Let the Buds Bloom

Let the Buds Bloom

Back home after an eventful day, I watched my thirteen year old daughter’s face as she read the newspaper. Her anguish said the news was about something that tugged at her heart. She motioned her brother to read the news with her. His face too reflected the same distress. She exclaimed with pain in her voice, “Why can’t they just let the kids live? They will somehow grow up.”
I immediately understood what they were reading—the suicide pact—the bane of our society!

Each child is unique. Children see the world through their own innocent eyes. Nothing is more precious than their innocence. They should be given an opportunity to bloom to their fullest without the worms of hatred and distrust eating away the petals of happiness in the little buds. Unfortunately, ADHD, ADD, dyslexia and dyscalculia were unheard of many years back. Such kids were considered lazy and beaten up by parents and teachers alike. Unfortunately, in India parents consider education as the only way to excel in life. This is especially so if the parent is a teacher. The sadness in their lives is doubled as they are unable to accept the fact that their children are different. This kind of a situation has an adverse impact on these child and also their siblings. An extreme reaction to this situation—the suicide pact— burns the souls of hapless children even if they survive it…

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My pre-teen is over anxious about thieves

My 13-year old is on ADHD medication. Now he has a strange, problem, which I don’t think is related to ADHD or medication. He starts getting tensed by nightfall. The reason, he fears sleeping alone. We somehow pacify him or stay in his room until he falls aleep and then retire to our room. By then we become really tired. Then by midnight he is knocking at our door. However we try to pacify him, he insists on sleeping in our room.

One night, he woke me up and silently signaled to me that there was someone under our bed. I said, no, no one’s there. But he wouldn’t believe. Very reluctantly he looked under the bed. Seeing the fear on his face, I almost expected someone to be there. Then he frantically started opening our wardrobes to check for someone hiding in there, right in the middle of the night. Finally he fell asleep. But then he insisted on sleeping near my husband and held on to him until he fell asleep.

I can’t describe the thoughts that crossed my mind. I was really shaken. I have heard about various disorders that could accompany ADHD. But, his psychiatrist ruled it out. He said, the child would grow out of it. He has had similar fears in the past too and he recovered from that. May be he is a bit too sensitive. I hope he gets over this sooner.

Psychiatrist and your child with ADHD

We paid yet another visit to the psychiatrist before the school reopened. He prescribed Atomoxetine Hydrochloride 18, twice a day. He said it is perfect for his weight (40kg). So far he has been taking only half the dose daily.

I somehow get this feeling that he doesn't understand the human side of ADHD. For him my son is just a kid who needs to take medication. I wonder if all psychiatrists are like this. He said if the kid didn't do well it must be because of low intelligence. I really had to control myself. Perhaps he didn't remember that we had shown him the results of the intelligence test and it was way above normal. The psychiatrist mentioned to me that in spite of being able to concentrate he has scored so well. He said that his actual scores would be higher. And this is not something a psychiatrist should say after treating a child for three years.

It is one week since the school reopened. I am monitoring him carefully for his progress and also growth and any changes in him. He still spends one hour almost everyday searching for his pens or books. He still finds it difficult. His class teacher had said that he has become a laughing stock in the class because when all kids in the class are writing, he would still be searching frantically for his things. I wonder if other kids with ADHD also experience similar difficulties.