Let's talk 9th grade social life

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With my DS & DD I have always found that it is best to make some cool plans that involve others. Some examples that I can think of:

1) Chartered a fishing boat

2) Concerts

3) Paintball

4) Ice skating

5) Spa day

6) Learning to cook

7) Bonfire on beach

8) Bowling

9) Mini-golf

10) NBA Games

11) Baseball games

12) NHL Games


I make these plans for them a couple weeks in advance for him and 2 or 3 friends. My rules was that it can't always be the same friends, I know who he asks in advance and that I must clear this activity with the other parents well in advance. Clearing it with the other parents helps make sure that plans don't change at the last minute or that the other teen does not "forget" all about it.

I only needed to do this for the freshman and sophomore years. Once they were upperclassmen, they had a solid group of friends. I do think that this helped out in them cultivating friendships.

These are expensive and elaborate plans for kids - like trying to buy friendships. Really weird. And requiring different friends each time even weirder. Sorry this does not seem normal or very kid like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you are all missing the point that MANY kids socialize via phone these days. I don't think it has much at all to do with ADHD. Honestly, I don't.

My daughter was the same way as a freshman. Kids get overwhelmed with HW, sports/activities run much later, and many kids still do club sports and other obligations on the weekend. Sadly, if they socialize on IG, Snap or group texts, they are fulfilling friendship needs. We may not see it that way but our parents didn't think hanging out a mall or arcade for a few hours doing "nothing" constituted as much. And honestly, parents are always busy too.

OP, I say you offer a sleepover at your house. Just a few girls. It will give you a better idea.

Another thought is her friend group is changing. My daughter didn't want to be in the trying to impress group in HS. Some did. Friendships fade out. New ones will start. Totally normal

Lastly, check her phone a little. See what's up.

I think it's absolutely true that kids socialize via phone. However, what parents of kids with ADHD are saying is that our kids share a common and somewhat unique experience of difficulty planning activities outside of school and sometimes difficulty with friendships.

OP, your post was extremely familiar to me --- DS having friends at school that he very much wanted to turn into "outside school" friends, but really, really struggling to do that. He has anxiety in addition to ADHD and I think was really very nervous about texting or calling kids to try to set something up. Also, he tends to find the process that teens use (group chats, instagram) incredibly frustrating and pretty quickly decides that the fun of hanging out is not worth the frustration of trying to plan.

What helped him a ton was being in activities (sports teams) with kids and then making plans after events. Also, being able to just hang out after school or casually meet kids at the park to play basketball seems to make things much easier.

What we notice about ADHD in both me and DS is a very low threshold of irritation with anything that involves changing something already planned and a kind of low frustration threshold generally. That makes it hard to be a good friend sometimes. 9th grade is probably too young for your DD to recognize that (I know that my DS always refuses to acknowledge that any issue is ADHD related, even when it clearly is), but if you can help work on frustration that could help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you are all missing the point that MANY kids socialize via phone these days. I don't think it has much at all to do with ADHD. Honestly, I don't.

My daughter was the same way as a freshman. Kids get overwhelmed with HW, sports/activities run much later, and many kids still do club sports and other obligations on the weekend. Sadly, if they socialize on IG, Snap or group texts, they are fulfilling friendship needs. We may not see it that way but our parents didn't think hanging out a mall or arcade for a few hours doing "nothing" constituted as much. And honestly, parents are always busy too.

OP, I say you offer a sleepover at your house. Just a few girls. It will give you a better idea.

Another thought is her friend group is changing. My daughter didn't want to be in the trying to impress group in HS. Some did. Friendships fade out. New ones will start. Totally normal

Lastly, check her phone a little. See what's up.

I think it's absolutely true that kids socialize via phone. However, what parents of kids with ADHD are saying is that our kids share a common and somewhat unique experience of difficulty planning activities outside of school and sometimes difficulty with friendships.

OP, your post was extremely familiar to me --- DS having friends at school that he very much wanted to turn into "outside school" friends, but really, really struggling to do that. He has anxiety in addition to ADHD and I think was really very nervous about texting or calling kids to try to set something up. Also, he tends to find the process that teens use (group chats, instagram) incredibly frustrating and pretty quickly decides that the fun of hanging out is not worth the frustration of trying to plan.

