Deborah Does Navel-Gazing » Parenting

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

Deborah — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:48:13 +0000

I’m reading “Green Eggs and Ham” to my son Lawrence before bed. Actually, he’s reading it to me, which is very exciting. He’s doing really well. I only have to help him with about one word out of ten. I read way ahead of my level when I was his age, and it seems that he’s going to be just as good.

The thing I’m noticing, though, is that while he’s reading, he’s wiggling around on the bed, almost falling off sometimes, although his eyes are fixed on the book. Come to think of it, he does this when we’re going over flash cards at the dining table, wiggling around on the chair. He also, which I’ve never seen in another kid, jumps up and down in place when he’s playing a video game, usually when he’s at a part that’s particularly difficult.

It dawns on me that this is probably why his kindergarten teacher told us about bodily-kinesthetic intelligence when we were discussing Lawrence’s problems sitting still in class.

Read on

When to Give ADHD Medication a Shot

Deborah — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:29:08 +0000

So, as I said in my last SharePost, my son was recently diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. I had my doubts about the diagnosis. Lawrence’s behavior didn’t exactly fit ADHD, and the doctor also is known for diagnosing ADHD pretty frequently. But I had decided to go with it for now and give the medication, Vyvanse, a shot.

Treatment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is, on its surface, somewhat insane. You would think that giving someone who’s hyperactive a sedative is, to say the least, counterintuitive. But the brains of people with ADHD react in a completely opposite manner to amphetamines than people without ADHD. Amphetamines make us calmer and more focused. Strange but true.

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10 Ways to Help When Your Child is Depressed

Deborah — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:17:08 +0000

1. Recognize that clinical depression is a disease. Internalizing this fact will help your child in two ways. One, it will hopefully keep you from blaming yourself or your child. This is no one’s fault. Second, if you think of depression as a disease instead of a choice your child is making, you won’t say anything stupid like, “Why don’t you just pull yourself together,” or “Stop feeling sorry for yourself.”

2. Don’t freak out. This will definitely not help your child. Clinical depression can be successfully treated more than 80% of the time. As long as your child has a good doctor and supportive parents, he or she has a very good chance of recovering. Notice that last part – while everyone with depression really needs a good doctor, supportive parents are absolutely critical for a child with depression.

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Does my son have ADHD?

Deborah — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:55:08 +0000

Around January this year, my husband and I got the dreaded summons from our son’s kindergarten teacher to meet with her about a problem with Lawrence. It was not a complete surprise – she had told us that she had some concerns. Lawrence was having some mild behavioral problems, in that he was having trouble conforming to the classroom structure.

I knew what she was talking about. I had observed him myself in class, when I took the morning off to help with the Halloween party. He ran everywhere in the room instead of walking. Unlike most of the other children (there were a couple of boys who acted like him), he fidgeted and talked out of turn.

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Being a Hyper Mom with ADHD

Deborah — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:05:18 +0000

“Grandma Nancy,” my son informed me tonight, as he has done several times before, “does a much better job scratching my back.” “Yes, I know, honey,” I sighed, as I tried to slow down the tempo of said back scratching. “It’s because she’s much calmer than me.” Since Lawrence was a toddler, my stepmother has, on demand, indulged him with a few minutes of back-scratching whenever she sees him, during which he becomes absolutely boneless and quiet. She is somehow able to transmit her calm and sense of center to him.

Read on

Yes, I do know that you’re not God

Deborah — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:00:28 +0000

We had a 3.2 magnitude earthquake on Saturday, the epicenter located less than a mile away. The entire house shook for about 1 second. Lawrence was in the living room down the hall, so I stepped out of our room and yelled, “Lawrence?” to make sure he was okay. He yelled back, “I didn’t do it!”

School or Daycare Avoidance/Refusal Part Two

Deborah — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:23:04 +0000

I talked in a previous blog about school avoidance, and how it can be caused by clinical depression and anxiety in a child.

My son Lawrence started kindergarten this school year. He was in a wonderful preschool the past two years, where he thrived. Of course we were concerned that he would have a little trouble adjusting to starting kindergarten, but while we got the “trouble adjusting” part right, we got the venue wrong. He’s had no trouble adjusting to kindergarten – it’s a problem with where he is the rest of the day that is generating phone calls to my husband and I.
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School Avoidance/School Refusal Part One

Deborah — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:24:43 +0000

Last week my son wanted to play hooky from kindergarten. As I was getting him ready for school, he said, “Mommy, my stomach hurts,” trying to look as pathetic as possible. I had a feeling that the problem wasn’t his stomach, but might have been connected with the fact that my husband was in the hospital recovering from shoulder replacement surgery. Whenever one of us is ill, Lawrence doesn’t like being separated from us. Or perhaps the wish to continue playing “Lego Star Wars” on the Wii.
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Lawrence’s 4th Birthday Party

debgray — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 21:19:43 +0000

Yesterday morning we had the family over for Lawrence’s birthday. Here’s the cake I started baking at 5:00am:

Here’s Lawrence and his cousins opening presents:

and here’s Lawrence getting very goofy because he’s the center of attention:

The “snotty nose place.”

debgray — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 22:16:48 +0000

We’re going to the opening of the Grossology exhibit at the Lawrence Hall of Science tonight. Yesterday, in an effort to explain to Lawrence what it was about, I said, “You know, it’s all about gross stuff in your body, like all the snot that’s been coming out of your nose this week” (we’ve all been sick).

So last night he says to me, “When are we going to the snotty nose place?”

Think they might want to use that in their marketing literature?