Thursday, July 15, 2010

Question from some other moms out there.


As you all of you who read my blog know, I have two kids.

Chelsea, who is 18.


And Jameson, who is 7.


(or "seven and three quarters" according to him)
Chelsea's childhood was anything but normal, so really, Jameson is my first experience raising a "normal" child.  Not to say that raising Chelsea hasn't been wonderful and exciting, it was just completely different experience than I am having now.

I guess one big difference, unrelated to Chelsea's issues, is that Jameson does have ADHD, and for the present time, we have chosen not to medicate him. (He is doing well in school and in Church without meds, so we feel there is no need to medicate him as long as he can control his behavior on his own.  If it gets to the point where that becomes too difficult for him, then we will consider using medication.)  So he is constantly a little bundle of energy flitting from place to place. We are used to it, so it doesn't phase us at all.
We try to make sure he has something to do all the time, so he doesn't get bored.

He also spends a ton of time outside with Starr....


Which might explain why Starr has turned into a spazz, herself....lol. I know, I know, she's just a puppy....but she has definitely turned into a super-hyper puppy.

ANYWAY, the reason for this post...

My question is, does your child constantly feel the need to sing, talk, yell, hum, whistle?  When I say constantly, I mean at least 55 minutes of every hour, there is some sort of sound coming out of his mouth. Right now, his kick is the songs of Keith Urban.


Thankfully, he sings pretty good, but when you hear the same song over and over and over again...

It gets a little old.

Oh and he LOVES to trash talk his video games.


Normally, we don't say anything to him at all, but sometimes, like last night, we ended up just sending him to his room to play because we just couldn't take it any more.  We feel so bad when we have to ask him to be quiet, but sometimes, especially after a long, stressful day at work, we need some "quiet time".

For just a little while.

So bloggie buddies, do any of you have/had similar "problems", or is it just us that are blessed with such a vocal child?


13 comments:

  1. you are so not alone! our youngest boy has been a motor-mouth since he could speak! he also talks to his video games, and himself on occasion. LOL when he was Jameson's age, we handled just as you do.. patience. if it got unbearable, we quietly and calmly would tell him that mom & dad need some quiet time. he would smile and oblige easily. this way, we didn't feel we were asking him to be quiet.. just that we needed a time out. :) hope that helps some! btw.. it got better as he's gotten older!!

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  2. Thank you Tracie!! That does make me feel better to know that it does get better!!

    {{{{HUGS}}}}

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  3. Girl, my Cameron who will be 18 on August 6th is ADHD too. I never medicated him either UNTIL last year, when he was a Jr. in high school. He came to me and told me he wanted to try Aderal. He said it was just so hard for him to concentrate in school as they are on the block system and he has four classes a day that are 2 hours long each! So....we went to the dr. and he prescribed it for him and the results were AMAZING!! His grades went from C's to A's and B's and he said it is just so much easier for him to concentrate and "be still". I was so afraid to take that step, but I called a dear friend who is a counselor in a high school and she told me to do it. He hasn't taken it since school got out and he will start back in August when he goes back to school. My girlfriend said that she had gone to a workshop where they did an exercise to see what it was like to be a child with ADHD and she said it was eye opening! It didn't change his personality or anyhthing either, which I was afaid he would be a zombie! He is still wide open funny Cameron, just maybe down a notch! lol

    Hope this helps!

    Lou Cinda :)

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  4. No ADHD here but I do have a very vocal little guy on my hands. :) He talks, talks, talks and sings, hums, whistles, and generally makes any type of sound humanly possible. He is such a HAPPY kid though, so I try to not let it get to me. His father has a harder time keeping it from getting on his nerves so I do have to say something to him from time to time about toning it down.

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  5. My grandson is "6 and three quarters," to borrow a phrase. He was premature (weighed 1.15 lbs at one time) and he talks non-stop. He doesn't sing much, but while watching TV, reading him a story, trying to tell him something, he talks. It's non-stop. He's pretty hyper, too.

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  6. Yes! Logan is 8 & never.shuts.up. My husband calls him "The Poster Child for Ritalin" ha! That's terrible! He talks non-stop & does just as Jameson does with the video games. He talks while doing that too! I think a lot of it is their age, but mostly I think it has to do with them being the 2nd child. They are more secure, not as timid & you let them get away with & do a lot more than child #1. My line with Logan is, "Dude! Take a breath!" Then he knows I need him to hush for a second, ha! Selective hearing has become my best friend =0)

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  7. My grandson is like that. He is 6 years old and does have ADD but he is also autistic. I don't say that to scare you, it's just who he is.

    He is constantly talking...to his trains, to his YouTube videos, to whatever he is doing. He's quiet when he's sick or when he's asleep.

