Queen of the Distracted

Imagine life in a house with 6 kids - now imagine if 5 of those kids and their father have ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) - that is our house! Welcome to an inside view of my life and our home dominated by ADHD... THERE IS NEVER A DULL MOMENT!

Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls!

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls!"

Those were our oldest daughter Rachel's first words, from the time she was a toddler she would belt them out proudly standing on the arm of the couch. At the time we had no idea what ADHD was or that it would play such a central roll in our lives.

Since then we have learned a lot, not the least of which is how many individuals and families suffer in silence. We have experienced first hand how misunderstood and misrepresented a disorder can be.

As a family we decided to take action - to risk embarrassment and labeling to get this important message out to the world. Come join our family, share in our lives, and see ADD/ADHD as we see it...
A gift with a heavy price tag.

WELCOME to life in the ADD/ADHD House!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Un-medicated

As school was drawing to a close this year and life was proving more complicated we reintroduced Mariah to journal writing.  We have encouraged the kids to write in journals on and off during their lives, mostly to have a record of their experiences at different ages. Now we encourage them to write as a means of sorting out their feelings and some of life's tougher issues.

Mariah has some great entries from previous journals.  There was an entry in one of her young journals about how tortured she was to eat hot dogs without mustard -- something she had never had to do.  She was mad. It took forever to find the mustard and when it was found, in the freezer, it was rock solid.

Poor Mary, then about four years old, took the blame.  Mary had terrible speech issues and no one could understand her very well at all.  We thought she was admitting and apologizing when apparently she was trying to defend herself.

Rachel wrote all about it in her journal. She wrote all about letting Mary take the fall for it. Rachel had accidentally put the mustard in the freezer but chose not to admit it.  ADHD moment, no doubt.

Mariah has really loved journal writing this time around she carries it constantly and writes whenever she gets a chance.  Most entries are much more serious than this one.  This one she shared with us and said I could share with you as an example of her mind bouncing from one thought to another.

“I have a headache right now and I am kinda tired.  There’s a lot to do at home today, dishes, fridge, lots of laundry, bathrooms and my room.  I cannot stand the stench of dog.  It irks me to no end.  I really want to watch Red Tide, the surfer episode of the first season of the Mentalist.  I love that show. The second season finale was crazy good.  I hate hate HATE Kristina Frye (a character from The Mentalist).  She’s an evil psycho freak.  Dang my neck hurts. I want to go swimming.  I lost some weight.  I didn’t take my medicine this morning.  I have a weird taste in my mouth.  Oh, and I know Sid is in heat.  I think she might be pregnant. Her and pepper we getting it on the other day.  I was like OMgosh! I really want to brush my teeth right now.  These sunglasses make me feel like Paris Hilton, ha ha ha!  I think I am going to shower when I get home before I get started on all my dishes and stuff.  Cows are such stupid animals.  My neck hurts.  Have you ever noticed what a strange color purple is?  It’s really strange.  You wouldn’t think that red and blue would make such a weird color.  It’s weird.  Why do old ladies always have penny candies?  You know, that are so old that they are all stuck together.  Why do they even call them penny candies when they cost like 10 cents each.  I am going to sue on grounds of false advertising.  We’re here now - almost home. I’ll talk to you later…bye.”

Ahhhhh…un-medicated and they wonder how I know when they haven't taken their meds.

1 comment:

Penny Harlan said...

Yeah that sounds like a everyday conversation with Ethan.Somebody told me at church yesterday that Ethan reminded them of the talking dog from "UP" or a hyper dalmation. I laughed and then walked away wondering if that was suspose to be a compliment, or if I needed to go back and punch this person in the face for calling my son a dog.As I was considering wheater or not to be offended by this persons comments. Ethan came running up to my van and dove into the front seat and leaned out the window and said in a loud voice "Drive Mom! Drive, I just saw a squirrle run across the parking lot.I am not fast enough on foot! So if we hurry,we can run it over with your van!" All of a sudden the picture of the talking dog from "UP" popped into my head.I guess that person's comment was a compliment.