Feeling: Frustrated
Listening to: Jump, Little Children - "Close Your Eyes"
Reading/Watching: research

I'm having a problem with this whole Medicate America crap.

Rant: Okay, so I know these parents with three kids, the eldest of which is a daughter who's eight. She supposedly has ADHD (her parents say, anyway), but I've not seen her exhibit any signs of it. When ever she starts to get bouncy or silly, like a KID IS SUPPOSED TO DO, her mom starts saying things about her "medication wearing off."

I've spent several hours with this kid, alone for the most part, playing with her, talking with her, and she is completely normal. Healthy, energetic, imaginative. A little impatient, goofy, but what kid isn't? When she was brushing her teeth once and gave herself a toothpaste goatee, I laughed with her and then told her to wash it off. I told her mom, expecting an amused grin, but she rolled her eyes and said "yeah, her medication hasn't been working so well lately."

Whuhduhfuh?! I'm sorry, but that's just... grr. Her parents asked me if I had ADHD, because I told a story about leaving the sink running once and flooding the utility room. I said no, I had *YTD (click the link, it's great), because I was six. Imagine what they would've done if I told about coloring the kitchen floor with red crayon when I was four.

Teachers complained to my mom about how I would talk nonstop in first grade, and sing to myself, and she asked whether I was neglecting my work. No: I finished it in half the time and got bored sitting, waiting for the other kids, so I amused myself. I was moved to the advanced class, instead of getting a diag-nonsense about some disorder, and survived 13 more years of school unmedicated.

Imagine that. An energetic, intelligent, creative girl, and NOT some doped-down stereotype with an overzealous mother and a happy pharmacist.

Thank God my mom was patient, and not looking for an easy way to keep me under control. This girl's mom just yells at her any time she so much as breathes. It's making me crazy, because the girl has started to hero-worship me and Bri for not constantly telling her to be quiet, hold still, be a good girl and stop having fun.

The worst part is, I'm not sure how I can possibly help things at all. Bri thinks she's thought of a way (giving horseback riding lessons, which she loves, and is supposed to be really good with improving patience & concentration), and we'll have to see if it works, but for now I feel completely useless.

And it's 2:30 a.m. and I have church tomorrow at 9. Mrph.

*= Article taken from The Onion, an online satire magazine that I love.

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