Yes

9 of 11

by T. Scott Randolph

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It seems that the catch phrase for these times is ADD and ADHD. If you look up the symptoms of ADD and put these same behaviors on a child in any time period prior to the 1980s, it was call being a kid. Children don't sit still. They run around like the Tasmanian devil, and usually do as much damage. Not paying attention in school. When did that become an illness? Since the times of the one room school house, kids looked out the window and wanted to be anywhere else. Another symptom is not paying attention. Otherwise known as daydreaming, or to put it another way, using your imagination. There was a time not long ago that this was encouraged. Not to mention, even if you are a perfectly "normal" adult and something is boring you, you tend to drift off. We all do it on a daily basis at work during those endless staff meetings and watching time come to a standstill on Friday afternoon.

It seems that many parents have become lazy, or worse, just bad at parenting. Instead of putting forth the effort to connect with your kid, it is so much easier to dope them into submission. Part of the problem might be the fact that children (16 and so forth) are having children themselves. They don't have a clue on how to run their own life, let alone be a mentor and guide for a human being that is new to this world. In this situation, the responsibility usually falls on the grandparents shoulders. Let's be honest. They are tired. They have already put in their time as "parents". They should just see the kids a couple times a week to spoil them, not have to raise another generation. Especially when the social rules have changed so much since their time.

Being in my mid 30s, it was OK to spank your child when I was little. I don't mean child abuse. There is a profound difference in hitting a child like they were an adult and swatting them on the butt. Even the schools had corporal punishment. I know this from lots of experience. I was not in any way an abused child. I grew up with no money butt plenty of love, and discipline when it was deserved. I'm sure I deserved a lot more than I ever got. This is an entirely different topic though.

There are a percentage of children that truly do have this medical condition. Statistically speaking, there is no way that within two generations the American population went from having rambunctious children to children needing pharmaceutically pure amphetamines. That is often the problem right there. The fact that the medication itself is a drug that you would buy on the street. It is called speed. I would wager that the cases of ADD would drop dramatically if the parents were drug tested and testing on the child were done to check the saturation level in the blood. Basically, who is really taking the Ritalin, mom and dad or little junior?

Who is to blame? How can it be fixed? I think the dual drug testing would solve a good portion of it. With the healthcare system such as it is, the doctor becomes more of a salesman. He doesn't want to lose a patient, in this case a family, especially if they have insurance. Ironically in many ADD cases the "insurance" that we speak of is public aid. The same goes for the pharmacist. If the doctor says they need it, the pharmacy fills the prescription. If they don't then another one will.

Whatever the reason, if it is legitimate or not, we should not be giving our children a drug that has a street value similar to cocaine. Has the same effects on the body, and will turn your child into a "speed-freak" by the time they are 12. Then parents are surprised when the kids are using drugs as teenagers. Guess what? You were their dealer for most of their childhood. Think about it like that and see if your son or daughter has ADD or is just being a child that may try your patiencee from time to time.

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