Sigh.....In light of last nights conversation I have decided to renew my efforts to calm the tempest that is my child. It actually breaks my heart a little to do so. A good friend once told me that her son was considered ADHD as a child, but industrious and hard working as a man. That is kind of what I see in my son. Just tons of potential bubbling up the the surface. However, I started this week on a few things to try to help him conform to society's expectations. First of all I made sure the TV was off, the greatest portion of the day. He runs the most when he is watching TV. Second, I turned on Pandora. The station I am currently playing is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It plays beautiful soft music, without putting all of us to sleep. I have it playing softly enough that the kids really have to listen to hear it. Third, I am redirecting him, whenever he starts running, I call him over to me, give him a big hug and remind him that we only run outside. Finally, I let him RUN...outside. I am sure it will get easier as our weather improves. Hopefully we can come to a happy medium that everyone will be happy with.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Gotta Move!
My little guy Sandman is a mover. Sitting still just doesn't seem to be in his genetic make-up. He runs from my front door to the corner of my kitchen, back and forth. Our home is tiny. 1300 square feet for 8 people. Now, I must first say that this behavior doesn't bother me *at all.* He runs, a lot. He also picks up new concepts faster than anyone I know. He does well with school work, relates well to his peers. He is affectionate and loving to his family. However, it bothers other people, like Hubby, and his primary teachers, and his kindergarten teacher and the general populous that believes children should act more like 70 year old men then children. I am positive that the issue that Hubby has is two-fold. First, everyone is constantly saying our little Sandman must be ADHD or asperger or autitsic. Second, the path he travels multiple times a day lead Sandman right in front of the TV, and past the computer, causing disruption to Hubby's two favorite "I'm home from work" activities. Once again, to make it perfectly clear, *I* do not believe that Sandman has any of these three issues. I do believe that we are so unused to seeing the energy level of a normal healthy child, that any time we do, we assume something is wrong and must be "fixed." I do believe that infusing our children with heavy duty drugs to the point of lethargy is terribly frightening! As you can tell, I have some pretty strong feelings about this subject. My feelings as so strong that I removed my child from school when the kindergarten teacher insisted that my child needed to be medicated. So you can imagine my shock, dismay and genuine heartbreak when Hubby said last night "Why don't we just get him some medication?"
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Traccie, this comment has nothing to do with the energy of your son, but rather the activities your hubby involves himself in when he gets home.
ReplyDeleteI have told my hubby that he doesn't get to turn on the TV or computer until the kids are in bed. It just isn't fair to any of us to have him shut down like that when the rest of us are still in working/training sessions.
My kids are very active as well. I refuse to medicate them either. Their energy has to be directed, like you are doing. I am grateful for their energy most of the time.;)
We have actually talked about that very thing, and Hubby has been pretty supportive. We even had a day a couple weeks ago that we turned off all electronics for 24 hours. It does make so much difference, I think for everyone in our home.
DeleteThe bigger issue really is the constant pressure that he gets from everyone else. They don't come to me, because they have already decided that I'm weird. For whatever reason they do think its appropriate to approach my husband. Little do they know, we are usually one the same page. (That is also why it was so disheartening to hear my husband say something so contrary to what I feel so strongly about.)