What helped him a ton was being in activities (sports teams) with kids and then making plans after events. Also, being able to just hang out after school or casually meet kids at the park to play basketball seems to make things much easier.

What we notice about ADHD in both me and DS is a very low threshold of irritation with anything that involves changing something already planned and a kind of low frustration threshold generally. That makes it hard to be a good friend sometimes. 9th grade is probably too young for your DD to recognize that (I know that my DS always refuses to acknowledge that any issue is ADHD related, even when it clearly is), but if you can help work on frustration that could help.

But those issues are not unique to adhd. Those are very typical issues with most kids at that age as they are learning independence and socialization separate from mom organized friendships. You are not doing your kid any favors by attributing this issie to adhd. It is 100% absolutely normal behavior for teens (with the exception of naturally social teens) in this day and age of socializing by social media.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you are all missing the point that MANY kids socialize via phone these days. I don't think it has much at all to do with ADHD. Honestly, I don't.

My daughter was the same way as a freshman. Kids get overwhelmed with HW, sports/activities run much later, and many kids still do club sports and other obligations on the weekend. Sadly, if they socialize on IG, Snap or group texts, they are fulfilling friendship needs. We may not see it that way but our parents didn't think hanging out a mall or arcade for a few hours doing "nothing" constituted as much. And honestly, parents are always busy too.

OP, I say you offer a sleepover at your house. Just a few girls. It will give you a better idea.

Another thought is her friend group is changing. My daughter didn't want to be in the trying to impress group in HS. Some did. Friendships fade out. New ones will start. Totally normal

Lastly, check her phone a little. See what's up.

I think it's absolutely true that kids socialize via phone. However, what parents of kids with ADHD are saying is that our kids share a common and somewhat unique experience of difficulty planning activities outside of school and sometimes difficulty with friendships.

OP, your post was extremely familiar to me --- DS having friends at school that he very much wanted to turn into "outside school" friends, but really, really struggling to do that. He has anxiety in addition to ADHD and I think was really very nervous about texting or calling kids to try to set something up. Also, he tends to find the process that teens use (group chats, instagram) incredibly frustrating and pretty quickly decides that the fun of hanging out is not worth the frustration of trying to plan.

What helped him a ton was being in activities (sports teams) with kids and then making plans after events. Also, being able to just hang out after school or casually meet kids at the park to play basketball seems to make things much easier.

What we notice about ADHD in both me and DS is a very low threshold of irritation with anything that involves changing something already planned and a kind of low frustration threshold generally. That makes it hard to be a good friend sometimes. 9th grade is probably too young for your DD to recognize that (I know that my DS always refuses to acknowledge that any issue is ADHD related, even when it clearly is), but if you can help work on frustration that could help.

But those issues are not unique to adhd. Those are very typical issues with most kids at that age as they are learning independence and socialization separate from mom organized friendships. You are not doing your kid any favors by attributing this issie to adhd. It is 100% absolutely normal behavior for teens (with the exception of naturally social teens) in this day and age of socializing by social media.

Exactly!! Stop making your kids seem different. That might be an issue for you and why your child might even be worse. Stop labeling your kids. ALL kids this age have issues socializing. It is normal. It is nice that OP told a little more about her child but it doesn't mean that she should be treated any differently. She has mild symptoms. She is not medicated. That could be over 50% of teens these age. Honestly, if you want to continue to only make this about ADHD only, go the SN board.

[Anonymous]

I am actually feeling more relieved about my own 9th grade son as I read this thread. His social life seems to revolve around his phone with the exception of a few large scale parties he attended this fall. It has been a vast departure from 8th grade where he had plans with friends every weekend. However, I have also observed a shift in friendships, which may be due, in part, to maturity differences among kids this age. To me, fraternizing primarily via social media seems rather lonely, but that is probably more reflective of my generation, where weekends involved hours on the phone with call waiting and endless shopping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you are all missing the point that MANY kids socialize via phone these days. I don't think it has much at all to do with ADHD. Honestly, I don't.

My daughter was the same way as a freshman. Kids get overwhelmed with HW, sports/activities run much later, and many kids still do club sports and other obligations on the weekend. Sadly, if they socialize on IG, Snap or group texts, they are fulfilling friendship needs. We may not see it that way but our parents didn't think hanging out a mall or arcade for a few hours doing "nothing" constituted as much. And honestly, parents are always busy too.

