michael phelps and adhd and my son

In my world, it was wonderful to have a quiet conversation with my 9 yr old son who has adhd, medicated, and doing great and tell him that Michael Phelps has the exact SAME thing. To infer that it is not the end of the world, he is not a bad kid for having adhd, and he has the potential to go on to great things. Oh, and by the way, this is one reason that mom and dad encourage him to continue with his athletic endeavors. Before MP, the only celeb in his universe with adhd was Mario Lopez. Adhd does not define MP or my son, but just him knowing that there is a thread of commonality was nice. 8 gold medals very nice.We watched the interview last night with him and his mom. My seven year
old sure did perk up when the interviewer said that Michael had ADHD. He
doesn't really grasp what that means exactly yet, but knowing he has
something in common with someone so successful makes him happy. His
hero is Dav Pilkey, the author of "Captain Underpants". On his web site there
is a video of a speech that he gave, where he tells about his struggles in
school with ADHD and how he survived and developed his talents and did
better than everyone said he could. I don't think our kids can hear that
message enough!what channel was that interview on? I wonder if I could find it on line.When my 7-1/2 yo ADHD son heard about Michael Phelps (who he was already intrigued with during this Olympics), for the first time I saw him realize something positive about his condition. He knew Ty Pennington had ADHD, but Michael Phelps was someone that he had been following during the past two weeks and was a little idol of sorts for him. What a HUGE positive for kids with ADHD to see that it isn't the end of the world and you still can do anything you want!

I told my son, Will, about Michael too! Will is also 9 years old and was very interested in him.

The next day I heard him telling his little brother this.

"You know that swimming guy that's been winning a lot? Well, he had ADHD when he was 9 yrs old, just like me."

His little brother replied," No, Will.. You cannot swim THAT good!"

He must have thought it had something to do with swimming well!

ADHD kids (and adults) get buffeted with negatives so much (even if appropriate, as in "it's not your fault, it's the way your brain is wired that you have to work that much harder than other folks..."). The Michael Phelps example, or any successful person with adhd, is that of pursuing what you love to do, and what you're good at. Normal people, I guess, can succeed even if they don't love what they're doing--not so for those with ADHD. The greatest support a parent can give is in building confidence and encouraging the child with adhd traits to pursue freely what interests them--which isn't necessarily what the parents would've chosen, nor necessarily the child's peers.

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