Reprinted Articles

If you have a child with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, then you have a wonderfully gifted child. The ADHD child is spontaneous, creative and can hyper focus on a task they find interesting.

On the other hand, parents are often faced with the difficulty of dealing with a child that is often impulsive, aggressive, hyper and easily distractible. The outside world uses these character traits to define the ADHD child as “difficult”, damaging fragile self-esteem.

Children are frequently distracted or inattentive and often impulsive on occasion, but a child living with ADHD experiences these attributes most of the time. A parent has a great deal of influence in helping their child perceive these character traits as advantageous, not a liability.

Regardless of the name, ADHD is not just a lack of the ability to be attentive, but it is the ability to deeply focus on a topic of choice. The ADHD child doesn’t lack focus but tends to apply that focus in inappropriate ways. She has a low tolerance for idleness and gets bored easily.

A sport can be either a positive or nonconstructive experience for all children, but for the ADHD child even more so. Spending excess energy is always good for the ADHD child; however, playing on a team can be difficult for her if she can’t learn the rules of play or fulfill the role the team needs.

Martial arts can be tremendously therapeutic for the ADHD child. A martial art like tae kwon do provides a safe, controlled environment where aggressive behavior is permitted. The Master gives instructions that are quickly acted on. This provides a relevance to the actions and immediate gratification.

Tae kwon do stresses self-confidence and control which, when mastered, raises self-esteem for any student. ADHD children can benefit from this type of instruction because it increases confidence and they learn to see what some call negative character traits as positive attributes.

Children learn the “right action” at the right moment which tempers impulsiveness and turns it into a positive action. Boredom is negligible due to the fast active pace of a martial arts class that is full of jumping and spinning, punching and kicking; the hyperactive child can unleash behavior in an appropriate way and be praised for it.

An important quality of tae kwon do instruction is respect and acceptance of all people despite the labels society has placed on them.

ADHD is not exclusive to boys. Girls are more often diagnosed with ADD which is the same issue without the hyperactivity in equal numbers to boys with ADHD. This “difference”, because it’s not exactly a disorder, is genetic. A rather large study discovered that 25% of ADHD children have one parent with Attention Deficit.

You can never outgrow ADHD, so you must help your child find ways to work with the negative aspects to build success. Give her the chance to learn how to change negative traits into advantages to take into adulthood.

The child with Attention Deficit bears the same positive characteristics that are cultivated by the successful in society. Artists, entrepreneurs, politicians and athletes are a few of the successful people whom history has described with classic ADHD traits. Some of the most creative, intense, spontaneous, tenacious and quick thinking people in history have probably had ADHD; Thomas Edison, Mozart and Winston Churchill to name but a few. That’s not bad company at all.

Last 5 posts by Kalynn Amadio

• Alternative Health Choices - July 16th, 2008
• Alternatively Healthier - July 16th, 2008
• An Awesome Art - Tae kwon do - April 29th, 2008
• 8 Easy Ways to Ensure Healthy Travel Out of the Country - April 15th, 2008
• 7 Ways to a More Healthy Brain - April 10th, 2008

Tags: Health