Driving me Crazy - Dealing with a child who has ADHD

When it was first suggested to me that something wasn't quite normal with my then 6-year-old, I thought to myself 'how dare they imply that my baby isn't normal'. After I had come down from the high of anger, I started to ponder just what signs or symptoms lead them to even suggest such a thing to me. It turned out that after much research and conferring with his doctors that my son was diagnosed with ADHD.

I had just had a new baby and was still adjusting to life here in the U.S., so to say that I was a bit overwhelmed at the time, is an understatement.

ADHD can drive parents crazy

ADHD, as it has been explained to me, is a condition that occurs when there is a chemical imbalance in the brain of an individual. This chemical imbalance can often result in that person being unusually active. It can affect their ability to function in structured environments and even their ability to focus on simple everyday tasks. I was facing a very steep learning curve in terms of not only being able to offer my son the type of support that he would need in order for him to thrive but also a new baby and environment.

As parents, when we make the decision to have a child, they become the focus of our efforts and energy and we have to be willing to do what it takes in order to take care of them. I got him assessed and also to see a behavioral therapist. Many of the times between sessions he would be driving me crazy in terms of his inability to sit still for more than 5 minutes. I constantly had to remind myself that he could not necessarily help himself and try to be a bit more understanding.

The Steps That I Took

Once I realized exactly what was going on with my son, I took the steps to get him all of the help that I could possibly get him. I made sure to take him to his therapy sessions every week, I began to structure his activities at home from the time he came home from school to the time he went to bed.

I had to learn to be more organized so that he would be able to know that things might be going crazy in his life but that mummy and life at home was stable and normal. It also helped that he was placed on medication to help him deal with the symptoms at school - he was 'hell on wheels' at school and I often received multiple phone calls a day about his conduct and behavior at school. The biggest thing that I have learned from all of this is patience. I've learned to be more patient with my son, to understand that he is stressed out about what is going on in his life the same way that I am and to, above all, show him all the love that he needs.