If you find yourself in a group of people casually bring up that you have ADD (If I have to tell you what that means you are a hermit). It doesn't matter if you actually do have it, just bring it up. Guaranteed someone else will say something along the lines of, "Oh yeah, I totally have it." One or two more people might even own up to it.
I'll bet everything that they're lying. Maybe a few times they were doing something, spaced out, moved on to something else, or maybe they were particularly hyper one day and they figured they might as well have it. Parents love thinking their over-active children have ADD. It gives them an excuse to substitute pills for actually parenting.
When I was a kid I had doctor diagnosed ADD and I had it bad. In Kindergarten I was prone to getting up, getting my backpack and walking out of class in the middle of the day. I could not, would not, sit still for anything. I almost didn't pass Kindergarten because I couldn't follow simple instructions. I could not learn how to tie my shoes. If I was asked to color a fire truck red I'd color it 20 different colors, not because I wanted to but because by the time I made it to the crayon box I had already forgotten what the instructions were.
When I was in the first grade I slipped out of my chair and fell on the floor for no reason. I didn't get up, I just stayed there. I didn't fall out by accident it was pretty much intentional and it was at that point that my teacher figured there was something wrong with me. My parents were informed, tests were done and lo-and-behold I had ADD. Luckily I was sent to the one doctor who wasn't pill crazy and my parents were the only parents on planet Earth who have probably opted not to put their ADD kid on pills. Mostly for the fact that it would slow me down and they didn't want to hurt my schooling because I was in the advanced classes for reading and writing. I wasn't completely retarded.
My parents actually parented me through it. Using simple discipline and a lot of patience to help me keep it under control. See, I can't remember a lot about my childhood. Everything is kind of fragmented, all I remember is that my mind was constantly going from one thing to another real fast.
I do remember I could never make it past the beginner swimming class when I was learning how to swim because I would sit there and pretend I was driving a car, or I'd get up and wander off to go somewhere else, I could never concentrate on the class itself. Don't worry though, I swim just fine.
So this went through from elementary school to middle school. When I was in elementary school up in Pennsylvania the teachers, even the principal were so incredibly supportive to helping out kids like me. They actually went out of their way and put forth extra effort to make sure we were taken care of.
We moved to Memphis in the fourth grade and the school could not have cared less. You were either a genius kid, a regular kid, or a special education kid. Now the special education kids were the kids in wheelchairs with only the most basic cognitive functions. So I was a "regular" kid by classification. Again for some reason I excelled at reading and writing. I was always reading, it was the only thing that could slow me down. I sucked at math, and not just regular "math is hard" but "holy crap what are all these numbers doing here?" Learning multiplication tables was like learning brain surgery. Again, my parents were there every night sitting me down going over my homework repeatedly making sure that things got into my head and stayed there.
By eighth grade I started to get a pretty good hold on myself. By high school pretty much everything was under control except I still really, really sucked at math. I'd say by sophomore/junior year things were on the up and up and I'd say that whatever ADD symptoms I had were gone.
It's easy to blame things on ADD. When I say or do something impulsive it's not ADD, it's because I should have thought twice before I acted. When I failed out of school it wasn't because of ADD it's because I honestly was not ready for college. The only remnant of ADD that I have anymore is that I sometimes shake my legs and it's more of an unconscious thing. Other than that I'm just a normal bumbling idiot.
So when someone says they have ADD and they have the Aderol to prove it that doesn't mean jack. It probably means that their parents were too quick to find a solution to their kids problems, and the doctor could have cared less. Kids are hyper, kids are impulsive. Just because I kid is acting like I kid doesn't mean you should be a horrible parent and dope your kid up so you don't have to deal with them running around.
My main thing is I had ADD, I do not have it anymore. Sure, there might be a chance you had it when you were a kid but it's probably not around enough to warrant a diagnosis. See me, I had it, I do not have it. I did not need pills, I didn't need to be drugged up so my parents could focus on more important things like careers and affairs. My parents parented me like parents are supposed to.
