Having children was always one of my top priorities.  Having always loved kids, it was easy to fall into the role of motherhood when my first child was born.  She was an absolute joy.  Four years after her birth came the birth of my first and only son.  That is when the excitement really began.  Little did I know that I had sentenced myself to a life with an ADHD child.  I also didn’t know that I would have to make a choice about Ritalin and it’s affects on him.

My son was a wild child.  There were times that this mother didn’t think she would make it through another day.  After he learned to walk, he wanted to explore everything around him, just as most children do.  As I was holding him tightly in my arms so he wouldn’t run into the busy road, he promptly bit me as hard as he could.  This shocked me terribly.  He wanted down and this was his way of getting it.  What he got instead was a taste of his own medicine as I leaned down and bit him back.  The scar remains on my arm to this day.

There were many trials with him.  From setting the grass on fire (I still can’t figure out how he did that) to hanging out a second story window at age three because he wanted to get the ball that was outside, it eludes me to figure out how I made it through these days.

It is hard to imagine what life would have been like without him, even with all of the “interesting” moments that he provided.  He also had a heart of gold and loved his “mommy” more than he loved life itself. 

As my son entered school, there were bigger problems for him.   He was soon diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and we were told to put him on the drug Ritalin.  This was something that I didn’t care to do but gave in to what everyone else was telling me.  My son then turned into a zombie like child.  This might sound preferable to worrying about whether he was going to burn down the house, but it really wasn’t at all better.

There were hard decisions that had to be made.  Should I allow him to continually be drug induced to the point that he couldn’t even behave like a child or take him off the medication and take what God gave me?  I chose the latter.  It wasn’t worth losing the person that he was to save my sanity. 

I made it through and so did he.  He still has his problems, but nothing that he can’t fix if he doesn’t work on himself.  He is a tremendously intelligent young man and has all the tools he needs to be successful. 

In any case, he has given me great joy through the years, even with all of the issues that have arisen.  Life without my ADHD child would have been, by far, a less fulfilling life.  Would I change my decision to take him off Ritalin if I could go back?  No, I would not change that decision even slightly.  Our children shouldn’t be drugged induced in order to force them into submission.  Allowing them to be the children that they are is far more important.