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Strollerderby
Safety education is key for ADHD kids.
Thanks for confirming every parent of a child with ADHD’s worst fears, Journal of Academic Pediatrics! And thanks for compounding those fears with the heart-stopping statistic that injury is the leading cause of death among American youth. And then going still further to let us know that injuries kill more 11-year-olds than all other causes combined.
As the parent of a scattershot ADHD nine-year-old, myself, perhaps I am more sensitive to these statistics than others, so this story made me sit down with my little guy immediately for a review of the safety protocol he is supposed to be following on his five-block scooter ride to school every morning.
Unfortunately, I realized that I may have come across a little on the hysterical side when he left for school on foot fifteen minutes later, citing fears of getting his head “cracked open” if he rode the scooter.
I was not a Winnie the Pooh girl, myself. And despite numerous attempts to read the book to my kids, Milne’s cutely circuitous writing style left them lost and distracted. But after reading some good reviews of the new Pooh movie, we were intrigued enough to go, and careful not to point out to my son that he was a good two years older than any other kid in the theater. The movie was, as advertised, a trip back to a simpler time, when pictures could be flat and drama could be about who gets the honey pot. But since I had little knowledge of the World of Pooh, I was mostly fascinated by the characters. Milne clearly created these cariacatures to help kids understand certain human behaviors. But the way they look now might be a little different than the way they looked when they were written. If you look at the residents of Pooh Corner through the dominant diagnose-and-medicate mentality, pretty much everyone’s got an “issue”.
Eeyore is an obvious depressive. Tigger has ADHD. Piglet’s an anxious wreck. This theory is not my own, but has been making the rounds online. Some have even taken it a step further and prescribed the appropriate meds to “cure” Pooh and his friends. Take a look: Continue reading »
Can Inadequate Sleep as a Preschooler Cause ADHD?
A recent study led by author Erika Gaylor, senior researcher for SRI International, an independent, nonprofit research institute in Menlo Park, Calif., claims her research suggests that children who do not get enough sleep as preschoolers are more likely than other children to show signs of ADHD by the time they’re in kindergarten.
The study was based on parental accounts of amount of sleep their preschoolers received, as well as reports of ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity, impulsivity, etc.) their kindergarteners exhibited. The preliminary findings suggest that children who do not get enough sleep as preschoolers, are more likely to show signs of ADHD as kindergarteners.
Now, I’m no scientist, researcher, psychiatrist, or other expert in the field of ADHD, but I do have two sons who have been diagnosed with ADHD. And I think it’s much more likely that kids with ADHD simply sleep less. My sons weren’t diagnosed with ADHD until after they were in kindergarten, however, the symptoms started much, much earlier.
Marriages are obviously as unique as the individuals in them. But are there factors that can predispose a marriage to success…or failure?Apparently—and many of them are things you may not have control over. A new piece at The Daily Beast culls together a list of 15 factors that raise your chances of getting a divorce. There’s a pretty good chance you’ve got at least one of them going on. (I know I do.)
But I look at these lists like I try to look at all statistics. Having a risk factor for something doesn’t mean you’re doomed to it. It might, however, help you keep an eye out for “symptoms” in the future, tend to your marriage, and improve it.
1. Did you want a child more than your husband did?
You are twice as likely to divorce as a couple who was equally excited about having kids. (This goes for the first kid and subsequent ones)
2. Do you have boys, girls, or a combination?
Some kids seem to represent a paradox when it comes to attention: they fidget in their seats, can’t focus at school, but will tune into the TV for hours at a stretch. Their focus when it comes to video games is laser-like. Their ability to focus on homework, not so much.
What is going on with these children? Are they just slackers who won’t pay attention in class, even though they could? No.
Turns out, an ability to hyper-focus on electronic screens is part and parcel of ADHD. Those kids who can’t pay attention to anything else have specialized brain chemistry that makes them zero in on electronic media.
One more reason to give up cigarettes, mamas. A new study shows that secondhand smoke exposure may cause ADHD, depression, anxiety and other behavioral disorders in kids.
The study looked at over 3,000 children and found that those with the highest levels of secondhand smoke chemicals in their bloodstreams were more likely to exhibit behavioral and mental health issues. The link with ADHD was especially strong.
The study isn’t enough to definitively prove a link between mental health issues and second-hand smoke, but it provides strong-enough evidence that researchers said it would be “a surprise” if the link were not proven by follow-up research.
gluten free diet: cure-all or fad?
It seems like everyone’s talking about gluten free diets these days. I have friends who swear eating gluten free has changed their lives, though they never knew they were sensitive to gluten before they stopped eating it. I just forwarded something to another friend about gluten free eating as a potential cure for chronic canker sores. Gluten sensitivity has so many possible symptoms—it’s reportedly associated with everything from ADHD to Autism, and other issues both related and unrelated to digestion. It’s easy to imagine that cutting out gluten could be the answer to any number of issues that may be plaguing your children. But the gluten free diet is also being lambasted as a fad by some doctors who think gluten gets blamed for totally unrelated issues in kids and adults.
How can you tell if your child might benefit from a gluten free diet? Here are some of the common suspected symptoms of gluten sensitivity and ways supporters of the gluten free diet think cutting out gluten could benefit a sensitive child’s health.
Lori Garcia 
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
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