If They’re Not Broke: Medicate Them

I was recently invited to an interventionsession with two school councilors, my son’s teacher and the principle of his school concerning his recent good behavior hiatus.  I knew this was coming because Jimmy–my son–had already been in five fist fights since the beginning of the year.  I prepared myself for the ‘ he needs more structure at home’ pep talk but instead was shocked to find out that Mrs. So-and-so was pushing for a medication regimen.  I’m not so arrogant to say that disorders like ADD and ADHD don’t exist but before anything else was said, Mrs. So-and-so promptly chimed, and I quote “I think medication would be appropriate at this time.”  Sure I was taken back but I didn’t want to be that parent.  You know the one I’m talking about. The “My son doesn’t lie to me” kind of dad.  If I had come off as combative, it would have surly ruined my relationship with the faculty for the rest of the year.  So I listened and let them present their case.

I don’t know about you but if the engine in my car needs to be rebuild, I sure wouldn’t hire a teacher to do the job and you don’t have to be a Doctor orNurse Practitioner to get my meaning.  When a teacher wakes up in the morning, he or she probably knows that the day is going to mostly consist of maintaining order in their classrooms and probably guiding children or young adults.  That’s their entire job description.  They are the big people–whom we trust while we’re are work–teaching our little people how to be big people.  Maybe I’m making a stink over something trivial but my son is only a kindergartner.  Needless to say, I didn’t agree to putting my six year old on Adderall and we’ve since then come up with a quite clever reward system involving stickers on a paper and a few quick signatures that’s working wonders for my young man.  If a teacher doesn’t have control of her classroom because of over crowding or other factors that are out of his or her control, don’t let your little Jimmy be the scapegoat.

I had a problem the other day with my car.  It came down with a case of ADD(Almost didn’t drive).  The medication didn’t work on the car but it sure kept me focused long enough on the problem to fix it.  So when this situation arises–and it will–tell your Mrs. So-and-so that medication doesn’t fix the problem, it just treats the symptoms.  When my Low oil light comes on, I sure don’t jump out and clip the oil light cable. Do you?