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!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Making Simple Things Hard

My daughter announced today that we have a way of making simple things hard...

Well, that is true.  We do have that tendency.

As illustrated by her younger brother who just an hour or so later pulled out the juicer, not the fancy powered kind the old fashioned hand juicer kind, and a bag of grapes.  As the pulled out a tiny grape and headed to the tip of the juicer he announce, "It's going to take the whole bag but it's going to be GREAT!"

His idea and passion and the quest for fresh squeezed grape juice had over powered any sense of reason.  Certainly, this has happened with more than just some grape juice.  I can think of a bunch of examples of the top of my head.  In fact, it may be where our favorite family term "masochistically creative" was born.   We are creative to our own detriment at times. (t-shirts are available for purchase if you feel like you can identify with us)

Whatever the endeavor, project, or idea those in our house have a tendency to lose site of reason in the face of a good cause or idea.  Sometimes, it works to our benefit, like this Father's Day when Jaren came up with the idea of making fake goatees and all wearing black (Mark usually wears black) to honor their Dad.  Sometimes, it shoots us in the foot, like countless concoctions made of every bathroom toiletry available and maybe some of your older sister's expensive make-up.


Sometimes, it falls right on the border between a great idea and trouble.  Like the fort Mary made in the backyard out of scrap wood - Shambala.  It is almost always entertaining.
 
That is the benefit of a checks and balances system in our home, not that we catch everything, clearly we don't.  It always pays to have someone, anyone, who in a moment of clarity can help you see that your idea, while brilliant, may not be very practical.  We saved the bag of grapes, this time. 

As my daughter put it, "The Aro family, making simple things hard since 1991!"

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