Is A.D.D. with kids a real thing, or do they just need more whoopins?

So here's a great debate subject for a Friday.

Do you think this rash of A.D.D. diagnosed kids we have seen in the last 20ish years is a condition kids are born with, something we have conditioned them to have as a society, or a lack or discipline from their homes?

Your thoughts?

 

I'll go with the lack of discipline or the drug companies pushing there drugs for profit at the expense of our youth.

 

Couldnt agree more. It all starts at parents not parenting their kids.

 

I'd say a lot of it is the parents. How many times have you seen these psycho parents at Little League sporting events fighting with each other, cussing and yelling at kids and umps/refs? These days it's such a social taboo to (god forbid) discipline your child. I grew up getting a good butt whippin if I was disresectful to my mom or other screw ups. I have some friends who don't discipline their kids in any way, and some of them just need a good old fashioned spanking.

 

Just the other day at my sons teeball game a father started yelling and cursing the coach cause he wasnt throwing his son strikes, it had almost came to blows when a few other guys stepped in. Its a 5-6 year old league and the score was 18-0. I was like are you serious? Just setting bad examples.

 

I'd say about 5-10% of kids that are diagnosed with ADHD actually have some type of physiological issue, the rest are just hyperactive kids, with parents that don't know how to control them. Parents seem to think they have to be their child's best friend these days. You need to be your child's parent first and that includes discipline and punishment during their formative years. Do the work early and reap the rewards later in life. Your child will thank you later. Children have to be taught everything, so if they act a certain way and they are not corrected, they just assume that type of behavior is acceptable. When your child does something wrong, correct them every time, make sure they understand what is and what is not acceptable behavior. It's amazing the difference you seen in the maturity level of kids when they have active parents verses passive parents.

 

It seems the medical industry creates arbitrary "Diseases" all the time. Look at the latest one with "Obesity". I think ADD is a bogus term (in the VAST majority) of cases, where just a bit of discipline would settle the kid right down.

 

Wow. You guys may want to educate yourselves a little. ADD is very real and no matter how much you discipline your kid you won't beat it out of them. After you have worn yourself out putting leather to butt only to have the same problems you figure out that there is an issue. With a good doctor and well regulated meds it can be treated and defeated. I hope and pray that your lives never get touched by ADD but beleive me it is very real and very treatable.

 

I took a group of boys from our town to an outdoor summer camp and was a camp counselor for a week. They put our group in with another group from another town and we shared the same bunk house. I was in charge of about a dozen 11-12 year old boys. They gave me a list of the boys when I got there and it was noted that 4 of the 12 had ADHD or ADD. I'm thinking bull****, that wont fly with me. The first night, one of those boys continued to make silly sounds and create a general disturbance so than none of the rest could sleep. He was asked politely by me and the others to be quiet and go to sleep. After several times, he told me that it was not his fault because he had ADD. I told him that he knew right from wrong and that ADD was just an excuse for poor behavior and lazy parenting. I said that may work with your mom and dad but I didn't believe in it and would rock his world if he didn't shut up and go to sleep. He rolled over and went to sleep and I never had a bit of a problem with him or any of them for the entire week. In fact, he kind of became my shadow after that and we had a nice time. I think he respected me for what I did.

 

I think its a real thing, but over diagnosed and over "prescribed". We've had two employees (teens) that go off their meds in the summer when they come work for us. We work them hard and they don't need the meds. When they go back to school & their sedentary lifestyle in the fall, they have to go back on meds.

 

It's very real in a small percentage of those diagnosed with it. I've seen it first hand. My nephew was cursed with it.

No matter how much my brother tried to discipline him (whipping and grounding) nothing made his brain function normally.

God rest his sole

sent from my samsung note 2

 

I hate the term ADD. I think It's BS In 90+% of the cases. Rybo and many others nailed It In my opinion.

 

There were 2 kinds of kids when I grew up. Kids who got smacked, and kids that needed smacked. I was in the first group.

 

The correlation I see between students marked with ADD or ADHD on their IEPs and the type of parents at home really makes me believe the 5-10% figure. I believe it's real. I also believe it's VASTLY over diagnosed, and most of the time, like was mentioned, it's a crutch for the real underlying problems that begin at home.

 

Every kid in college has an Adderall prescription to treat ADD. Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

 

If you guys feel that 90%+ of them are misdiagnosed, do you think the problems are caused by parenting, modern day diets, modern day activities that kids do (sitting around all day playing video games vs. going outside and playing), all of the above?

 

I believe all of those play into it. They sit around playing video games, pump their bodies full of Mountain Dew and Cheetos while mom and dad are not engaged. Back in the day when kids worked hard and played hard, there were less issues because they would be physically warn out from their activities. They also didn't have as much idle time to get themselves into trouble. Now, when these kids are put into a structured environment like school where they are forced to do something they are not interested in, have about a billion calories of energy in their system and no discipline, what do we expect is going to happen?

 

I think a lot of it is due to selfish parents that don't take the time to actually raise their children.

 

#2 & 3, because of #1

 

Teachers union didn't want to deal with active kids so they got the doctors, pharmacies and came up with ADD.