OP, I say you offer a sleepover at your house. Just a few girls. It will give you a better idea.

Another thought is her friend group is changing. My daughter didn't want to be in the trying to impress group in HS. Some did. Friendships fade out. New ones will start. Totally normal

Lastly, check her phone a little. See what's up.

I think it's absolutely true that kids socialize via phone. However, what parents of kids with ADHD are saying is that our kids share a common and somewhat unique experience of difficulty planning activities outside of school and sometimes difficulty with friendships.

OP, your post was extremely familiar to me --- DS having friends at school that he very much wanted to turn into "outside school" friends, but really, really struggling to do that. He has anxiety in addition to ADHD and I think was really very nervous about texting or calling kids to try to set something up. Also, he tends to find the process that teens use (group chats, instagram) incredibly frustrating and pretty quickly decides that the fun of hanging out is not worth the frustration of trying to plan.

What helped him a ton was being in activities (sports teams) with kids and then making plans after events. Also, being able to just hang out after school or casually meet kids at the park to play basketball seems to make things much easier.

What we notice about ADHD in both me and DS is a very low threshold of irritation with anything that involves changing something already planned and a kind of low frustration threshold generally. That makes it hard to be a good friend sometimes. 9th grade is probably too young for your DD to recognize that (I know that my DS always refuses to acknowledge that any issue is ADHD related, even when it clearly is), but if you can help work on frustration that could help.

But those issues are not unique to adhd. Those are very typical issues with most kids at that age as they are learning independence and socialization separate from mom organized friendships. You are not doing your kid any favors by attributing this issie to adhd. It is 100% absolutely normal behavior for teens (with the exception of naturally social teens) in this day and age of socializing by social media.

You're missing the point. We're seeing other kids able to manage things better. They socialize/plan things with their phone, and extend it into real life. And I have found when I offer my DD the scaffolding, she is also able to extend phone socializing/planning into real life things. When I remove the scaffolding, she can't - not because she doesn't want to, but because her ADHD makes it extremely difficult to plan and organize things. In that way she has a harder time than her peers. Parents are asking "is this normal" and "what can I do to help this" which is also a really tough thing to do with teenagers. They don't want your active hand holding. They see their friends don't have their parents plan things, and can over-react if you try to plan things for them. They also see their friends going out and doing things with friends and they have no idea how that happens. Parents need to figure out how to walk the path of supporting their want-to-be-independent teenagers, while allowing for the fact that socializing is a bit different these days.

Wanting to go to the mall with friends and repeatedly failing at being able to make it happen may not be unique to ADHD, but it is more common in kids with ADHD and less common in kids without ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you are all missing the point that MANY kids socialize via phone these days. I don't think it has much at all to do with ADHD. Honestly, I don't.

My daughter was the same way as a freshman. Kids get overwhelmed with HW, sports/activities run much later, and many kids still do club sports and other obligations on the weekend. Sadly, if they socialize on IG, Snap or group texts, they are fulfilling friendship needs. We may not see it that way but our parents didn't think hanging out a mall or arcade for a few hours doing "nothing" constituted as much. And honestly, parents are always busy too.

OP, I say you offer a sleepover at your house. Just a few girls. It will give you a better idea.

Another thought is her friend group is changing. My daughter didn't want to be in the trying to impress group in HS. Some did. Friendships fade out. New ones will start. Totally normal

Lastly, check her phone a little. See what's up.

I think it's absolutely true that kids socialize via phone. However, what parents of kids with ADHD are saying is that our kids share a common and somewhat unique experience of difficulty planning activities outside of school and sometimes difficulty with friendships.

OP, your post was extremely familiar to me --- DS having friends at school that he very much wanted to turn into "outside school" friends, but really, really struggling to do that. He has anxiety in addition to ADHD and I think was really very nervous about texting or calling kids to try to set something up. Also, he tends to find the process that teens use (group chats, instagram) incredibly frustrating and pretty quickly decides that the fun of hanging out is not worth the frustration of trying to plan.

What helped him a ton was being in activities (sports teams) with kids and then making plans after events. Also, being able to just hang out after school or casually meet kids at the park to play basketball seems to make things much easier.

What we notice about ADHD in both me and DS is a very low threshold of irritation with anything that involves changing something already planned and a kind of low frustration threshold generally. That makes it hard to be a good friend sometimes. 9th grade is probably too young for your DD to recognize that (I know that my DS always refuses to acknowledge that any issue is ADHD related, even when it clearly is), but if you can help work on frustration that could help.