I don't know when ADD became the "cool" thing to have. You'll know someone actually had it because they won't wear it like some badge of honor because those people know what kind of a hell it could be at times. Those people know it takes a lot more than pills to get over it, it takes years and years of hard mental work and patience.
I'll bet everything that they're lying. Maybe a few times they were doing something, spaced out, moved on to something else, or maybe they were particularly hyper one day and they figured they might as well have it. Parents love thinking their over-active children have ADD. It gives them an excuse to substitute pills for actually parenting.
When I was a kid I had doctor diagnosed ADD and I had it bad. In Kindergarten I was prone to getting up, getting my backpack and walking out of class in the middle of the day. I could not, would not, sit still for anything. I almost didn't pass Kindergarten because I couldn't follow simple instructions. I could not learn how to tie my shoes. If I was asked to color a fire truck red I'd color it 20 different colors, not because I wanted to but because by the time I made it to the crayon box I had already forgotten what the instructions were.
When I was in the first grade I slipped out of my chair and fell on the floor for no reason. I didn't get up, I just stayed there. I didn't fall out by accident it was pretty much intentional and it was at that point that my teacher figured there was something wrong with me. My parents were informed, tests were done and lo-and-behold I had ADD. Luckily I was sent to the one doctor who wasn't pill crazy and my parents were the only parents on planet Earth who have probably opted not to put their ADD kid on pills. Mostly for the fact that it would slow me down and they didn't want to hurt my schooling because I was in the advanced classes for reading and writing. I wasn't completely retarded.
My parents actually parented me through it. Using simple discipline and a lot of patience to help me keep it under control. See, I can't remember a lot about my childhood. Everything is kind of fragmented, all I remember is that my mind was constantly going from one thing to another real fast.
I do remember I could never make it past the beginner swimming class when I was learning how to swim because I would sit there and pretend I was driving a car, or I'd get up and wander off to go somewhere else, I could never concentrate on the class itself. Don't worry though, I swim just fine.
So this went through from elementary school to middle school. When I was in elementary school up in Pennsylvania the teachers, even the principal were so incredibly supportive to helping out kids like me. They actually went out of their way and put forth extra effort to make sure we were taken care of.
We moved to Memphis in the fourth grade and the school could not have cared less. You were either a genius kid, a regular kid, or a special education kid. Now the special education kids were the kids in wheelchairs with only the most basic cognitive functions. So I was a "regular" kid by classification. Again for some reason I excelled at reading and writing. I was always reading, it was the only thing that could slow me down. I sucked at math, and not just regular "math is hard" but "holy crap what are all these numbers doing here?" Learning multiplication tables was like learning brain surgery. Again, my parents were there every night sitting me down going over my homework repeatedly making sure that things got into my head and stayed there.
By eighth grade I started to get a pretty good hold on myself. By high school pretty much everything was under control except I still really, really sucked at math. I'd say by sophomore/junior year things were on the up and up and I'd say that whatever ADD symptoms I had were gone.
It's easy to blame things on ADD. When I say or do something impulsive it's not ADD, it's because I should have thought twice before I acted. When I failed out of school it wasn't because of ADD it's because I honestly was not ready for college. The only remnant of ADD that I have anymore is that I sometimes shake my legs and it's more of an unconscious thing. Other than that I'm just a normal bumbling idiot.
So when someone says they have ADD and they have the Aderol to prove it that doesn't mean jack. It probably means that their parents were too quick to find a solution to their kids problems, and the doctor could have cared less. Kids are hyper, kids are impulsive. Just because I kid is acting like I kid doesn't mean you should be a horrible parent and dope your kid up so you don't have to deal with them running around.
My main thing is I had ADD, I do not have it anymore. Sure, there might be a chance you had it when you were a kid but it's probably not around enough to warrant a diagnosis. See me, I had it, I do not have it. I did not need pills, I didn't need to be drugged up so my parents could focus on more important things like careers and affairs. My parents parented me like parents are supposed to.
I don't know when ADD became the "cool" thing to have. You'll know someone actually had it because they won't wear it like some badge of honor because those people know what kind of a hell it could be at times. Those people know it takes a lot more than pills to get over it, it takes years and years of hard mental work and patience.