Living with an ADHD person, in covid times.

Teachers are masochists. We have two in my immediate family. It would be the last profession I would ever consider.

 

 Have the patience of saints.

 I used to go on excursions with the special needs kids and observed the work they did. 

 Yet, there are people who think these kids need to be locked away in 'special' schools, apart from children who have no problems.

 Even though, sometimes, it's the no-problems children who cause the most problem...

 

 

 We are past NDIS help. 

 She was originally diagnosed ADHD, at three years of age, after we had endured two years of very difficult hyperactive behaviour. Tried every diet known to man to control the hyperactivity. Not too many made a difference. After diagnosis, she was put on Ritalin, which was very helpful, but had one huge drawback...she wouldn't eat while it was active. She also had to be given a drug called Catapres, an hour before bed-time, to get her to sleep. That drug worried me...she would go very pale while on it, as it lowers blood pressure...and after two years, I took her off it and just battled on with the Ritalin. A whole lot of know-alls told me it was bad parenting causing her problems. Sometimes, that was harder to deal with than the actual condition.

  When she went to school, the Ritalin used to wear off before lunchtime and I had to go and give her a top-up to get her through the afternoon. Sometimes, I would find her wandering by herself in the schoolyard.  We were lucky that we had good support from integration staff and the school she attended was one our entire family had been pupils of and a lot of us worked on committees there. 

 Fast forward...she got through Primary and High school, on the Ritalin, still not eating properly, but after leaving school she came off the drug...mostly due to her asking not to have to take it anymore. She put on weight rapidly and now looks a lot healthier...and bigger...but of course, all the ADHD quirks reappeared in spades. She never sleeps before 3am (you might notice I often post in the wee small hours, as I don't get to sleep, either), she paces endlessly, is restless, stubborn, set in her ways, hates change, panics if something unexpected occurs and has no out-of-family friends.  

 But...she is as smart as anyone I've met and often corrects me about a lot of things. She is an artist, works on-line doing the cleverest drawings and makes a little money from it. She has a ribald sense of humour and when we are not arguing, we laugh a lot.  So, there are compensations. She can take care of herself, but it still falls back on me in regards to legal matters and any paperwork. 

 This lockdown has been hard on both of us because we can't get away from each other, just to have a break.  

 

     

 I sent her out to get hot pies from the local bakery, because they would only have to throw them away if the power never resumed. That consumed half-an-hour. 

 Then the pacing started again. She came up with the idea we could boil water in the fondue set. We've never used it since receiving it as a Christmas gift. The idea was good, the execution poor, since the candle kept going out.  We gave up.

 She eventually decided she would take her daily exercise by walking to the Randwick shops, hoping the power would come back on while she was out. It did. Thank God.  The thought of having to keep her entertained all day was more alarming than the outage. 

 I read a book. Simples. What we used to do before technology came into our lives. 

 

She's already been to England and America, and might go back there, with her sister, if this ever ends. 

 She used to come to Gai's, with me. But got bored easily. 

 I have a great photo of her being nuzzled by the very enormous Strawberry Boy...but she would never work with horses. Not the horsey type.  

 To each their own. Mum would kill to go back to working with horses.