Great Success!

[Metro.Girl]

Open house was tonight at the Kid's school. I LOVE all of her teachers - what a fun day she must have! All the teachers love her too and the sight of her was met mostly with hugs, and at the very least, smiles. Very happy to hear how much everyone likes her and how blatantly obvious it is to everyone around her that she is brilliant (I hear from my Hubby and the Kid's mom that her personality was very polarizing, to put it nicely, during her younger days). It's also good news that all of her teachers know she has the capacity to have a 100-average in every class (the problem is that she knows this, which means she also knows she can slack off and barely do a thing and get by just fine... hmmm, sound like anyone we know? NEVER!). ;)


So call me lame if you want, but do you remember how I suggested everyone go to the library instead of bookstores? Well, we managed to find the time on a weeknight last week to go (right after the feeding of the ducks, which is a whole other blog post...) and we picked up, oh, about 23 books between the three of us, one of which is called, (this is the part where you call me lame) "The Negotiation Generation."


It is a FANTASTIC book, and I suggest anyone with older kiddos read it. It got me thinking creatively about some new plans of attack to deal with some of the Kid's issues, which I wrote down, typed up and we had a family meeting about on Sunday (more on that later, just wanted to suggest the book). Also, we've been looking into alternative ADD/ADHD treatments because we (and every therapist and/or doctor who has ever seen the Kid) are 110% sure she is ADD, but we are adamantly opposed to Adderall, etc. (I'm not saying it doesn't work for some people, but we are firm believers that taking a pill every day for the rest of your life is not the way to fix anything, just put a band-aid on it).


So I found this vitamin supplement recommended by tons of parents, called Attend, at my local vitamin shop. Another suggestion of the crazy old hippie lady who works there was if we don't notice a difference after 30-45 days with this, to add to it or swap it out for a DHA supplement. Also, she said that taking a calcium supplement before bedtime usually helps a child feel more calm the next day? I've never heard of this, but I'm willing to give just about anything a shot — stay tuned, I'll let you know how it works out!


Anyone else have experience with ADD kids or are you ADD yourself? There is such a stigma attached to it that the Kid's natural reaction is extremely defensive — "I do not have ADD." We told her it's not something you have/get, it's something you just are/aren't. Any experience with any of the meds or alternative therapies? We're also reading about the Feingold program and we're actually considering making that huge lifestyle change if supplements and behavioral redirection alone don't help with any significant changes. Let me know what you've tried!



This original blog posting can be viewed at http://metrogirl.typepad.com