isn't a bad thing, unless of course you're talking about ADHD. Yep, that's right, this genius who had 1,093 patents was expelled from school because he had what we would call ADHD. His mother was encouraged to send him trade school because the teacher felt dear old "Al" which is what he was known as back then just couldn't learn, he couldn't pay attention, he couldn't focus. Al's mom, having been a former teacher, knew her son could learn so instead she home schooled him & taught him how to read, write, & do math. For us parents who have walked in those exact shoes, most of us, aren't the least bit surprised that he went on to read non stop and to be obsessed with invention.
A few weekends ago we were lucky enough to visit the Edison Ford Winter Estates and one of the first things we did was take The Young Inventors Tour. It's a tour for kids, that are too busy jumping, too busy touching (yep, they even have some light bulbs & a phonograph that the kids can touch during this particular tour), too busy thinking, just plain too busy to sit still! I have to admit that when the young man giving the tour, who had a bit of ADHD himself, was telling the "young inventors" about Thomas Edison having ADHD more than one child (almost all of them, I'm thinking the other's might not of heard because they weren't paying attention) turned and looked at their mother & father in shock. It was something that they didn't know, something that they didn't expect. And really why should they? Our precious children, who are labeled so quickly with ADHD, are not really told many pleasant things about themselves from the outside world. And really no matter how much I build up Logan & tell him just how wonderful he is there are days that he breaks me down with too much activity, too much talking, too many questions, too much inattentiveness and before I know it I am telling him to be something that he's not. I would be lying if I said I had never told him that he was embarrassing me in public. I try not to worry about what the outside world thinks about my boy. I try to ignore the stares in public, but really I am human & I do care. I know I shouldn't, but I do and that's when I break & in the process I break him down just a little bit at a time. I try to repair the damage & really if you know Logan you know his self esteem isn't lacking. But I still wonder if in his mind he thinks we wish he were different.
The truth is I don't think so many children actually have ADHD. I do believe it assist & I do think some children really suffer badly from it. But I believe that in the worst of circumstances medication should be the last option & the label need not be applied so quickly. What I actually see is boredom in the worst way. I see creative minds, inquisitive minds, minds that don't learn the way the school system says they must learn and these minds are bored. They are getting left behind every single day. Parents are hearing from teachers what Mrs. Edison heard all those years ago. I see boys that aren't able to go & run & be boys like they were 50 years ago. I see people judging parents left & right, blaming them for their kids issues. I see less outside family time & more inside video game time. I see parents blaming behavior on issues without consequences for the children. I see all this messed up thinking & the ones who are suffering are these amazing little minds. I don't have all the answers, but I do know that we are losing a generation of really brilliant minds.
For us ADHD has been only part of our journey & yet it's been the one that has caused the most issues. We have tried medication, but only for a few years. Looking back I wish it was something that I had fought harder & I hadn't felt so pressured by a school system to do. But when your child is in constant trouble & teachers are telling you he's a defiant child, you start to feel a little hopeless. Now we focus on behavior strategy & modification. We had to switch doctors to get here, but it was worth it. Maturity has played a huge part in the progress we have made. It's not that now Logan is mature enough to behave, it's that he's mature enough to understand he has to try harder than the average kid to meet expectations. He knows that he has to find ways to maintain concentration. It's hard & I hate to see him battle. But I also believe that this is something that he will deal with the rest of his life & therefore he needs to know how to cope. The main thing is finding ways to keep his little mind stimulated & learning. For me the main thing was accepting my child was a little different, he wasn't going to be like all the other kids & because of that I needed to change. My big change was finding patience. I don't really have any, so every day I pray God to give me some & most days if I really look hard I find just enough to make it to bedtime. But that's okay because Logan is a lot like Thomas Edison & Henry Ford. He's like a lot of inventors & mathematicians & really brilliant people. I like to tell him that everyday, several times a day in fact. I like to remind him that while right now society finds him a little out of place, it's okay because he's actually sitting in very, very good company.
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