My husband is 40 and for the first time in his life, looking to seriously take ADHD meds (apparently they have a lot more than just adderall and Ritalin these days)
I asked my MIL: “he really never took ANYTHING as a kid? Cause that means in terms of Sky, we’d really be experimenting if we decide to give her meds later on”
My PHD in Biology, College professor MIL: “well, if she needs it to sit still in class…”
This is where me & most of society really disagree. If my daughter is not being educated in a way that serves HER wellbeing and I’m paying upwards of $15k for her tuition, you’re telling me they won’t adapt to HER needs? I will have to MEDICATE a 5yo with a chemical I know next to nothing about because she “can’t sit still” (news flash peeps… 5 year olds aren’t meant to sit still)
If she’s older and her ADHD is compromising her quality of life and she can’t remember lines for her school play or can’t focus for her Physics final — sure! Try the drugs. Makes sense.
Giving drugs to my 5yo so she can sit calmly like a well behaved robot from 9-3p… no. Absolutely the eff not. Let her climb the walls. Let her run outside and make fairy houses under trees. Let her learn math by counting rocks and twigs. Let her learn to sound out words by reading time with family members. Let her learn about gardening & baking bread with her Bubby. Yoga with me, meditation with her dad. Let her come to the bank with me so she can see how an account gets opened. She’s 5 and could go through an airport with more confidence than a LOT of adults I know. She can speak to adults without ONLY seeing them as authority figures, because she has never had to ask permission to do something as basic as pee.
I’d rather live with my in-laws and make sure she gets the real attention and education SHE needs while she’s little, than send her to school so I can get a “real job” and she can learn to mask her emotions for the rest of her life like I did
