I'm participating in a school project with my niece in Seattle. It involves her writing me letters and asking things about my life, and me sending letters back, telling stories from my childhood on. I wrote the first one, which was about my "early years". Thinking about my early childhood of course brought up all kinds of memories. But one glaring thing stood out: I could have been the poster child for ADHD. In the fifties and sixties, I know they knew of Attention Deficit (Hyperactive) Disorder, but I hadn't heard of it, and I know until the seventies, it wasn't much publicized. And for many years, they said adults and females did not have it. If I was growing up now, I think by the time I was two, parents and pretty much everyone around me would have figured it out. I always HAD to be doing something. When I was two, my dad and siblings and I were waiting in the park in downtown Houston for my mom to get off of work. Waiting is not something I've ever been good at. I jumped in the huge pond to get a duck. My dad picked me up by the back of my sunsuit, and I was yelling, "I wanna quack-quack". Well, I was bored, the ducks were there, what was I supposed to do?
When I was writing the letter, all I could think of were incidences that are so clearly ADHD related, but at the time, I was just a hyper kid who couldn't sit still. Academically school was always very easy, but my behavior was so bad I got paddled every year but fourth grade. Most years I was the only girl in the class to do so. Until now, I never really thought much about it, but hey, that's not very common, didn't anyone wonder what the problem was? I was never mean, I'd just get in trouble for talking, interrupting the teacher, laughing and making others laugh. "Disrupting the classroom" is what notes home always said.
It's a whole new world, and people are realizing what a gift and asset ADHD can often be if managed properly. I'd like to manage mine properly. lol. Jan
I wanna quack-quack. So cute.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many things (illnesses) that had no name in the past and that parents managed without asking questions .... nowedays everything seems so much more difficult !!!
ReplyDeleteHave a nice day,
Katia
I alway think of the way Isaac will look back on his childhood as he\'s always got negative comments to deal with and he\'s only four....lucky he has another new teacher who actually takes notice of how high he can be some mornings.... he doesn\'t take him to assembly to sit with the rest of the school does jigsaws in the classroom instead ....seems to have alot more good mornings as they put it ....... xx loved the tail about the ducks
ReplyDeleteMaybe you were just a brat!! Bahhh Haaaa!!! (sorry...only kidding; couldn\'t resist, it was too easy. Snort!)
ReplyDelete