Realizing that all my Blogs are complaining about what is wrong with my kids, I decided to do a Blog on what is right. Kids with ADHD are difficult, but there are good things about having a kids with ADHD. They are creative, intelligent, funny, independent, driven, and talented to name a few attributes. As much as kids with ADHD can be the thorn in your side they can also make you hold your sides with laughter. Here is a sample of the comedy my kids bring to my life regularly.
My Daughter, “Chatty Cathy” talks so fast there are times you cannot understand what she is saying. Oh did I mention she mumbles too. I amuse her more than she amuses me. She finds my absolute frustration with deciphering what she is saying when she is excited to be hilarious. This child somehow manages to be the messiest person in the house and a germaphobe (not a word I know). I am not sure how those go together, but they exist within her. She is also deathly afraid of needles and bugs. So, most of her comedy is around these various irrational fears she has obtained over the years. Yes, I know phobias are not funny, but the foolishness has to be laughed at, to keep from despairing.
Recently, I am driving down the street in my minivan. I suddenly hear child 1 scream. She proceeds to lean back and violently kick the air, “while yelling turn down the windows!!!!” All I see is a foot kick the air out the corner of my eye. I stop the car thinking there must be a wasp or bee in the car. You know something that can actually hurt you. No, it was a gnat. She tried to kick a gnat. After reaming her for dangerously distracting me while I was driving, I had to laugh. It was a gnat. What makes it really funny is she felt defiantly justified for risking an accident, because “You never know a gnat could kill you.” It still makes me laugh.
Child 2 only has one major fear and that is heights. Otherwise, he is your typical hyperactive boy. This means the typical boy child aversion to looking before leaping is magnified tenfold. I was on the phone (using a headset) with a friend and we were discussing that male children often do not think things through. They leap before they look more often than not. My older son is sitting next to me and says well that is insulting. My response was, it is true. I park and run into the store leaving my son in the front seat. Upon returning to the car I do not see him in the front seat. Initially, I thought he had jumped into the back of the van. No. As I move closer to the van I see short skinny legs sticking straight up in the front seat. Having been this child’s mother for the last 11 plus years, I already knew what happened. As I move closer I can see my son is upside down and stuck. I open the car door:
Me: “What are you doing?”
Child 2: “I wanted to hang upside down, but I got stuck.”
Me: “ Did you think that through?” ( I have not helped yet, just laughing)
Child 2: “No, I didn’t.”
Me: “Now, you see what mean?”
Child 2: (Goofy Smile) “Yes, I do.”
Yes, it was obvious if he laid down like that he would not be able to get up. He did it anyway without thinking. So after I laughed for thirty seconds to a minute I helped him sit up straight. Yes, I openly continued to laugh at him after helping him up. Stupidity does not garner sympathy from me. He hasn’t done it again, so far.
Last but not least child 3. This one makes me laugh daily. First of all he is very aware he is the smallest and therefore he must defend himself from those giant aggressors. This past Saturday, my middle child was messing with his little brother. Child 3 had a balloon and Child 2 was pretending to take it and pop it. Well, the middle child went a little too far. I hear the child 3 start to cry and I come down stairs. Child 3 is completely unharmed and mad as hell. Child 2 looks like a cat beat the hell out his face. He is all scratched up. I ask what happened and I get the following story:
Child 2: “I was messing with him and I took his balloon and said I was going to pop it. He then jumps and starts attacking me. “
Child 3: “I attacked him and then he threw me on my back.”
Child 2: “I had to flip him on his back to get him off of me.”
Me to Child 2: “Stop messing with your brother.”
Child 3 almost from birth has defended himself against the older two. His first words were “stop it”. He is very clear of his boundaries. That being said he takes great pleasure in torturing his brother. He likes to sing until it gets on his brothers nerves and when asked to stop he says “I am just singing, I am not bothering you.” You can see the mischief in his eyes as Child 2 turns into a raving lunatic, because it is driving his sensory processing disorder crazy. I do stop it, but I wait a while. Child 2 dishes out a lot of torture and annoying behavior. He can get it back every once in a while. Plus, it is a way for me to demand that child 2 use self-control. His brother is only five.
Every day my kids do funny crazy things. They are driving me nuts, but there are some things that you just have to laugh at, even if it is after the fact. Try to spend more time thinking about the joy they bring than the trouble they cause. What did your kids do to make you laugh today?
Black ADHD Mom
BLACK ADHD MOM 