Now I understand why my babies/toddlers were so difficult!!

amother

Thu, Oct 20 2022, 12:46 pm

Quite a few of my children, but not all, have been very very difficult as babies and toddlers (and older).
Very intense, hard to entertain, huge tantrums, extremely strong willed, etc.

I couldn't take them grocery shopping, I couldn't just leave them with a babysitter, I couldn't take them to the park single handedly, and I couldn't get a thing done in the house when they weren't sleeping (which was another issue, the lack of sleeping).

I would talk to my friends, my sisters in law, and feel like I was on another planet.

One sister in law tells me that the way she manages everything is that on sunday when she is off, she takes her little ones along and does all her grocery shopping and errands for the week. It sounded suicidal to me, but no, she said...her kids usually behaved pretty well.

A friend tells me that she cooks while her kids play with magnatiles and color in coloring books.

Another one says her little ones help her fold laundry.

And even though I was amazing with kids (experienced, creative, fun, favorite babysitter, etc), I just couldn't relate to other mothers.

Well, fast forward some years, and quite a few of my children have been diagnosed with ADHD. My husband had undiagnosed adhd (which has since been diagnosed), and it's a strong gene it seems.

It's quite a struggle and that's putting it mildly, but it explains so so much about the earlier years.
And I feel quite validated.

Can anyone relate?

Rappel

Thu, Oct 20 2022, 1:10 pm

I wish there were a laugh button.

YES!

My oldest is almost certainly ADHD, though I'm not seeking a formal diagnosis. By some miracle, the others balance him out, so we have relative peace in the home now. But it's always so quiet when he's away that I don't know what to do with the rest of them XD like, we can just sit and do a focused activity??? Shocking.