Life, if that’s what you call it

Once again I find myself angered by another person coming out saying that ADHD is an attempt to control children and force them into conformity. I stayed quiet when Tom Cruise started his campaign against medicating children. And with the countless articles I’ve read claiming that ADHD was created by doctors and parents who couldn’t handle normal child behavior. Today I can’t stay quiet.

I watched a trailer that was posted on twitter by someone that I normally look forward to looking at her blog and her posts and I was appalled. The first strike against this person was that the fact that the post with the link read “Is ADHD biology or another way to control kids?” The film from what I can see is probably a good one and brings out issues within the public school system, things that irritate me but I can’t afford private schooling. But the remarks that are made about this condition, even now anger me. I understand that there are a lot of children out there with the label of ADHD and on medication that don’t need it. Those are children of parents that don’t have the patience to deal with childhood behavior. And then there are children like Quinlyn.

At a very early age Quinlyn started to show signs that something was amiss. She couldn’t control her body (constantly fidgetting or moving), she couldn’t play quietly, always climbing on everything and much more. As time went on and she started school she became disruptive, disorganized, forgetful and her hyperactivity seemed to skyrocket. She didn’t have many friends at school because they all thought she was too hyper, too crazy. Now tell me is that her just being a kid? I have chosen not to medicate her despite the fact that she is a prime candidate for it. I chose not to medicate out of fear that her sweet beautiful spirit will be lost in the process. But it makes me so angry to sit and read or see people out there trying to tell ME that this doesn’t exist.

Those that say that have never seen a child like Quinlyn. It hurts me to have to watch her get so frustrated because she can’t control herself. To see the desperation in her eyes when all she want to do is please us and do her chores or homework but her body and mind won’t let her. To see the circles under her eyes because even when she’s exhausted she can’t find a way to rest. Don’t you, any of you who don’t believe this is real, sit there and tell me that this isn’t until you have to hold a child who came home in tears because one of her friends said she was crazy and doesn’t want to play anymore because she’s different. Don’t tell me it’s not real until you have to sit with them and constantly try and refocus them so they can finish ONE page of homework. Don’t tell me it’s not real until you have to talk to their teacher EVERYDAY because they are having trouble focusing in class or disrupting the class. Don’t tell me it isn’t real until you have to wade through the mountains of red tape to get them the help they need in school. And don’t dare tell me isn’t real until you have to see all of those things everyday and then agonize over the decision of whether or not to give them a medication.

I live with this, watching it, adapting to it and trying to fight it everyday and I tell you now that there is no doubt in my mind that this is real. It is not a phase of childhood, and it is not a farce thought up my pharmaceutical companies, school officials and impatient parents. It is an illness. An illness that I have to watch helplessly as my beautiful girl fights against it. Because in the end I can only help so much because this fight is her own. I only hope that I can give her enough strength to continue her fight and conquer this demon.

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Two weeks ago we invaded the pumpkin patch and returned with three beauties. Quinlyn decided that we would decorate the two smaller ones that Kevyn and Caelyn picked out and that we should use her monster to make numerous pumpkin treats. I had no problem with doing this because even though it is time consuming, fresh pumpkin puree is pretty easy to make. After spending all of Saturday cleaning, roasting, running it all through the food processor and then draining the pumpkin I was left with about 16 cups of pumpkin puree. And I was lacking in recipes for all of this pumpkin.

Of course, I made pumpkin muffins and am planning a crunch type cake and a few other things but I was wanting pancakes. See Kevyn is a very picky eater and I am normally of the mind set that if he doesn’t eat was is given to him he goes hungry, but a sure fire winner for him is pancakes. My thinking was that if I make pumpkin pancakes not only is he getting the food he wants he is also getting the nutrition from the pumpkin that I want him to get. My only issue was that I couldn’t find a recipe that I liked. So, this morning I decided that I was to make a little experiment with pumpkin, oatmeal and pancakes. I was happily surprised with the results and so were the kids.

This is definitely going to be a new addition to our breakfast recipes. Beauty of this recipe is that should you want to use a different type of fruit or even sweet potatoes it is a rather easy to substitute. You can simply replace pumpkin puree with mashed or diced bananas or chunky apple sauce. Hope you all enjoy!

Oatmeal Pumpkin Pancakes

1.5  cup milk

1/3 cup butter

1.5 cup quick oatmeal uncooked

1/3 cup unsifted flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1tsp vanilla

2 tablespoons honey

2 eggs, separated

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

Heat milk and butter until butter is completely melted. Remove from heat and stir in oatmeal and let cool. Beat egg yolks, honey and vanilla and add to  oatmeal mixture along with pumpkin puree. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon, add to wet ingredients. Beat egg white to stiff peaks and gently fold into batter. Let rest for 5 minutes before cooking.  Makes 10-14 pancakes. Serve with maple syrup or powdered sugared.

*Note* Due to the weight of the batter these take longer to cook throughout (approximately 2-3 minute per side). Make sure to use lower heat to avoid burning.

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