Prozac Nation

His teacher had diagnosed him with some attention deficit He didn't conform to her rules to be quiet and just to sit

I had the chance to listen in

between a teacher and parent

The teacher told the mother "Dear

your son needs help, that's apparent"

 

She suggested that the mother

visit a doctor that she knew

One who'd give him medication

to control the fits that he threw

 

His teacher had diagnosed him

with that Attention Deficit

He didn't conform to her rules

to be quiet and just to sit

 

He was no different from those

that all of us knew growing up

Acting unruly like a dog

who doesn't know he's still a pup

 

But now we claim this is disease

though that seems but only a ploy

To make a common worker bee

of what once was a little boy

 

Time out is what we do to them

when our children all misbehave

It has about the same effect

as master becoming the slave

 

A child who won't sit still in school

is no more or less of a joy

In my day they were not called sick

what they said was "he's just a boy"

 

Tate

Author's Note

Some of the parents who listened to doctor Spock in the 60s and 70s.Those who tried the kinder gentler approach to raising little Henry. Are now held hostage by their unruly children. So thank you doctor Spock for everything you didn't do. And for all the answers you professed to have but really never knew. Now the public schools want to discontinue the teaching of cursive writing and spelling . As they see it why do we need them anymore? However they also told us we didn't need the phonics that they discontinued back when children could read? The schools got one thing right. Why try to teach children to write if they can't even read? I would truly be interested in knowing just how many parents have been told by teachers that their children need medication. So if this is the case I would like to take a poll. Tell us all how many of you there truly are. Is this just a way to manage overflowing classrooms? When was it we gave teachers the right to diagnose medical problems? In years gone by we would have thought that an affront. It is truly out of their expertise. But I hear over and over that that teachers recommend certain doctors to make sure the children are medicated. If this is not the case tell me. I could be wrong . However it seems it would be more productive to fix the broken schools. Instead of saying the children are broken.

Reviews

[roarke]

ADD is an alphabet soup designer condition. I could speak volumes here. People, teachers, parents, society of this era look for the magic bullets... there are none. It's not one thing, eureka! and here's the one pill. It's a life time of things, ALL THINGS WE DIDN'T DO, but heaven forbid it's OUR fault.

A diagnosis of ADD works in the favor of institutions and pharmaceutical companies, not the children. It's all gibberish. If you think you have a child with ADD or ADHD, do these things first.
1. Turn off the electronic stimulation and spend time with the child.
2. Make sure his psychotropic chemicals are balanced by a good uninterrupted nights rest.
3. Make sure he gets PLENTY of physical exercise, whether it's sports, chores, or physical hobbies.
4. Be aware that ADHD behavior can be caused by a wide range of conditions, like food allergies, bad bacteria in the gut, ANY processed food, food coloring and additives.
5. Many symptoms of ADD can also be matched to characteristics of low spectrum Autism like Asperger's Syndrome.
6. Some of the characteristics of ADD are due to lagging cognitive development, where the child is not as mature for his chronological age, a 20 y/o acting like a 15 y/o for instance.

None of these things mean there's anything wrong with the child.

these just to name a general few. But no one knew these things in the days Tate is writing about here. Back then most of the things, problems I listed above didn't exist in our home life culture. Be ware the changes for convenience or having to make MONEY and don't short change the kids.

I know, I have a child like this. It's difficult, but it's not about pills, it's about lifestyle. Change it.

Parents brought their children into this world, it's not the responsibility of Sesame Street, baby sitters, Day Care, schools, psychiatric institutions to RAISE those children. Your child is a direct reflection of YOU. If you want a change in your child, change YOUR lifestyle first.

We're a society of pills, let's not make that the legacy for our children. Doing the right thing is always light years harder than just looking for a magic bullet.