But those issues are not unique to adhd. Those are very typical issues with most kids at that age as they are learning independence and socialization separate from mom organized friendships. You are not doing your kid any favors by attributing this issie to adhd. It is 100% absolutely normal behavior for teens (with the exception of naturally social teens) in this day and age of socializing by social media.

You're missing the point. We're seeing other kids able to manage things better. They socialize/plan things with their phone, and extend it into real life. And I have found when I offer my DD the scaffolding, she is also able to extend phone socializing/planning into real life things. When I remove the scaffolding, she can't - not because she doesn't want to, but because her ADHD makes it extremely difficult to plan and organize things. In that way she has a harder time than her peers. Parents are asking "is this normal" and "what can I do to help this" which is also a really tough thing to do with teenagers. They don't want your active hand holding. They see their friends don't have their parents plan things, and can over-react if you try to plan things for them. They also see their friends going out and doing things with friends and they have no idea how that happens. Parents need to figure out how to walk the path of supporting their want-to-be-independent teenagers, while allowing for the fact that socializing is a bit different these days.

Wanting to go to the mall with friends and repeatedly failing at being able to make it happen may not be unique to ADHD, but it is more common in kids with ADHD and less common in kids without ADHD.

Not the PP. You don't know that at all. You are making drastic assumptions. My daughter does not have ADHD and one of her closer friends does. She is extremely social, never home, always wanting to be out and about. My daughter is more of an introvert/extrovert. She is outgoing in school but needs time and home alone. Once she gets home it is tough for her to want to really go out. Sometimes it is a shift in friends, sometimes she is not ready to be in high school social scenes (slightly awkward in large crowds and kinda immature) and other times she just wants to put PJ's on and binge watch Netflix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you are all missing the point that MANY kids socialize via phone these days. I don't think it has much at all to do with ADHD. Honestly, I don't.

My daughter was the same way as a freshman. Kids get overwhelmed with HW, sports/activities run much later, and many kids still do club sports and other obligations on the weekend. Sadly, if they socialize on IG, Snap or group texts, they are fulfilling friendship needs. We may not see it that way but our parents didn't think hanging out a mall or arcade for a few hours doing "nothing" constituted as much. And honestly, parents are always busy too.

OP, I say you offer a sleepover at your house. Just a few girls. It will give you a better idea.

Another thought is her friend group is changing. My daughter didn't want to be in the trying to impress group in HS. Some did. Friendships fade out. New ones will start. Totally normal

Lastly, check her phone a little. See what's up.

I think it's absolutely true that kids socialize via phone. However, what parents of kids with ADHD are saying is that our kids share a common and somewhat unique experience of difficulty planning activities outside of school and sometimes difficulty with friendships.

OP, your post was extremely familiar to me --- DS having friends at school that he very much wanted to turn into "outside school" friends, but really, really struggling to do that. He has anxiety in addition to ADHD and I think was really very nervous about texting or calling kids to try to set something up. Also, he tends to find the process that teens use (group chats, instagram) incredibly frustrating and pretty quickly decides that the fun of hanging out is not worth the frustration of trying to plan.

What helped him a ton was being in activities (sports teams) with kids and then making plans after events. Also, being able to just hang out after school or casually meet kids at the park to play basketball seems to make things much easier.

What we notice about ADHD in both me and DS is a very low threshold of irritation with anything that involves changing something already planned and a kind of low frustration threshold generally. That makes it hard to be a good friend sometimes. 9th grade is probably too young for your DD to recognize that (I know that my DS always refuses to acknowledge that any issue is ADHD related, even when it clearly is), but if you can help work on frustration that could help.

But those issues are not unique to adhd. Those are very typical issues with most kids at that age as they are learning independence and socialization separate from mom organized friendships. You are not doing your kid any favors by attributing this issie to adhd. It is 100% absolutely normal behavior for teens (with the exception of naturally social teens) in this day and age of socializing by social media.

You don't have a kid with ADHD. I have multiple teens, one with ADHD. There is a BIG difference. All those things that are normal for all kids, are so much MORE for my ADHD kid. To the point that she is often completely undone by trying to navigate it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you are all missing the point that MANY kids socialize via phone these days. I don't think it has much at all to do with ADHD. Honestly, I don't.

