ADHD is real and alive in our house like a little mischievous monster within our second oldest. Born under unfortunate circumstances , it started to present itself by the time he could walk, pull down drapes, rip off wallpaper and destroy most objects in his path like a cartoon Tasmanian devil.
He once ran away when I was attending to his baby brother by actually bursting through a screen door. A frantic call to 911 and a search of the neighbourhood found him crouched in a doorway of a nearby house. He just wanted to explore. He had no restraint.
The doctors dismissed us at each well baby appointment by saying he was ‘curious ‘ and ‘ just being a boy’. No intervention was ever offered or suggested. I did have them document my concerns though and I knew it was more. I needed a paper trail.

Daycare was difficult as somehow most child care providers weren’t trained or missed the class on how to deal effectively with hyperactivity , and kept suggesting to me to ‘change his diet’ . I’m a registered nurse and I had already done this to no avail. If it’s a chemical imbalance , his little brain was rewired in utero , and nothing I could do would change that , including no artificial sweeteners or red candies. Someone suggested Mountain Dew or coffee in the mornings to stimulate him ( as medication alternative). No joy or results came from that.

One episode at daycare involved him finding a stash of paint, running down the hallway pouring purple paint all over himself ….and the carpeting and walls. I still have the report from that day to show him when he’s older ,as he’d never believe me!

From then on, he was known to all staff. Cameras and extra security measures were put in place though when asked , they denied it was just coincidental . He was an expert escape artist and would run away when we went to pick him up, not wanting to leave.

Kindergarten was traumatic with his teacher practically begging me to remove him from class and re enrolling him when he was more mature. ADHD isn’t a maturity issue, it’s an any age issue.
We had him evaluated through the school district and he was too intelligent for special education classes , but did qualify for a 504 plan which allows his classroom to be modified for his behaviours. It will protect him throughout his school years from being ‘punished’ for behaviours that he genuinely cannot help himself doing. He will get in trouble when he gets home though!

Once he cut a little girls hair as she sat in front of him , and on another occasion took an egg to school, only being caught because he dropped it on the schoolyard. He has hidden the egg the night before behind a cushion and snuck it into his backpack in the morning. Now, I’m not sure it was the ADHD that made him do this or his determined personality , but there are many more instances of him doing things like this than any average child.

I try to go into his classroom and as I have previously written about, have wrestled him to the floor to stop him running around the classroom brandishing a pencil!

He is now medicated and the difference was immediate. It took him turning 6 , and a sympathetic paediatric doctor who actually believed us enough to have him fully tested , including a psychologist and written testing to get the medication prescribed.

From a child who could not sit still long enough to write a sentence or complete one math problem , to a boy who wrote pages and pages of essays as he just needed to get it all out!

Many parents choose not to medicate their ADHD child due to the stigma or embarrassment or even shame , but for our boy it has been the remedy to many tears of frustration , his and ours.

Mornings are still tough as his medication only lasts his waking hours and we start again daily. Positive reinforcement seems to work part of the time and threats of losing privileges , the rest.

He’s our son and we love him and want the best for him, but boy it’s been a struggle and there is more ahead.

Don’t judge that parent whose kid is going off in the supermarket , give her a sympathetic smile as you step over her child lying in front of the baked beans. Better yet, ask if you can help, just for a moment, she’ll have a glimmer of hope that all is not lost.

Everyone that has lived in a first world country has heard of Costco. A large warehouse shopping experience that will set you back hundreds of dollars buying bulk items that you never really knew you needed!
I shop there every two to three months spending an average of $200- $300 per visit.
It’s not the sort of place you pop in for a pint of milk and a loaf of bread. Nothing is sold in that small quantity there. Often that loaf of bread will turn into a full size mattress and the milk ,well, you probably bought a cow. Hence the hundreds of dollars per visit. I do believe they even sell the proverbial kitchen sink!
After my bulk shopping experience , as I was putting away my treasures I started thinking about how there should be Costco tips about shopping there.
So here go my ideas.

1. Try not to take all of 4 your kids…and definitely not your husband. Mine adds a 100 pack of socks each time we go. That’s about 600 Pairs of socks per year!
2. Eat something before you go in. The samples stations are not a buffet. Some people are actually there to shop.
3. Make a list, and tear it up.
4. Same for the budget, double it.
5. Consider how much freezer space you have and whether or not your mother in law has space and hers for those extra purchases.
6. Calculate just how many toilet rolls and paper towel rolls will actually fit in the trunk of your car.
7. Always put your photo order or ink cartridges order in before you start shopping and most importantly ,remember to pick them up at the end of your shopping.
8. Have your husband drop you off before he gets in the congested lane of traffic for fuel. You could have half your shopping done by the time he comes into the store.
9. Wear a fleece, those walk-in freezers are cold.
10. Buy the thick porkchops and cut them in half when you get home, wrap in cling film and aluminum foil, and freeze 4 to a portion.
11. Remember that many more things that we buy can be put in the freezer. For example; butter and cheese.
12. Carefully select your checkout cashier. This could mean the difference between five minutes, or 15 minutes and a dozen broken eggs!
13. Put your groceries into the insulated bags that you remembered to bring with you, not left in the trunk of your car.
14. Pick up those photos that you forgot about handing in when you got there.
15. Put your shopping into your car and come back to buy that slice of pizza or hotdog. That way you don’t have to worry about anybody stealing your $300 worth of groceries as you search for more napkins.
16. Drive home quickly, you don’t have any money left.

One suggestion I’d love to make to Costco executives is a new label suggesting ways of creating portions out of your huge packets that you are lugging home. For example, I know that 2 of their jumbo muffins fit neatly into a quart bag for freezing. There must be thousands of shoppers who could use that shortcut and extra time when they get home without trial and error and wasting storage bags??
Wait, what’s that? Costco sells jumbo packs of storage bags so I needn’t worry. Oh well then , point taken.