My wife and I adopted a boy when he was just a few months old. He was born addicted to drugs, and I've read that even newborns experience
trauma when they are adopted because they can tell they are no longer with their mother.
He is now six and we've been having behavioral issues with him pretty much his whole life. He isn't ADHD but exhibits several of the same behaviors. "Trauma-based ADHD symptoms" or something like that. We finally found a good counsellor (yes, for a 6yo) and are scheduled to have some tests done with a neuropsychologist.
I'm concerned that medication is prescribed too quickly, without trying other options first, but we are hoping to find something to help calm him down a bit. We don't know if he has some kind of chemical imbalance from the drugs that were in his system when he was developing, or if it is trauma. Most of the time he is a great kid, but he is often very defiant, more so than your typical kid.
Anyway, I'm not sure what my point is other than to rant a bit, but your comment about ADHD and trauma caught my attention. Thanks for sharing.
Hang in there! And focus on the fun times. I'm assuming you're already tried many things, but if you haven't talked to your pediatrician, he might be able to help. Melatonin helped one of our foster kids fall asleep, but yeah, it didn't help him sleep all the way through the night. Good luck!
Just curious, when you say you do LEGOs, you mean buy a set and follow the instructions (which is fine and what I assume people mean when they talk about LEGOs)?
Or do you mean sit with a pile of LEGOs and come up with your own ships/cars/toys? When I was a kid (70's/80's) we would just get boxes of bricks and make our own things, but it seems like pre-built sets are the most popular thing now.
And yes we have plenty of pre-build sets in our house, but I feel like kids are missing out on the free-style aspect.
If I want to daydream/meditate/relax I have to be following instructions. Building my own creations (e.g. last year I participated in a Lego robotics competition for adults) requires my whole brain unfortunately.
I do highly recommend getting the kids involved in the various Lego competitions, it forces problem solving and creativity.
I guess you need to follow the instructions. I do LEGO treating it like a 3d puzzle and not looking at instruction but only the photos on the box. And I don't get any daydreaming from that. I'm to immersed in the puzzle. Going by the instructions is kind of painfully boring though. But I guess that's what you need to make you start daydreaming.
I can second that long walks work great for daydreaming but they too feel painfully boring before the daydreaming kicks in.
> but I feel like kids are missing out on the free-style aspect.
Lego still sells products which are just big boxes of parts, as well as things between (the 3-in-1 sets that have several different models). I’m not sure why kids are missing out on this—some kids do enjoy it, and some kids don’t. But Lego caters actively to both.
Totally agree! I started with the GIANT Legos in the mid 70's then we got the smaller ones. I used to spend hours with about eight different shapes trying to make something interesting. Sort of like the modern Froebel blocks.
Adding my name to the list of people greatly impacted by BBSs in the 80's and forward.
I became good friends with some locals that ran a WWIV board. I'm still friends with them, and a few others that used their BBS, to this day.
My favorite though was TProBBS that incorporated a D&D style game. I remember there was an option to buy and upgrade a ship, too. Then you could explore the ocean looking for treasure and sea monsters and sometimes battle others.
You could upgrade your "bank" for better security, which hardly anyone did. I played a rogue character and was able to steal a lot of money from others before they realized how important it was to upgrade your security systems.
Fun times. Good memories.
