nothing." Then he bolted to his Play Station II. Thank God for those electronic recreation/leisure items. They are excellent rewards to be doled out if earned and can provide a lot of motivation for the child to be more cooperative. Never just give it away. You have to adapt your parenting because our kids don't respond to traditional parenting and the typical parenting practices we all look forward to with our children. But they don't work. Rules work that are followed strictly, rewards work when given or withheld according to the rules. Arguing is complete submission to your child dominating the environment and controlling your behavior. He makes you stand there and argue. Save your breath. He's not interested in reasons and rational explanations; a child 7 or younger with ADHD? The longer he talks the longer he keeps the door open for a possible capitulation on your part. It's happened before that's why it continues to happen. As far as time-out goes if your child is willing to participate in the activity you can be thankful that your child's behavioral symptom's are mild. If they aren't and there is any tendency toward physical aggression what do you do when he refuses to go? Do you want to end up in a situation where you have to use restraint or rooms with no inside door handles to control the child. Time-outs and restraints aren't teaching tools. They go on for years. A good intervention shows improvement in a fairly short time. But this is all therapists have for you folks, "Show the child who is boss, you have to be in control of the house." Yes you do. For a child who is 7 or under and is totally dependent on his parents for everything in the world that he has, don't give him anything fun. Let them use it. Control the access to all those fun thingsand based on something you get from him, such as completed behavior or the absence of inappropriate behavior you let him use them. Your ADHD kid unfortunately is not responsive to all those, "Ideal," ways of child rearing. Nope, but if you are mean when you need to be you'll have more time for the hugs and praise you want to give him and more opportunities to tell him how proud of him that you are and how you just love him to death.