Well My son, was in a daycare, where the teacher made the other kids make fun of a little boy becuase he was different. He has Downs syndrome. I have an uncle that has this, and my son loves him, and I reminded him about his uncle, that this little boy, has the same blessing as our uncle. When the teacher had the kids make fun of this little boy again, my son defended him! and told the teacher that she was wrong, and she punished my son for that. Then she felt the wrath of me! Needless to say she was fired that day!
Do you have a family member with any issues, that you could compare that to?
. . . and they have apparently heard and remembered the symptoms of adhd.
My 6 yr old daughter (who does not have adhd) came home from school the other day and told me that "little Johnny" needs to take some adhd medicine (like her brother does) cause "he's got it too!" I asked her why she thought this, kind of expecting that he'd told everyone (he tells them all about everything else), but she's come to this conclusion based on observation- "he doesn't listen, always gets in trouble, talks all the time- even when the teacher's talking!- and doesn't ever sit in his chair."
I sense a future in psychology. It does serve to remind me that she's always listening though, and doesn't miss a thing.
But if any of you have suggestions on how to explain why she needs to be nice to this boy, I could use some. I realized by the second week of school (1st grade) that he has something going on- he could really be any of our kids. He's not off to a good start (was suspended multiple times in kindergarten, and the other kids know it), but I keep trying to impress on my daughter and her friends that this is exactly why they need to try to be nice to him- how would they feel if they made a mistake and no one would give them second chance?
So, I guess my question really is, for those of you with kids who have behavioral trouble in school, what do you wish other parents would tell their kids about your child? Obviously I don't know if he has adhd, or anything for that matter, and it's none of my business anyway, but I want to be able to foster understanding and acceptance when the sudject comes up.
My son, her older brother has adhd, but doesn't have the behavior issues at school (home, of course, is a different matter). So we've talked in that regard, but she seems to think that the boy in her class is worse because he acts that way at school.
Maybe I could tell her about when my brother was in school- he has adhd as well, not dx'ed till adulthood. His first grade teacher ridiculed him and told him he was stupid. She actually picked him up and stood him in the trashcan one day. Way to start off an education, huh? The worst part was he didn't even tell our parents. All they ever did was punish and spank, so by age 7 he'd lost any faith he had in them to protect him. The kids love him, though- he's a lot of fun to be around- so maybe she'd understand that.
I also feel horrible for the boy, because none of the things he's done are worthy of suspension. Back- talk and being disruptive in class- it all happens in class, so the kids see it and my daughter seems to overhear a lot of teacher conversations. Like I said, little ears are listening.
Well My son, was in a daycare, where the teacher made the other kids make fun of a little boy becuase he was different. He has Downs syndrome. I have an uncle that has this, and my son loves him, and I reminded him about his uncle, that this little boy, has the same blessing as our uncle. When the teacher had the kids make fun of this little boy again, my son defended him! and told the teacher that she was wrong, and she punished my son for that. Then she felt the wrath of me! Needless to say she was fired that day!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have to tell you the hair on the back of my neck just stood up when I read your post. My little sister was "downs" and it still amazes me that there are people out there that would treat someone different from the"norm" in any way they would not want to be treated themselves. My two ADD/ADHD sons were raised with their aunt and all her roommates and were involved in every part of their lives. They(my boys, now men) have an unusual capacity for compassion for people that are "Handi-capable." The children growing up in our neighborhood because they were exposed to my sister had a greater level of compassion for others. Although there are some aspects of "main-streaming" that I don't agree with. I do think that the exposure of people of "normal" persuasions to those that are "different" is very good and fosters acceptance and removes the fear of the unknown that some people seem to still harbor.
Three cheers to your son!
My 9 year old started taking meds for ADHD in kindergarten. At the time, I just told him that he took a pill to help him listen and pay attention to the teacher better. Well, he comes home one day and tells me that there was this mean kid in his class and maybe I should call his mom so that she could give her kid a pill to make him nice. LOL.