We're a little late to this one. After surviving the Highland Park shooting with a graze wound, frontman John Kezdy was killed in a bicycle crash in August.
(1 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
Loading... Question: When are fidgeting, spacing-out, silliness, lack of focus, inattention to detail, emotional overreaction to 'change' and hyperactivity "normal" in a child?
Answer: Apparently, it depends on if those things are causing said child to struggle at school, with friends or at home.
Question: If you find it necessary to attempt to address (i.e., "fix") those aforementioned behaviors, and following an in-depth conversation with an "expert", the first thing said expert(s) identify is ADHD, followed by a suggestion of medication, what should you do?
Answer: I. Don't. Know.
This is sensitive, because I'm not really seeking advice, per se, and my wife straight-up told me that she really doesn't want to tell our family about this (though my mother already has some knowledge of it). However, I know we have lots of parents here, with a pretty wide variety of experiences - both professional and personal - who might be willing to talk about what they know, think they know, or otherwise have an opinion on.
I have a child with a lot of intelligence, curiosity and quality interpersonal skills. Great kid - caring, empathetic and friendly. Also, this kid cannot sit still in class, stay on task, pay attention to things that aren't of interest, etc., etc., etc... to the point that two-years worth of teachers have spoken to us about her inability to complete tasks on time, without continuous prompting and repeated reminders. No surprise there, because tasks like getting ready for dinner, bedtime, breakfast, school, play, bath .... all take much longer than they should, and frequent prompting typically results in tears and overreaction (on my/our part as well).
We want to help, and want help, so we sought out expert advice. I trust experts - attorneys, physicians, accountants, mechanics, etc. I look for the 'best' and trust what they tell me. That initial meeting went well, confirming (but not formally diagnosing) what we'd already considered. However, when the inevitable discussion of options to address the concerns led to information about medications, I immediately felt a panic - "No! Not my child! I've seen/heard too many horror stories about [insert whatever 'brand name' stimulant or anti-depressant(!) comes to mind] to be giving that to my child!" That's all the farther we've gone; still working on a formal diagnosis, but I'm feeling conflicted about what comes next.
What do ya got for me?
I mean, c'mon, even the label warns to "Keep Out of Reach of Children" !!!
Over the last few weeks I've had the chance to expose my kids to a good amount of music that they hadn't ever (or at least regularly) heard before. For our trip I burned some CDs (because no ipod/smart phone... a topic for a different forum). One an Oldies Mix and one a Weird Al mix (because fun!). The WGOM was instructive a ways back on the Oldies Mix, so thanks all for that.
I've also had my kids plinking away on the piano a little bit lately. I don't actually know how to play myself, but I know enough about chords and the like that I can point them in a direction here or there. I'm hoping to get Aquinas into piano lessons before too long, but there aren't too many people teaching out our way these days.
Anyway, it's been fun to watch the kids learning about music, making requests about new things, experimenting on the piano, etc. I'm often surprised by what clicks with them, and what they're interested in exploring further.
I'd love to hear more parents' "teaching their kids music" stuff. What should I be throwing their way? What about some of our more seasoned parents... did your kids take after your music tastes? Butt heads? Etc. So there's our topic for the day: teaching kids about music.
...Clap your hands!
Sometimes, the things we teach our kids come back to haunt us. Like waking up really early on a Sunday morning to a nearly-four-year-old clapping, stomping and shouting, "Hooray!"
I'm glad she's happy, truly I am, but c'mon.
Sometimes I wonder if we made the right decision
Two weeks ago, we accepted a foster placement of an almost 2-year old girl I'll call Dakota. We thought it would be a good fit. She was just a year older than our youngest. Our other kids have demonstrated friendliness and acceptance to a couple of other foster children we've accepted in our home. I would say that we've had good experiences with previous foster children in our home (granted, they were for very short amounts of time)
Just before Dakota came to live with us, we worried about whether or not this placement would actually happen. A part of us was worried that something would prevent us from having an opportunity to care for this girl. We were very excited at the possibility though.
A lot has changed in just a month.
Dakota is a very high energy child. This means that she's constantly on the go, and eats and poops A LOT. Her curiosity gets her many places that she shouldn't be, and I feel like we're constantly correcting and redirecting her. All the while trying to remember her past and why she came to be placed into care in the first place, realizing that you need to have a different approach to children from foster care than you do your own children.
It has been incredibly difficult, and it's taking a toll on my wife and I. My wife has been bearing the brunt of the work, spending most of the day with her, trying to homeschool our other children in the meantime. Luckily the older children are somewhat independent and able to do much of their work on their own. By the time evening comes along, I try to be intentional about helping out by taking more direct responsibility for Dakota and let my wife have some time to herself.
Dakota does not like bedtime, and would much rather play and run around in her room. Once she finally does go down, we try to get as much sleep as we can, taking the same approach that many take to caring for newborns - sleep while she sleeps.
I believe it has less to do with her being a foster child, and more to do with the fact that she's nearly 2. I'm hopeful that we can move past this and come to a new normal with her in our home. However, our sanity seems to be taking a hit.
We're going to a family camp this weekend that we scheduled months ago. I'm not sure how it's going to go, as both my wife and I are very concerned how Dakota's presence is going to affect the family dynamic. If you pray, please pray for our family and for Dakota. If you don't, well, keep us in your thoughts anyway.
How have you been feeling overwhelmed lately?
a big thanks to mags for manning the turntables last week.
this video has been making the rounds on the internets lately. you know, just in case you haven't been feeling untalented enough lately.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYKLvYGqaC0#t=42
(3 votes, average: 8.67 out of 10)Loading... 
