Home-Made Ritalin

 I ran across a piece of information on the internet last night that said that a regular cup of coffee contains the equivalent of 5mg of Ritalin. A starting pediatric dose of Ritalin is 20mg per day. This was fascinating to me! My 4 year old is a lovely little boy... but he's a little bit special. He has tons of energy, can be aggressive when he's all wound up and therefore has discipline issues. It's a challenge being the mommy that he needs me to be. It takes a lot of creativity and patience - and forgiveness! So when I read this article, I swallowed it hook, line & sinker.

Let me describe my day to you:

Tuesday's DIET....
6:00am - Milk w/ a 1/2t powdered chocolate milk
               =>Chocolate is actually a no-no, but i couldn't get him to quit cold turkey... i just decreased the    
                    amount of chocolate in his drink.
7:30am - Breakfast - Carrot & Cut of Coffee
9:30am - Mid-morning snack - PizzaRoll & Yes-Yes (Corn Puffs?)
12:00pm - Lunch - Beans & Rice
              => Protein is a BIG YES for Hyperactive kids.
3:00pm - After Siesta Snack - Yogurt & Banana
5:00pm - Cup of Coffee
6:00pm - Supper - Rice & Beans
8:30pm - Bedtime

Now for the BEHAVIORAL SIDE....

It actually wasn't a good day to start today... I had my Womens' Book Group this morning. Two women come w/ their small kids (ages 1, 5, & 5). I made sure to have an extra prayer session because of this. The morning before the women arrived went pretty normal as usual. He played nicely w/ his toys & watched a morning cartoon. When the group arrived he got a bit wired, but surprisingly it wasn't too bad. Under "normal" circumstances, my 4yo will become a bit aggressive when he's hyper-stimulated. It's never mal-intended, but it happens. Today he was upset bc the other kids were in his room messing it up, but he didn't ever throw anything at them or push them around, kick or spit. I still had to interrupt the reading group to go talk to him, but it was never bc he was hurting himself or others. Personally, I consider this progress.

And so was the rest of my day. He still has lots of energy & would impulsively do things that he typically does... but the aggressive edge was toned down a bit in circumstances I predicted he'd normally react w/ aggression.

IMPRESSIONS

I (and other educational and behavioral professionals) agree that my 4yo has strong tendencies towards being ADHD. Diagnosis is traditionally done once children start school. This is still nxt year for him. For now I can pull ideas off the internet and other non-prescriptive means to try to manage him. I haven't really tried anything til today. For a long time i just figured he'd "grow out of it." This coffee idea has helped me confirm my suspicions that he's ADHD. I truly believe that there was a slight improvement in his conduct today. It wasn't an Earth-Shattering change... but then again the cup of coffee only has 1/4th of a regular Ritalin dose.

Still need to make substantial progress w/ proper diet.

Do any of you (my faithful readers...) have any personal experience w/ energetic children? Do you have special coping mechanism for yourself? Management skills for the kid? Support is always a positive endeavor!! :)

Cheers!