The natural inclination of children is movement, they want to run, jump, hop and play. They want to explore their surroundings and enjoy the beauty of the universe. They want to dream of spaceships and talk to plants and fairies. Kids live in the moment and straitjacketing them with schedules and time-tables destroys their natural homeostasis.
Making A Child Compliant
What does the busy parent do when little Johnny won’t fit in. He is knocked into shape with the latest, highly toxic and highly addictive drug. Parents are sold the premise that this magic pill will make Johnny a model, complacent child. He will not upset his teachers and do whatever his parents want? The perfect robot who thinks, acts and behaves just like everybody.
The general theory is children are flawed, they need to be shaped and molded into a normal human being. Growing up a Christian home, the mindset was that the child has to be cleansed of his original sin he was born with.
I could not fathom how an innocent baby could be filled with sin – capable of evil. Instead of understanding and appreciating our child’s uniqueness, we impose our personality, ideas, and expectations. Furthermore, when our children revolt, we march them to the experts whose only interest is to earn a living and profit from your child.
ADHD – Fictitious Disease
Leon Eisenberg, considered the father of ADHD admitted that it was a fictitious disease which means that lots of kids were cheated of their birthright i.e. to be normal kids and do what kids are meant to do – play, explore and be active.
Instead, kids are being subdued with severe mind-altering drugs that not just erodes their confidence but makes them susceptible to a life of drug addiction. According to psychiatrists Peter Breggin and Sami Timimi ‘ ADHD is more of a social construct than it is an objective “disorder.”
Childhood – A Time For Wonder and Dreams
In my own experience, children live their own pace. They cannot be rushed. However, when mom has to rush to work and get Johnny ready. Consider that little Johnny is subjected to this rush daily for most of his baby existence. He does not have the time to stand and stare and see streams full of stars like skies at night.
Then suddenly at age 3-4 years, he is put into playschool. He is expected to sit quietly and focus while his teacher talks about things he may not be interested in.
Moreover, if he questions his teacher he is labeled disruptive. If he is bored and amuses himself doodling, he is labeled attention deficit. And wham the child is tagged as difficult who needs to be treated and re-molded.
Child Abuse and Attention
Sometimes, kids could be acting out their terrible home situations. They are traumatized by violent parents, neglected and/or abused. This affects their mental equilibrium. They have difficulty controlling behavior/impulsivity, severe mood fluctuations, hypervigilance and dissociation.
Further, the busy teacher, social worker, psychiatrist misdiagnose childhood trauma for ADHD. As a result, the cause is not addressed but the child is further abused with unnecessary drugging.
Sir Ken Robinson – Do Schools Kill Creativity? (TED Talk)
Harmful Schooling System
And who can ignore the harmful effects of the schooling system, where a child is expected to sit in one place for extended periods listening to something he cannot connect to or understand. The scope for any interactive learning is nil. What happens when he becomes bored, frustrated, resentful and, perhaps, angry in response to the system. He is stamped ADHD and given some harmful drug that turns him into a zombie.
So how do we stop becoming a zombie nation? First is by not being hyperactive parents, giving enough time and space for a child to develop. Knowing our child’s likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses. Enjoying their uniqueness and allowing them to be what they are meant to be. All kids are attention divergent, they do not need FIXING.
Excerpts from a great article from UncleBob Treehouse- Kids and ADD
“When I was growing up, we didn’t have any hyperactive kids. We certainly didn’t have anyone on Ritalin. Probably the main reason we didn’t have any ADD and ADHD is that we got plenty of physical activity. We rode bikes and later, minibikes. I rode horses, including one that wouldn’t stop galloping while I held on for my life. We swam, we wrestled, we had dirt-clod fights, we played football with just a football and our heads instead of helmets. We had Styrofoam sailboats break apart from under us in lakes. We climbed cliffs. We jumped off cliffs into pools of water. We inflated tractor-tire inner-tubes and bounced them up and down in lakes until all seven of us flew off
Now, as to why there has been such an increase in ADD and ADHD over the past 15 years: It has to do, possibly more than anything else, with lack of movement. Motricity–movement– appears to be the key to appropriate brain development. They are essentially the same process. Cognitive and motor functions are one and the same because they involve the same parts of the brain. Therefore, movement, for a baby and child, develops the brain properly. Anything that moves needs a brain. It’s why plants don’t have brains.
So, obviously, the less movement, the less the brain properly develops. For a child–especially a boy–to spend all his time inside watching TV or playing video games, does not contribute to healthy brain development. A sedentary lifestyle for kids is not a good one. The brain remains underdeveloped. And that is scary. Boys are much more affected by the lack of motor development than girls. Anything that improves posture, gait, balance, endurance, timing and synchronization of muscles will improve cognitive function.
To sum things up as parents we need to relax and let our children find their passion. Don’t make them conform to some outdated rule-book. Remember each child is unique and have divergent interests. Studies have shown play not work helps children’s creativity, social skills and is the foundation of academic learning.
On average, an adult with ADHD earns over $4000 less a year than their non ADHD peers. They can also struggle with co-worker relationships, holding a job (being late, absenteeism, and frequent mistakes often contribute to individuals with ADHD losing their jobs), or job hopping. However, often, after diagnosis and treatment, workers with ADHD excel in the workplace. Read More
https://nycpsychiatrist.com/blog/blog-reader/adhd-is-not-just-childhood-disorder
Thanks for the information and the link. Good to know that ADHD in adulthood can be tackled.