Sometimes I wonder why I bother...

...reading the BBC News website because there's usually something on there to at least mildly annoy me; most of the time I don't even blog about the minor stuff because I'd spend all day at it, such is the volume of crap out there. However, today, there's an article reporting NICE's (National Institute of Clinical Excellence for the uninitiated) latest pronouncements on ADHD children and their treatment which has really got me going.

Now I feel I have a personal stake in this because at various points it's been suggested Mini probably 'has' ADHD. My usual response is to say 'And?' because, firstly, I don't want to do down the road of smacking labels on children merely to make things convenient for myself/other people and I don't think I need to give myself a crutch to excuse Mini's bad behaviour to others. To put it succinctly I think there's a huge pressure to put children (and for that matter, adults) into convenient 'diagnosis boxes', merely to leave them there. 'Job done' is pretty much the attitude once somebody's found the right label. Secondly, I am also sick of people letting their children get away with murder and pulling the 'syndrome' card whenever they are criticised for their lack of involvement in dealing with their childrens' behaviour: I don't want to give anybody a reason for even thinking I might be part of that crowd. Thirdly, the only thing the professionals seem to be interested in doing once they have managed to slap the ADHD label on some unfortunate sprog is to medicate it to the eyeballs. As I am manic about NOT giving Mini medication unless I have to - he doesn't even get Calpol unless there is a real problem - shoving Ritalin into the little darling is just not an option. Instead, I 'manage' his naughtiness through good diet (something I am positively Stalinist about), close involvement in his daily life (admittedly easier because he's home educated) and extremely firm old-fashioned discipline (and YES I DO mean smacked bottoms when he's really naughty). Not wishing to blow my own trumpet, but I must be doing something right, because Mini is, by and large, disgustingly healthy, and has a reading age several years in advance of his numerical age - not something most ADHD children can say.

So, I suppose I should be please that NICE are now saying children under five should not be medicated, and those over 5 should only be drugged if their behaviour is really extreme. And, it's true to say I think this is a step in the right direction. However, they are also talking of introducing 'parenting classes' to "teach parents how to create a structured home environment, encourage attentiveness and concentration, and manage misbehaviour better." This, although I can see in principle might have some appeal to the woolly-minded PC thinkers, I suggest would be a total waste of time and public money. It doesn't take Einstein to work out the only people who will actually go to such classes willingly are those who are concerned about their child's behaviour and are honest enough about their own capabilities to realise they might need some help. A minoriy? I think so - and these are the people who are probably motivated enough to do something off their own bat anyway. Those who are made to go (I believe some ARE actually made to attend such programmes for various reasons) are going to automatically be resentful and resistant to anything which might be suggested which sort of defeats the object of the exercise. There are also always going to be those who just can't be bothered - and I would suggest these are the vast majority; and there is absolutely nothing anybody can do about this in the current atmosphere of political correctness.

So, yes, I am annoyed by NICE's inability once again to face up to the ugly reality that some parents just can't be bothered with their children no matter what label the said children have put on them. The effectiveness of the proposed classes is even questioned in the course of the article, and I quote:

Andrea Bilbow, chief executive of the ADHD charity ADDISS, welcomed the NICE recommendations but questioned how helpful the parent training programmes would be to parents.

"Parenting programmes are extremely important, but they need to be specific for ADHD.

"The ones that NICE are recommending were designed for the parents of children with conduct disorder, which is completely different from ADHD," she said.

So think again, NICE.

All this having been said, these are not the issues which really have stuck in my craw. There is a video clip included in the article, which shows a typically worn and brow-beaten 'parent of ADHD child' discussing how her family cope with the sprog's behaviour. The spiel is the usual one might expect in this situation - we've all heard it 100 times before - although I have to say I was impressed to see the house (and what I could see of its occupants) was tidy and spotlessly clean, which is more than you can usually say when faced with a BBC 'Joe Public' interview about juvenile bad behaviour. There were even plenty of books on display. However, rather than listening to what Mrs Parent of ADHD Child was saying, I was watching what the offending ADHD child was up to... and surprise surprise I went up like a rocket when I saw it eating a particularly foul looking sandwich made with 'plastic' white bread and what looked like 'plastic' cheese as well. Watching its mother making the said foul concoction I also noticed she was using 'spread' rather than butter and there was also a large family pack of crisps lying around. All this whilst Mother was calmly mentioning the 'various forms' of Ritalin which she was feeding the child.

From experience, I know exactly what happens when Mini eats anything resembling what I saw on the video clip - and it isn't pretty. I am aware my attitude towards food and its provenance is extreme, and I can't realistically expect everybody to be as meticulous, but the bottom line is my attention to what goes into my child's mouth means we can, as a family, live a far less stressed existence than if he received the sort of 'food' this child is obviously used to. Mini, for example, would have had stoneground wholemeal bread (usually with added seeds because he likes them and they contain some substances which are particularly good for him), organic butter (Welsh by preference because I admit I'm a bigot!) and either organic cheese, ham, tuna or similar. As a treat he might have some smoked salmon, which he loves, or as a real indulgence, some home-made jam. To follow, a banana, or an oat-based biscuit, or some yoghurt. None of this is beyond the reach of 'ordinary people' and none of it is bizarre 'special food'. Because of it, we don't NEED medication - it really is that simple, I'm afraid, based on my own experience. (I am prepared to admit there may be cases where this just wouldn't work - so I'm not THAT smug and complacent, honest - but I'd love to see what I could do with some previously-medicated children if they were left in my care for, say, three months).

So, dear NICE-bods, might I suggest you scrap the parenting classes and instead insist people are made to take cooking lessons instead? Not a popular move if you are a 'spread' manufacturer or a member of the Walker's Crisps dynasty, but it might just make a difference not only to ADHD children, but their parents and extended families too?