Wow, AA. You hit some things right on. It's amazing what is expected of children nowadays, just wasn't like that in the old days.
I can remember 5th and 6th grades. I got the dreaded teacher in 5th. She was strict, later became the principal. Just when I thought I'd managed to get through it she decided to teach 6th. I got her again. I spent many a day sitting in the hallway for talking too much with friends. Wow, I wonder what they would do to me today? I wonder what kind of diagnoses they could pin on me? Back then, it was normal girl behavior, I wasn't the only one sitting in the hall.
And the boys. They were just gross most of the time. Of course I was a girl, boys had cooties back them. Seriously, most of them were obnoxious in some way, always fidgety, noisy, doing something they should not be doing. Ya, they got disciplined but they weren't taken to the school psychiatrist. They were considered normal boys. I remember one kid, Johnnie, he was quiet and always good. He never, and I mean never did anything wrong. His nose was always in a book, he always listened to the teacher, he always raised his hand and had the right answers. Guess what? Everyone thought he was really weird, including the teacher!
Parents, please let your kids be kids and stop over analyzing them. Don't let others control how you should be raising your kids. If you do it with love, respect, and kindness, I just don't think you can go wrong. It's not all that hard, really.
It's a given that kids are going to misbehave, that they are going to get into trouble, that they are going to explore their world in ways that we parents would rather they not do. But remember back when we were kids? We explored too, and most of us (not all of us, that's for sure) were not sent to a program, we weren't sent to a psychiatrist, we weren't drugged. I know some were, but nothing like today.
Every time I turn around I hear a parent say their child was just diagnosed with ADHD and now they're on Ritalin, or some other drug. I shake my head and wonder why? And if not ADHD, then it's Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD), or any of the other new diagnoses.
I wonder if parents are trying other things before agreeing to drugging their children?
I wonder if they have considered the possibility that the child might have food allergies? Do they know that many kids are allergic to milk, to wheat, to food coloring, and that those allergies can mimic the symptoms of ADHD and other conditions like ODD?
Do parents know that a child's environment may be making him ill? Too many antibiotics, chemicals, molds, the list goes on?
If parents would send their child to a naturopathic doctor instead of an MD, one that would actually spend time with the child to figure out what is wrong, rather than quickly concluding they have this or that condition, and dealing with the problems rather than drugging the child, I think there would be a lot less Ritalin being handed out. Of course the drug companies wouldn't like that. They're lovin' it.