My daughter was the same way as a freshman. Kids get overwhelmed with HW, sports/activities run much later, and many kids still do club sports and other obligations on the weekend. Sadly, if they socialize on IG, Snap or group texts, they are fulfilling friendship needs. We may not see it that way but our parents didn't think hanging out a mall or arcade for a few hours doing "nothing" constituted as much. And honestly, parents are always busy too.

OP, I say you offer a sleepover at your house. Just a few girls. It will give you a better idea.

Another thought is her friend group is changing. My daughter didn't want to be in the trying to impress group in HS. Some did. Friendships fade out. New ones will start. Totally normal

Lastly, check her phone a little. See what's up.

I think it's absolutely true that kids socialize via phone. However, what parents of kids with ADHD are saying is that our kids share a common and somewhat unique experience of difficulty planning activities outside of school and sometimes difficulty with friendships.

OP, your post was extremely familiar to me --- DS having friends at school that he very much wanted to turn into "outside school" friends, but really, really struggling to do that. He has anxiety in addition to ADHD and I think was really very nervous about texting or calling kids to try to set something up. Also, he tends to find the process that teens use (group chats, instagram) incredibly frustrating and pretty quickly decides that the fun of hanging out is not worth the frustration of trying to plan.

What helped him a ton was being in activities (sports teams) with kids and then making plans after events. Also, being able to just hang out after school or casually meet kids at the park to play basketball seems to make things much easier.

What we notice about ADHD in both me and DS is a very low threshold of irritation with anything that involves changing something already planned and a kind of low frustration threshold generally. That makes it hard to be a good friend sometimes. 9th grade is probably too young for your DD to recognize that (I know that my DS always refuses to acknowledge that any issue is ADHD related, even when it clearly is), but if you can help work on frustration that could help.

But those issues are not unique to adhd. Those are very typical issues with most kids at that age as they are learning independence and socialization separate from mom organized friendships. You are not doing your kid any favors by attributing this issie to adhd. It is 100% absolutely normal behavior for teens (with the exception of naturally social teens) in this day and age of socializing by social media.

You're missing the point. We're seeing other kids able to manage things better. They socialize/plan things with their phone, and extend it into real life. And I have found when I offer my DD the scaffolding, she is also able to extend phone socializing/planning into real life things. When I remove the scaffolding, she can't - not because she doesn't want to, but because her ADHD makes it extremely difficult to plan and organize things. In that way she has a harder time than her peers. Parents are asking "is this normal" and "what can I do to help this" which is also a really tough thing to do with teenagers. They don't want your active hand holding. They see their friends don't have their parents plan things, and can over-react if you try to plan things for them. They also see their friends going out and doing things with friends and they have no idea how that happens. Parents need to figure out how to walk the path of supporting their want-to-be-independent teenagers, while allowing for the fact that socializing is a bit different these days.

Wanting to go to the mall with friends and repeatedly failing at being able to make it happen may not be unique to ADHD, but it is more common in kids with ADHD and less common in kids without ADHD.

Not the PP. You don't know that at all. You are making drastic assumptions. My daughter does not have ADHD and one of her closer friends does. She is extremely social, never home, always wanting to be out and about. My daughter is more of an introvert/extrovert. She is outgoing in school but needs time and home alone. Once she gets home it is tough for her to want to really go out. Sometimes it is a shift in friends, sometimes she is not ready to be in high school social scenes (slightly awkward in large crowds and kinda immature) and other times she just wants to put PJ's on and binge watch Netflix.

Nobody here is talking about introverted teens or extroverted teens. We're talking about kids who are having trouble organizing the going out part of socializing, when they want to be doing that.

I have two children, both of whom have ADHD. One is an introvert, and social organization is not an issue in her life. She manages perfectly well with an online social life, and her ADHD does not cause any problems with it. It causes significant issues with my extroverted ADHD child, however. My extroverted ADHD DH also has problems with organizing and planning his social life. He was fine before we had kids along with all our friends, when everything could be spur of the moment. But now that things need to be planned? It's been an uphill battle for him, one he often gives up on because it's tremendously complicated. It doesn't sound like you really have a grasp for how ADHD can affect this aspect of life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you are all missing the point that MANY kids socialize via phone these days. I don't think it has much at all to do with ADHD. Honestly, I don't.

