Believe in your child

The more I speak to mom’s the more I realize that when they are told their child has “concentration/behaviour/learning problems” (insert your applicable word) the first thing they do is lose all faith and belief in their children and start believing every word a relative stranger (teacher/doctor/child minder) says.

If you are told your child has any of the above by any of the above, thank them for their opinion and then take a step back and…just breathe. Focus on your child, you know your child better than anyone. You have not been given a life sentence, you have simply been given a challenge and it is truly up to you and your child how big a challenge you make of it.

I recently met two mom’s who had just been told their children have concentration problems. This was told by their teacher, they are in the same class and both complain that the teacher is “always shouting at them”. One of the parents has not done anything about it; the other has already seen the speech therapist, the occupational therapist and the neurologist – none of which have found a single problem with him. Instinctively, the mom knew this would be the outcome because she knows her child, but the shock of the news scared away that instinct.

I say it again, FOCUS ON YOUR CHILD, be honest with yourself, don’t be naïve or in denial but remember that you know your child better than anyone else. There are many factors that can contribute towards ADD symptoms, people’s personalities and how they interact with your child need to be taken into account and put in perspective.

No matter what, believe in your child. If they do have ADD or not, they are still your special child who deserves nothing more than unconditional love.