Week 6

Interesting reading this week as it really pertained to my own life, especially today!  As my daughter was getting off her bus today I noticed she had been crying, while asking her what was wrong she responded that she was being "bullied" by a 3rd grade boy on the bus (she is in 2nd grade).  Upon asking what had taken place she proceeded to tell me that he was making fun of her because of the way she looked and throwing garbage in her hair.  My daughter was so upset and it was heartbreaking, all I could think about was how this all relates to adolescent egocentrism and maybe why adolescents tend to think that everybody is talking and thinking about them.  Do children picking on other children influence self-esteem?  Does it strenghthen it or weaken it?  What are the long term affects on these children who are bullied and made fun of?  Well as media portrays the worst cases it leads to suicide.  This is something that I am so against and tomorrow I will be going directly to the school to adress the problem.  Even if it wasn't my child I would still be this upset.

Week 5

This week's material includes a ton of controversial debates, as I see these are opinions and everybody is entitled to their own.  For my blog this week I decided to write about the different parenting styles as I feel this pertains the most to my own life.  I will start off by saying I did not have the best childhood, hence is why I feel it's important to provide the best childhood possible for my daughter.  I have a biological brother and sister and we were raised by a single mother, who was a very abusive drunk and avid drug user.  The three of us were at the end of the spectrum where our parents were uninvolved, showed no type of love, and our life's were nearly unimportant to my mother as her drug and alchol abuse was.  We could be categorized as part of the "uninvolved parenting", we did what we wanted when we wanted without any direction.  Our grades were terrible, although my sister and I graduated from High School my brother did not. 
Now that I have a child of my own I feel it's my job as a parent (as I made the choice to have a child) to show her the upmost respect and provide for her as I had desired all of my younger years.  If I had to classify myself into one of the "4 types" of parenting styles I would fall mostly under the "Authoritative parenting" category.  Although I beleive I have more than a fair degree of parental control, I am ALWAYS warm and responsive to my child.  Here where the critics would say, I was raised one way and more than likely I would raise my child the same is absolutely incorrect.  I believe that what I went through as a child taught me a life's lesson not to be the same as my mother.  Although, my mother became clean and sober when I was 17, I feel there are so many things she did wrong that could have negatively impacted me as a mother myself, they didn't.

Week 4

This week I posted in my "home group" about ADHD...  I left it to my blog to reflect on how I have had to deal with ADHD.  First off, I have a daughter just 7 years old and in 2nd grade who excels academically, physically and emotionally!  I have never had problems with her in school until recently.  Where we live we do not find out who our child's teacher is until the day before school starts, this year I had an uneasy feeling as to who my child's teacher would be.  Rumor was that one of the 2nd grade teachers was ill all of the time and missed several days, even weeks at a time and all I can remember thinking was that I hope my child didn't get placed in her class!  Sure enough she was and this is when all of my problems started.  A couple weeks after school started there was an open house for all of 2nd grade (meaning we as parents go and see where our children's classrooms are and meet the teacher), I specifically remember my daughters teacher speaking at this open house and telling us about her background, degrees and personal life and all I thought to myself was we were in trouble.  During the open house we received a couple of placement test results that our children had taken the week prior and I could not believe what I was seeing...  My daughter who in 1st grade was accessed as reading at a 5th grade level, was not even capable of reading at a 2nd grade level???  I had questions, so as the open house was coming to an end and parent's leaving I stayed to talk to the teacher, as I was talking to her and addressing my concerns for my child she quickly replied, "have you ever had your daughter tested for ADHD?"  I responded telling her NO this has never been anything to cross my mind, my daughter excels in everything she does!  She began to go on about how my daughter was so disruptive, fidgety, and not excelling academically, I was absolutely appalled, I had to ask her if we were talking about the same child??  She told me that because of the things she is noticing during class that all signs pointed to my daughter being ADHD and thought that medication would greatly improve her academically.  I was astonished, needless to say she was the teacher and was it possible that my child was acting out during class time?  I quickly made my child a doctors appointment and as I began to explain myself to the doctor (she has known my daughter since birth) said you have to be kidding me?  I said I am not, her teacher is telling me she is doing all of these things during class time and can't concentrate.  None the less my daughters doctor does NOT feel like she is ADHD and therefore, I will take it for what it's worth.  At home we read every night without incident, we practice spelling, we do 4th grade level math, and I have NEVER noticed my child having a problem concentrating....

