http://www.newsweek.com/id/157898?gt1=43002
Every other week it seems a new study comes out that adds to our already-formidable arsenal of parental worries. But even by those escalating standards, the report issued last week by the federal government's National Center for Health Statistics contained a jaw-dropper: the parents of nearly one of every five boys in the United States were concerned enough about what they saw as their sons' emotional or behavioral problems that they consulted a doctor or a health-care professional. By comparison, about one out of 10 parents of girls reported these kinds of problems. (See the study here.)
Thereport confirms what many of us have been observing for some time now: that lots of school-age boys are struggling. And, parents are intensely worried about them. What is ailing our sons? Some experts suggest we are witnessing an epidemic of ADHD and say boys need more medication. Others say that environmental pollutants found in plastics, among other things, may be eroding their attention spans and their ability to regulate their emotions.
Those experts may be right but I have another suggestion. Let's examine the way our child rearing and our schools have evolved in the last 10 years. Then ask ourselves this challenging question: could some of those changes we have embraced in our families, our communities and our schools be driving our sons crazy? Instead of unstructured free play, parents now schedule their kids' time from dawn till dusk (and sometimes beyond.) By age 4, an ever-increasing number of children are enrolled in preschool. There, instead of learning to get along with other kids, hold a crayon and play Duck, Duck, Goose, children barely out of diapers are asked to fill out work sheets, learn computation or study Mandarin.
The drumbeat for early academics gets even louder when they enter "real" school. Veteran teachers will tell you that first graders are now routinely expected to master a curriculum that, only 15 years ago, would have been considered appropriate for second, even third graders. The way we teach children has changed, too. In many communities, elementary schools have become test-prep factories—where standardized testing begins in kindergarten and "teaching to the test" is considered a virtue. At the same time, recess is being pushed aside in order to provide extra time for reading and math drills. So is history and opportunities for hands-on activities—like science labs and art. Active play is increasingly frowned on—some schools have even banned recess and tag. In the wake of school shootings like the tragedy at Virginia Tech, kids who stretch out a pointer finger, bend their thumb and shout "pow!" are regarded with suspicion and not a little fear.
Our expectations for our children have been ramped up but the psychological and physical development of our children has remained about the same. Some kids are thriving in the changing world. But many aren't. What parents and teachers see—and what this government study now shows—is that the ones who can't handle it
are disproportionately boys.
Member Comments
Posted By: LisaLuvsChrist @ 09/10/2008 10:35:55 AM
Comment:
The problem is lack of personal interaction, everything is through
computers, pda's, and cellphones with texting, there is no real face to
face interaction anymore. Society as a whole is going down, we need
person to person live intereraction. When I was growning up, there were
no cell phones, video games, or computers, if I wanted to communicate
something to someone I went up to that person and communicated it. If I
wanted to play, I actually went outside and yelled out to my friends
accross the street or up the block and we played, real games like;
freeze tag, hop scotch, kickball, we didnt sit in our bedrooms or
livingroooms in front of a pc or television and chatted with them
online. We need more person to person face to face interaction.
Posted By: marilynt44 @ 09/10/2008 10:35:50 AM
Comment:
No, the medical community has now decided that the three disorders are
all "ADHD" and there are the three subtypes to tell you whether or not
your child is hyper or not. I like to say he has ADD, but his doctors
like to point out that it is in fact now called ADHD even though he is
not hyper. Thank you for trying to correct me though... I really
appreciate it. Honestly, I agree with you... it SHOULD be called ADD,
but it is no longer called that. That's why people saying that all the
ADHD kids are just eating too much sugar, playing too many video games,
not playing outside enough, etc. just annoy me. It's not just hyper
kids... it's three subypes and one of them does not include
hyperactivity!
Posted By: Hgiejso @ 09/10/2008 10:35:45 AM
Comment:
Many households include kids that participate in many activities
(sports/clubs) beyond school hours, but the "mandarin in kindergarten"
crowd would include elite and private schools at best. The amajority of
kids are in schools where yes, they have cut down or eliminated recess
but have also cut out fine arts and foreign language. My concerns
regarding the behavior of many boys is not related to overscheduling,
but underparenting. Having two teenage sons, I see not only what shapes
their behavior, but that of their friends. To me the single stongest
factor is the time they spend NOT INTERACTING.. We are looking at the
outcome of kids, boys in particular, who spend hours in front of a
television -either watching mindless programming or playing video games
- or surfing the internet. In moderation this is completely acceptable.
HOWEVER - when you begin to prefer activity that is isolating, then
what happens? You don't pay attention when someone is talking to you -
you don't maintain eye contact - you don't foster relationships. I
recognize ADHD as a concern and don't diminish it's existence or
relevance to the conversation. But I DO NOT believe it is as epidemic
as implied. I believe that too many parents find it easier to turn on
the TV or allow hours of video games than to engage their kids. I won't
make a pariah of working parents or single parent homes either - but if
you are looking for some of the causes of these behaviors, there are
other plausible reasons than ADHD. The focus needs to be on solutions
rather than medication in more of these circumstances.
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