The Boy Who Never Listen.

The boy who never listened and I went to the same school. He never sat still and he was always in trouble. At home, he was the same. He had a short attention span. He played hard and learning was hard for him. He was restless and inattentive. Learning was difficult and no school was ready to tolerate his eccentricity. He changed school many times. Due to his hyper activeness, he was tagged “the boy who never listen”.

The ‘boy who never listen’ cut across as someone in a trance. He was not organised and sleeping was not important to him. The pressure of rearing such a difficult child put a strain on his parents’ marriage and they separated when he was 8, his mother bore the burden alone. He had poor social interaction with his peers and adults around him. He had problems with discipline and this was a significant problem in his life.

At the age of 13, he left school for good. It was no good for him. He did not achieve much at school. He was an underachiever due to whatever was wrong within. He was made to believe he was a failure, a disappointment of some sort.

The boy who never listened eventually chose life on the street where there were no limitations. He chose well and was welcome to the clique. He slept rough, he ate rough and he misused substance.

The euphoric pleasure of the life on the street swept him away into the great ocean of destruction. He sometimes waved at me when I walked past his post on the street. He was as lovely as ever, but, he was a distraught little boy who really did not understand his existence. He was not living, he was just existing.
The story of “the boy who never listen” comes to my mind many times. I do not know what became of him. What I know for sure is the fact that he was not diagnosed. He wasn’t given a chance in life. He must have had ADHD, a condition known as Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Many children go through the phases of hyper activeness, this is normal and could be part of growing up, this is definitely different from ADHD. ADHD is overactiveness, it is when a child finds it difficult to concentrate. When carrying out instructions become issues. A child with ADHD has a short attention span. A child with ADHD is impatient. A child with ADHD has poor organisational skills. Children with ADHD are always on the go. They act without thinking, they have excessive physical movement and they have little or no sense of danger. Children with ADHD are constantly fidgeting.
It is a challenge being a parent to a child with ADHD.

The whole world can be a lonely place for a parent with a child with ADHD. However, ADHD can be managed. No child is born to be a burden. Talking always help. Talk to your child. Know your child and know the triggers. Talk to the school. Talk to professionals. Help is available. No child should be allowed to step in the shoes of “The child who never listened”.