Are all kids with behavior problems ADD or ADHD?

Absolutely not and if the truth be told, nearly 70% of those diagnosed also don’t have ADD or ADHD. The first point I want to make is that labeling parents with ADD or ADHD children as bad parents is wrong. Children with behavioral issues may have these issues for a variety of reasons and these parents already harbor guilt and anxiety about the behaviors.

It is my personal opinion that we are raising a society full of extrinsically motivated children who live in over-stimulated environments with hyperactive schedules. Never before have children been carted off to as many “baby/toddler/preschooler classes” and given so many “things” to stimulate their learning. What do they observe all day? Action, lights, clutter and noise… and we wonder why the USA produces and consume over 80% of the world’s Ritalin supply.

Children react to the environments, stimulation and structure around them. If the child is used to consistency (working within a predictable schedule) and calm voices with very little distractions, then they will more than likely be calm, organized children. However, let’s say they have on-the-go parents who shuffle them from place to place, well then, those children will probably be less settled, hurrying around and distracted because of the lack of predictability.

Our consumer-driven society has led to many of the behavior problems in our children. These problems are easy to fix.

• We need to pay more attention to our children than they pay to the television set.
• We need to reduce the clutter and over-stimulation in their environments.
• We need to settle down and give children more time to learn and grow with natural things in their environments and with lots of conversation between the child and parent.
• We need to stop buying into the marketing ploys used by companies to sell “things” that are unhealthy for our children’s mental and emotional health. “Things” create selfish, ungrateful and entitled individuals who show little respect for those “things” because they see them as consumable/replaceable.