    My grandson does have medication, but it's only used for school so weekends and summer, no meds. Of course, even on the meds, he's a talker.

    I thought listening to Jameson sing was sweet. He can carry a tune.

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  8. I'm so smiling here. I raised two boys with ADHD. Both of them move constantly - even if it's just a knee bouncing. The younger one, my birth son, made some sort of sound almost constantly. Eventually I didn't even notice, unless he said my name and I knew he was talking to me. I love my boys - so much pizazz. One of them is a volunteer youth worker and currently a truck driver. The other one runs a recording studio. One of them took medication at the upper high school level and through college so he could focus for the academic work. The other one tried various meds and they didn't suite him (the recording guy). They are both great actors and one is a musician (again recording guy).

    Did you get the bird painting back? Hope your summer is great.

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  9. Kathy, no, I haven't heard ANYTHING about his painting at all! Very frustrating! I hope to hear something soon. If not, I will definitely find out something when school starts in a couple of weeks (August 9th, I think).

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  10. Have you ever tried having a "contest" with Jameson to see who could remain the quietest for the longest time? It's a less confrontational way to say "Look dude, I need a few minutes of Quiet Time!" LOL! He may even have fun being quiet if you let him "win" a few times by YOU speaking the first words maybe 5-10 minutes into the contest and therefore "losing" the contest. You can make it a big deal that you lost the contest and HE gets a yummy snack treat for winning by remaining quietest the longest. I know kids love to "beat' their mommies at contests. :) And you get some peace and quite time while the contest is going on.

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  11. Robin, you are definately not the only one who sometimes just needs a break! I have either sent my son to his room or outside to play many times!

    My son is 13 and has ADHD and was "officially" diagnosed 2 years ago. We knew he had it for a year or two before that, but we were looking for the just the right healthcare professional to take him to and he is not on any medication. So far, we notice as do his teachers, that he is easily "re-directed" and can brought back on task by speaking his name and gently telling him what he should be doing. I have struggled with the idea of putting him on some kind of medication and we have tried some natural things with minimal results. ADHD medications are essentially a form of methamphetamine and that scares me to no end! So for now, we are working with him on recognizing when he is starting to get hyper, when his thoughts are wondering and to slow down and think things through before acting.

    We joke that when his attention starts wondering that he is off in "Mark-Land". Because he has this tendency to wonder off into his own little world, he is a very happy-go-lucky little guy who basically goes through life with not a care in the world! He doesn't seem to have the normal worries and fears that a lot of kids his age have, but yet he is aware of dangers and understands right from wrong. Sometimes I think he has the best of both worlds - he is aware how life is, but is able to go on without worrying about it and he seems to just roll with the punches and is always happy at the end of the day. That is why we say that Mark-Land is a happy place, and if we had the chance, we would like to go there sometime!!

    Here are some of the things that my son does: He "drums" on things constantly, he hums/sings/snaps his fingers/makes random noices all the time, he walks around in a circle/oval while talking on the phone, he simply cannot be still (except when he is playing Xbox or is on the computer), he shoves bites of food that are too big into his mouth and eats really fast (to the point that he almost chokes sometimes), he interrupts conversations A LOT, and the thing that gets him into trouble the most is his impulsiveness. This has gotten him into trouble a lot at school. Most kids don't necessarily think before they do things, but an ADHD child CAN'T stop to think before they do things. Their mind is going too fast to stop and think. His impulsiveness continues to be our biggest struggle with him.

    We have been blessed this past year with having teachers that understand his ADHD and are willing to "re-direct" him. He is in IEP (essentially special-ed)classes because he had ADHD long enough before he was diagnosed that he got really far behind in his reading and there seems to be some dyslexia present as well. He is a very smart boy with a heart of gold. His teachers always comment on how he is such a respectful, sweet child who is always willing to help out and give his best. And I tell you, if I had the choice between being able to say "my son is an honor student" or "my son is respectful and works hard", I'd go with the second choice everytime!!

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  12. Angela, I tried to find an e-mail for you, but couldn't, so I will leave it here...lol

    First of all...LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your design of your blog! I may have to change mine to something similar during football season...lol!

    Jameson sounds JUST like your son...I mean, it's scary how similar they seem. Along with the singing/talking/humming/whistling, he also constantly moves, and walks in circles when he is talking. Today has been exceptionally bad! His song of the day has been "American Honey". I used to like that song, too.....lol!

    Jameson is also very sweet and respectful, and is full of love. I completely agree with what you said about your son being "respectful and works hard"

    Nice to "meet" you!! :o)

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  13. you are so not alone! Emma sang for 3 of the 4 hours it took us to get to my parents' house last year.

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{{HUGS}}