SO THIS NEXT BLURB IS WHAT I POSTED IN MY "HOME GROUP" FOR THIS WEEK AS NOT ALL OF YOU ARE IN MY "HOME GROUP" READING AND COMMENTING ON WHAT WAS POSTED!

ADHD.... Where do you even start? I have extremely mixed feelings for this disorder. First off the text and article state many reasoning as to what ADHD is and where it stems from. Second, is this really a disorder or happens to be the nature of particular children? The text states "Not all children with ADHA show all symptoms to the same degree." This statement contradicts itself, so what in fact determines what ADHD is and to what degree? Hyperactivity is one symptom that states, "Children with ADHD are usually energetic, fidgety, and unable to keep still-especially in situations (such as school classrooms) where they need to limit their activity." Most children are energetic, fidgety, and unable to keep still at a young age as is, so because the classroom is a popular place where children should be the most attentive and their not indicates a symptom of ADHD? I think not, some children are more advanced then others and become bored therefore, they tend to not be interested and find other things that keep them interested. Inattention is another symptom that states, "Youngsters with ADHD do not pay attention in class and seem unable to concentrate on schoolwork; instead, they skip from one task to another." Again, the only example to prove a child is inattentive is in the classroom... How is this proving a child is ADHD? As stated in my previous statement, some children are more advanced then others and may become bored. Impulsivity is another symptom related to ADHD and it stated as, "Children with ADHD often act before thinking; they may run into a street before looking for traffic or interrupt others who are already speaking." Impulsivity is human nature, in the sense that children are going to run into the street before looking for traffic until they are taught otherwise, as well as, interrupt others unless they are taught not to. Reasons stated do not prove that a child has a disorder requiring medication to fix problems at school or common sense thoughts.
Methylphenidate (Ritalin) is used as part of a treatment program to control symptoms of ADHD. Methylphenidate (Ritalin) is also used to treat narcolepsy (a sleep disorder that causes excessive daytime sleepiness and sudden attacks of sleep). Methylphenidate is in a class of medications called central nervous system (CNS) stimulants. It works by changing the amounts of certain natural substances in the brain. "It works by changing the amounts of certain NATURAL SUBSTANCES IN THE BRAIN", this statement clearly sums up what the drug most commonly prescribed for ADHD does to the human brain, it CHANGES the amounts of NATURAL SUBSTANCES IN THE BRAIN. When I think of the word "natural" I think of this is how the human brain works and why change something that doesn't need to be medicated rather than be taught right from wrong? After all, most of the symptoms of ADHD are happening at school and doesn't indicate that there is a disorder behind it. I am in college (obviously) and I get bored, fidgety, and disruptive in class, does this mean I have ADHD? Maybe but I doubt it, I am bored.

Week 3

This week I really took a liking to the article What's the Difference Between Boys and Girls? By: Blum, Deborah, Life, 00243019, July 99, Vol.22, Issue 8.  As a female myself and having a daughter I can relate to several things that "most" parents go through at one point or another in parenthood.  I believe that a child whether boy or girl should be able to play with whatever allows them to be content.  For instance, as an adolence I was the "tomboy", I raced motorcycles, was always dirty, and loved the agressive sports.  My daughter has really taken a liking to the same types of things; she runs outside all day, always dirty and loves the agressive sports!  I have never denied my daughter a toy because it was for a "boy", if she wanted to play with it I allowed it.  Furthermore, my childhood bestfriend has two children (a girl and a boy)  in which all of our children played very well together.  Yes, the boy played with barbies as the girls played with GI Joes.  Do I think there is anything wrong in this? NO!  Simply because the type of play is different.  As stated in the article the boys wanted the barbies to chop their heads off, well this played out true because the boy was always breaking the barbies in one way or another.  However, when the girls played with the GI Joes it was more of "playing house" with them and they happened to be the men of the house.  I believe that this is how our children learn, which happenes to be through play and to deprive them of their imagination will set them back further down the road.  This is how our children our developing the skills of managing competition and agression.  Play is important rather than sitting in front of the TV or on a video game.