DDD Is The New ADD

Yeah I am not a scientist. I''m not a medical professional. Hell I'm not even a real good parent. In my defense I have only been doing it for three years. But what I do know, is children need attention.

About 10 or 15 years ago this whole Attention Defisite Disorder prognosis became the rage. Every child left right and centre was being diagnosed 'ADD'. Now, I am led to believe that the Attention they're referring to, is that of the child. Apparently the child doesn't have enough of an attention span to sit still for much longer than a few minutes. OK so let's give em some drugs. That'll fix it!

The whole thing bugs me. I can't understand why all of a sudden, so many children are ADD. I can appreciate that there are, and always has been, children with a chemical imbalance that would cause them to act up. But are there really so many children with this chemical imbalance?! Somehow I doubt it. These children are no different to what I was when I was their age. I couldn't sit still either. It was boring. I had energy. I wished to expend some. And you know what? As soon as I started taking drugs I also slowed right down. But I think it's a different kind of drug. Same effect though, funnily enough.

I have been really studying my boy lately. He is starting to act up a little more often than he used to. Yet my boy can sit through a whole movie three times over when he so desires. So what's the difference? I'll tell you. The moment my wife and I relax on our disciplinary tactics, he goes bourke-o. Eventually it get's too much and we start getting a little harder on him, and almost immediately he goes back to being the most well behaved little boy.

It seems to me that it's not the child's Attention span that is lacking in this ADD diagnosis. It's the attention that the parents are giving to the child. Now you don't have to kick the shit out of your child to show it a little discipline. All you need to do is reason with them, perhaps a little bribery at first. "If you don't stop stabbing the dog with those scissors, I am going to take your toys off you!". I think the ADD is the wrong diagnosis. It should be DDD..."Discipline Defisite Disorder". But more importantly, give the child the attention it is so sorely lacking. And be persistent. We all know that if we don't take our dog for a walk every couple of days, it's gonna run amok and start chewing shit up. Well how is that any different to a child? It's friggin bored out of it's brain. Play with it!

So, before you go hocking your child up with drugs, why don't you take it outside for a run first and see if that makes a difference. Works for us. We let the child run around the yard, and the dog gets to chase it. Two birds...one stone. And no-one's getting stoned.