Oh, and ADHD was the big excuse for my sister’s daughter, as well. They had her on meds for years, probably still do. My sister is also slways on some sort of psycho-active meds all the time. Nothing is ever anybody’s responsibility, always an excuse, over the years, a truckload of endless excuses.
So I’m minding my own business reading a food magazine. Content is targeted toward the liberal foodie demographic, with the usual ads for cooking cruises and what not.
Then I get to an ad with a smiling kid doing his homework. “Consistent Kevin through the day, even through homework”. The next page is also full page ad, same ADHD product. It’s of a smiling girl at the piano. “Consistent Sarah throughout the day, even at 6 p.m.”.
Creepy ain’t the word. It was something out of a futuristic horror flick, with an efficient, amoral, sanitized society. The message seemed to be, “go ahead and give your attention-starved, undisciplined pest his little pill, so he won’t invade your life while you are preparing your gourmet meal in your new designer kitchen.”
30 some years ago a cousin was diagnosed as having a severe hyperactivity problem. Back then a “diagnosis” like that was pretty rare. I was a young teen at the time and a few years older than this kid, and it was obvious to me that he was a sweet, very intelligent boy, who’s behavioral issues were the direct result of his screwed up mentally-abusive mother. The mother rejected the poor kid and he was acting out his frustration/anger/anguish. Ended up being adopted by his grandparents.
After seeing how it played out I can’t help but wonder how many of these “ADD/ADHD” kids are really just acting out wretched home situations. And then they are further abused when they are considered mentally deficient and drugged, when the real culprits are the elephants in the room, the disfunctional parents.