Oh Look! A Chicken!

     There's a t-shirt in some of those tacky catalogs that reads: I really don't have ADD. . .Oh, look, a Chicken!

     I don't know about you, but I do that. Not frequently, but I do it. Everybody gets distracted. It's not a disease. Not a disorder, it's simply life.

     A veteran teacher of my acquaintance said he's convinced about 10% of the kids he sees who are diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder actually have some sort of problem. The other 90% just haven't been taught to focus.

     I don't find that hard to believe at all. There were kids in my kids' classes who were taking drugs for ADD or ADHD. They certainly didn't focus. They didn't want to do their homework. They acted out. They were what we used to call spoiled brats.

     And, when we met their parents, we saw why. Some of them seemed in charge. They weren't disciplined consistently. The parents gave in when they whined  or screamed. Allowed the kids to be disrespectful to them (so of course they were disrespectful to their teachers.) The parents made excuses. They blamed teachers for working the kids too hard or asking too much of them.

     Sometimes the kids were ok with one parent; the parent who expected them to behave and wouldn't take anything from them. Sometimes they behaved for babysitters because they knew they couldn't get away with anything. Sometimes they are fine with a teacher they like, but the chances of them liking or respecting a teacher are slim because they have one or two parents who don't respect them.

    At any rate, these kids have a really hard time in the real world. Nobody in college or the workplace is going to let them get away with whining and complaining. They are going to have to grow up and do it all at once because they haven't done the growing up their peers had to do.

    They haven't even learned the socialization skills other kids learned because other kids don't want to hang with them. They aren't fun if they are too self-centered. Perhaps the lack of social skills isn't entirely a bad thing because you wouldn't want them to have kids of their own and continue the problem.

     And, it is a problem because the kids who really want to learn. Who like the teachers to work them hard. Who have goals and ambitions, suffer because of the disruptive, bratty kids. And taxpayers are paying to "assist" these kids. Imagine the better ways to spend our resources.