My daughter was the same way as a freshman. Kids get overwhelmed with HW, sports/activities run much later, and many kids still do club sports and other obligations on the weekend. Sadly, if they socialize on IG, Snap or group texts, they are fulfilling friendship needs. We may not see it that way but our parents didn't think hanging out a mall or arcade for a few hours doing "nothing" constituted as much. And honestly, parents are always busy too.

OP, I say you offer a sleepover at your house. Just a few girls. It will give you a better idea.

Another thought is her friend group is changing. My daughter didn't want to be in the trying to impress group in HS. Some did. Friendships fade out. New ones will start. Totally normal

Lastly, check her phone a little. See what's up.

I think it's absolutely true that kids socialize via phone. However, what parents of kids with ADHD are saying is that our kids share a common and somewhat unique experience of difficulty planning activities outside of school and sometimes difficulty with friendships.

OP, your post was extremely familiar to me --- DS having friends at school that he very much wanted to turn into "outside school" friends, but really, really struggling to do that. He has anxiety in addition to ADHD and I think was really very nervous about texting or calling kids to try to set something up. Also, he tends to find the process that teens use (group chats, instagram) incredibly frustrating and pretty quickly decides that the fun of hanging out is not worth the frustration of trying to plan.

What helped him a ton was being in activities (sports teams) with kids and then making plans after events. Also, being able to just hang out after school or casually meet kids at the park to play basketball seems to make things much easier.

What we notice about ADHD in both me and DS is a very low threshold of irritation with anything that involves changing something already planned and a kind of low frustration threshold generally. That makes it hard to be a good friend sometimes. 9th grade is probably too young for your DD to recognize that (I know that my DS always refuses to acknowledge that any issue is ADHD related, even when it clearly is), but if you can help work on frustration that could help.

But those issues are not unique to adhd. Those are very typical issues with most kids at that age as they are learning independence and socialization separate from mom organized friendships. You are not doing your kid any favors by attributing this issie to adhd. It is 100% absolutely normal behavior for teens (with the exception of naturally social teens) in this day and age of socializing by social media.

You don't have a kid with ADHD. I have multiple teens, one with ADHD. There is a BIG difference. All those things that are normal for all kids, are so much MORE for my ADHD kid. To the point that she is often completely undone by trying to navigate it all.

Well, you are wrong again.

My kid with adhd is the most social, always trying to set up gatherings, trying to get together with friends.

My two non adhd kids are the ones who needs more guidance, more encouragement to step out of their comfort zone and organize getting together with people.

Teen socialization is personality driven.

Nothing OPs describes about her daughter (mild, unmedicated) sounds unusual or non typical for any number of high school freshmen or early teens.

It is dismissive to just blame it on adhd.

Perfectly normal behavior depending on the personality of the kid, not adhd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is my DD too. Although two years later and it's really no better. I think the ADHD, which we now medicate for, and some resulting anxiety, have really made it very hard for her to engage with her peers. (I also think girls can have unrealistic ideas of what high school social lives look like - sort of the Disney Channel effect - and assume everyone else is off having fun without them. It can be hard to realize that that doesn't all just happen organically and it takes some work.)

THIS is the issue.

[Anonymous]

Raise your hand if you are sick of the SN parents turning every post about them.

The OP's child is normal. Stop making it seem like kids with mild ADHD can not function. It is cringe worthy.

[Anonymous]

Once I got busy with my own life, I stopped worrying about my kids' social lives. I honestly think that's the cure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Raise your hand if you are sick of the SN parents turning every post about them.

The OP's child is normal. Stop making it seem like kids with mild ADHD can not function. It is cringe worthy.

the OP said her kid has ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Half or more of you claiming to have children with ADHD do not. You are just medicating your children for normal behavior, as a short cut. I understand why it's so easy to convince yourselves that your kids have a diagnosable disorder... You've got educators, doctors, neighbors, family members justifying your behavior.

We are closer and closer each year to better understanding the long term impact of these medications on developing brains. Young parents on DCUM are about the right age to have come from the first Generation Ritalin. Maybe this would start to explain the extreme neurotic anxiety and borderline pathological attitudes about life and parenting that you find in these boards.

Back off, let your kids be kids. Don't make them pay for your problems by medicating and obsessively hovering over every moment and decision in their lives.