They say that the most important job in the world is being a parent. For a long, long time, I thought that it is one of the corniest things anyone has ever said. However, when we my wife and I got our first child, our daughter Mary, I started to see what those people were talking about. That moment when you first see your child is the moment like no other. Everything becomes different. You live in a completely new world. You also realize some things.
First of all, you realize what fear is. You do not know how strong fear can be until you see that little person, all pink and squishy. You start fearing for the world, you start immediately fretting for that little pink thingy. And then you realize another thing. You realize that this little pink thingy is your only shot for immortality. It is very likely that you are not a genius scientist or an artist and that you are not going to create anything that people will remember you by. Your child will. It is your only shot for eternity.
And you realize that it truly is the most important job ever. You have to make sure your child gets everything you can hope to provide and you have to make sure it grows up to be a decent person. However, sometimes things just do not work out as you wish they would.
Namely, our second child, our son Jeff has been suffering from ADHD for years now. It was first diagnosed when he was in primary school. And it took a while. First, both us and the teachers thought that he is just a mischievous boy, always doing stuff he shouldn’t be doing, always wondering round, never sitting still. My wife and I first thought that we have maybe spoiled him too much. We were realistic enough to recognize it as a possibility. However, when things just seemed to stay the way they were, we started thinking that there may be something the matter with Jeff.
We went to a child’s psychologist and she told us that it is quite possible Ritalin is suffering from ADHD. He was 11 at the time. All the signs were there. He simply couldn’t concentrate on a particular task.
He couldn’t cooperate with other kids and his grades suffered. He suffered as well. We wanted to make sure, so we went to a number of experts and specialists who have ruled out every other possibility. Jeff had ADHD.
To an extent, it was a relief. We knew that it is a condition that can be managed and we were happy that there isn’t something more serious with our son. We first tried with behavioral therapy, visits to the psychiatrist, cognitive behavioral therapy, but somehow nothing seemed to have any effect. And then the doctor prescribed Ritalin.
Jeff started taking it at the lower dosages possible and things soon improved greatly. Jeff was able to finally concentrate on his tasks. He found it much easier to interact with other children as he was finally paying attention to what they were trying to communicate. His grades also improved. Over time, he started high school and we are proud to say that he finished high school with very good grades. He is currently looking at colleges. And it is all thanks to Ritalin.
