My Daughter

August 27, 2003

Namaste Brothers and Sisters,

I am asking for more prayers for my daughter. I just had a phone call from

her teacher. She is five and just started kindergarden this past week. I don't

think she takes to change well at all. This is not the first time that she has

had "behavior problems" She had done this once at daycare to where she was

running every where telling the teacher no or I don't want to or I don't have

to, not listening, etc....Today her Kindergarden teacher called and told me that

she is not listening saying that no, laughing at the teacher, running around,

screaming, and singing loudly. This is not my daughter, she is sweet and very

loving and can be a handful at times, but not like this! This is extreme! I

noticed this lastnight also while I was at my older daughter open house, she was

climbing on my leg and running around and not listening etc. I don't know if she

is ADHD but I do not want to put her on meds. I don't know what my alternatives

are here, if any. She is really a sweet loving child,

full of happiness and life. This breaks my heart to hear this. It makes my

problem seem so small to this. Im waiting for her pediatrician to call. Im at a

loss.

At Amma's Feet,

Robin

August 27, 2003

Dear Robin,

you and your daughter are in my prayers.

I want to ask you a couple of questions:

1.Has anything big changed with your daughter's life recently;

i.e sleep patterns, where she sleeps, pets in the home,visitors in

the home,etc.,etc.,; just anything you can think of.

Have you started using anything new in the home (dishwasher liquid,

a new prefume, a new soap,bought a new piece of furniture) recently

or anything else that you can think of?

2. How is your daughter's diet; i.e., what does she eat?

Children who are very sensitivie can be set off by small amounts of

a substance they do not tolerate well, like food additives and

colorings, and or sugar.

It is my experience that over 60% (and maybe even 80%) of ADHD

problems can be corrected through proper attention from an adult,

along with proper diet and environmental changes.

If I have intruded into your life too much by asking these

questions, then please forgive me.

In Amma's Love,

Sara J.

Ammachi, Robin Wilson <lilymoonjewel>

wrote:

> Namaste Brothers and Sisters,

>

> I am asking for more prayers for my daughter. I just had a

phone call from her teacher. She is five and just started

kindergarden this past week. I don't think she takes to change well

at all. This is not the first time that she has had "behavior

problems" She had done this once at daycare to where she was running

every where telling the teacher no or I don't want to or I don't

have to, not listening, etc....Today her Kindergarden teacher called

and told me that she is not listening saying that no, laughing at

the teacher, running around, screaming, and singing loudly. This is

not my daughter, she is sweet and very loving and can be a handful

at times, but not like this! This is extreme! I noticed this

lastnight also while I was at my older daughter open house, she was

climbing on my leg and running around and not listening etc. I don't

know if she is ADHD but I do not want to put her on meds. I don't

know what my alternatives are here, if any. She is really a sweet

loving child,

> full of happiness and life. This breaks my heart to hear this. It

makes my problem seem so small to this. Im waiting for her

pediatrician to call. Im at a loss.

>

> At Amma's Feet,

> Robin

>

August 27, 2003

-

Robin Wilson

Ammachi

Wednesday, August 27, 2003 3:35 PM

My Daughter

Namaste Robin,

I don't know if this will be of nay help or not, but I'm a teacher and would

like to offer my thoughts just to give you an additional perspective.

I think you've done the right thing by calling the pediatrician -while I think

ADHD is diagnosed more frequently than it truly occurs, if that is the case, the

medications do help considerably. And you may be right - a lot of kids don't

respond well to change and I suspect prechool and/or kindergarten can be very

frightening places - and a lot of kids do act out when they're afraid or feeling

stressy. They also, as they get older, act out a lot when they don't feel

prepared - for whatever reason - to deal with the academic situation before

them.

With my seventh graders, I often suggest parents either reward or "take away"

for issues like this - ie, a child might have to "earn" his/her right to play

video games by proving that classroom behavior is something they can master.

Little buddies respond so well to praise that maybe you could institute a star

chart or something similar that can be posted at home (love that fridge!) so she

can decorate it with stickers as she accomplishes "good" days at school.

Special weekend treats - even an hour later bedtime or a special breakfast, etc

- work well for whole good week rewards.

I really would suggest you talk to her about the problem without laying any

blame - "Your teacher said you had a tough day today; why don't you tell me

about it and maybe we can figure out a way to make it better?" She might well

know exactly what's causing her to be disruptive and she can articulate it for

you, then you'll know what to do next. And you can always use dolls " Let's

play school and I'll be the teacher with this doll. You use that doll and

prentend like she's you in kindergarten." Typically, they'll either show you

correct behavior, which you can praise to the nth degree or they'll show you the

"other" side and you can discuss it through the dolls - "Why do you think your

student doll started singing so loudly while my teacher doll was talking?" A

lot of times kids know what's going on in their heads and can help you out if

you tweak enough!

I don't know if this will be of any value to you, but please know I will add

your daughter - and you- to my prayers.

Good luck - and I'll thank Amma again that my kids are grown now!!!!

Parenting is so hard.

At Mother's feet,

Dixie