[Mark D]

This is excellent and it was very enjoyable to read. Very strongly put across and would make anyone think

[Poeticpiers]

Whay children need is parental attention and interest.What the education system need is to recognise that many if not most of the teachers are in the wrong job.
The child is blamed because he?she does not conform to some preconcieved idea of behaviour.A child learns by example not by reading set texts in order to pass examinations.Computers smart phones all the sophisticated gadgetry will not make up parental neglect.Discipline is a rude word these days.Yet if applied with love it is more potent than any medication.

[A Soap Mess Stories]

Good read...so true and so sad....

[Dane Osborne]

I was actually one of those kids in school that teachers didn't know what to "make of". To me, the american educational system in America has just become this totalitatrian factory of what the goverment considers "ideal" citizens. It has nothing to do with making children more intelligent but rather fitting them into a mold. The blame should not be put entirely on teachers because there are many of them who are caring and intelligent. BUT the bureacratic educational machine has a strange way of edging those teachers out, especially when they try to speak out.

[cartera]

We might just add to this the guilt feelings that are put on to modern parents, so that he and she are constantly asking themselves: am I doing this parenting stuff correctly? Modern capitalist living is non-life for most; it is the following of rules, trends - and advice from collabarators in it who have made a fine niche for themselves and are quite happy to tell others why/how what they are doing 'wrong'. Wha happened to Granny, Grandpa, Aunts, Uncles and cousins who all lived around the neighbourhood and helped? Oprah is no substitute.
Nor, as Tate says, are pills.

[Coyote Poetry]

I agree with this poem. My sister gave her son drugs and made him tire and lazy. I told her better to have a boy with energy then dead in mind and body. Doctors would do us all in with drugs if they could. Best cure for hyper kid is a park and any type of ball to kick around. Thank you for the poem that open the door to discussion. I told my kids. You must treat your kids like dogs. Must walk them 4 times a day and feed them. Locking kids up with computers are the real problem. Thank you for the excellent poem.
Coyote

[Manpreet]

As always another piece of art here! Simple subject deep meaning, amazingly penned and beautifully expressed!

[The Analog Kid]

There are kids with issues, but not nearly as many as the teachers would like to think. IMO, the problem stems from when 22 year old Barbi gets out of college, she believes teaching should be easy and will usually not last once she finds a husband. Teaching is a noble profession, but many of the wrong people get through the application process because they know someone when in fact they are immature. Great flow to this "story."

[Neva Flores Smith - Cha..]

This situation is definitely a mess in our school system and it goes way back. My daughter is almost 24 and I allowed them to medicate her for awhile. The problem was actually my lack of discipline. After she lost a tremendous amount of weight and pulled lots of her beautiful hair out I said "Oh No" and took her off the meds and put my foot down with her. You have said so much here that needed to be said. Bravo Dear Tate.

[Jazique]

Nicely done and I like wht you're saying and to be honest going to one doctor now a days just isn't enough. You need to have more then one opinion I mean my brothers Autistic but, we got more then one opinion before anything was felt to be done. Even medicine back then was sort of poor so I guess boys acting like dense the menace was a case for help instead of a kid being what a 'kid'. What could you do but, to be honest even as age grows you're never really entirely their when someone is talking I mean you can grab my attention for maybe five minutes and I'm thinking and planning for something else. We either call that someone who is bored or those people who have that short attention span and let's be honest kids attention spans at time can be just like that I mean I saw kids get hyped over a fly. So lets just sit back and be misdiginose and misguided in life because were just a little bit behind time and mayber a second opinion was need by a pro. As for the educational system well we need to keep entacted writing in cursive because to be honest with the typing we do on computers and our phones we'll just forget how to write all togther and how phones are talking to us we'll forget how to read because things we be reading to us and one day everything we just crash from jobs and knowledge as we become the people in the movie Walle. So it started in the 60s and 70s and it seems only some can see but, discontinuing certain things could end up one day discontinuing history itself. Anyways well done and nice spoken word to the flow and all. Glad I read.