For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for July 09, 2010

a little ritalin wouldn’t hurt…lol

That’s the best response I’ve seen from Elly in a long time. We’ve actually used that with our son.

And myming, though I suspect you’re just kidding around, I also suspect we’ve stuck too many kids on ritalin rather than just sending them outside to play.

I have to agree with cdward…too many people are on too many drugs. Good old fashion work would do a huge amount to the issues most “suffer” from.

My growth and mental health were ‘stunted’ by being forced on Ritalin at the age of 9, until I was 17.

My sister and brother are both a good 4 inches taller then I am, as are my parental units, and I never learned proper mechanisms for controlling myself when I was taken off the pills.

Monkeyhead, not just work, but play, as cdward said. Kids aren’t allowed to be kids anymore, and when they try to be kids, teachers label them as having ADD/ADHD.

I’m waiting for the comment that slams Elly for telling him this because her joke amounts to “child abuse.” Personally, I say let him flop around a bit and then give him a job to do, like help pack his things.

ADD? You mean disruptive and poor mannered. Are the parents home or working for that second new car? My teachers had a cure if I got unruly, homework and detention. Is that child abuse? What do they call teachers who diagnose ADD and suggest (prescribe) psychoactive drugs? Federal prisoners I believe.

I know people (adults) who take Ativan to control their anxiety. Learning coping skills without chemical assistance is a much better answer, I think. Easy for me to say though, never being in that way. Conundrum!

Lghten up. I have a son, Michael, who has ADD. Letting him “flop around” for a while and then pack his stuff would just result in his stuff being thrown around his room, making it harder for me to help him pack the next day. I would make the same comment to my Michael, who knows I am not serious. I think this is hysterically funny.

Lewreader ~ being an adult who has the symptoms of what is called ADD, I take exception to your comment. We are not all disruptive or poor mannered. I was a very well mannered child who simply could not keep my mind on the task at hand. However that being said, I also disagree with medicating every child that does not fit what is considered “normal”. Btw ~ Elly’s solution to Michael’s exuberance is brilliant right up until he takes her up on it.

Nice response from elly.

a humble suggestion from a parent with an adhd child: if you don’t know anything about it, or even if you think you know something about it (but really don’t without first hand experience) don’t demonstrate your ignorance with ridiculous opinions and “cures.”

Good one, Elly!

It’s so much better to see you displaying a sense of humor than to be screaming at your husband and kids all the time! You should try it more often!!!

amen billdi, amen! until you walk a mile in someone’s shoes……..

my youngest son would have grabbed the map and started heading for the cabin.

Haha! Happy trails, Mike! ;)

(And on the ADD/ADHD question, as a teacher who worked with special-ed kids, my hat’s off to the parents who take care of them and anticipate their needs every hour of every day. More power to you!)

50 years ago ADD was not recognized. Now lady and gentlemen, get ready for the big insult, . Why do we now blame nature where we used to blame nurture? Has psychology turned even more liberal.

In spite of many here, I think it is best to use natural things (like spanking) and for adults-healthy eating. I have so many friends who are decades younger than I, suffering from every possible problem, overweight and complaining about poor health while taking everything their dr suggests. I was once as high as 166# and had a dr who wanted to put me on Lipitor, but I am controlling my weight now at 124-127 and my chem panel showed HDL of 101. I’m now working to convert all my favorite foods to more whole grains and low salt- made a GREAT and simple pizza crust!

Lewreader, please. Fifty years ago they didn’t recognize a lot of things that they do now. And they had no treatments for a lot of things either. The good old days did not always have the best solutions for things.

My comment about over medicating kids (as the easy solution) does not mean that there are not those who can benefit from it. My primary concern is with the doctors who are infatuated with new diagnoses or drugs and can’t wait to use them. ADD becomes the malady of the day, and they see it in everyone. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist in some.

My ADHD daughter did eventually grow out of it, but I refused to medicate her in spite of every professional who saw or heard about her saying things like ’ ..well, I only recommend it as a last resort, but you should medicate her’ … Trouble was, I never heard ANY other suggestion, and my solution which was a whole food diet (beginning with clearing my kitchen of everything and buying whole rice and beans) was laughed at.

However, those who laughed at me (including my mother) all came to me within a couple of months of the new diet and told me what a DIFFERENT child I had, and that they didn’t think I was nuts after all.

However - I couldn’t have done this if I weren’t home schooling her, which I was and did up to college. The schools were giving kids candy in the classrooms as ‘rewards’as often as not, and of course there were (still are, probably) the vending machines.

The diet is a problem for probably 95% of the population, maybe more. A couple of years on refined poisons was enough to give me sleep apnea and double my weight. I now have insulin resistance and am living on a mercola diet consisting mostly of protein.

We need to shut down commercially refined food. It’s poison.

Has no one ever seen someone excited about a trip? I still get like that and I’m a normal adult, lol!

Vldazzle, Can you share your recipe on here?

Yay, Elly! Good response…and I know you’re not serious, I would have said the same thing, so blllaaattt to the nay sayers!