COUNSELING AND CONSULTATION ASSOCIATES, INC.COUNSELING AND CONSULTATION ASSOCIATES, INC.
Phillip L. Blansett, Ph.D.
Stephanie S. Blansett, R.N., C
2176 North Mount Juliet Road, Suite 201
Mount Juliet, Tennessee 37122-3070
(615) 758-7568
Website: serve.com/Blansett
Email: Blansett@mail.datarealm.com
--------
Neighbors Helping Neighbors in Parenting
by
Phillip L. Blansett, Ph.D.
American children consume 90% of the world's Ritalin. 12% of all American school boys take Ritalin, and according to George Will (The Washington Post, 12/2/99) the goal is apparently to drug the children, especially boy children, because they are behaving like children and its easier to drug them than to discipline them. If those figures aren't disturbing enough, read on. Although it is the physicians who must, by law, write the prescription script, it is the grade school teacher who is really prescribing it. Bobby's teacher sees that Bobby is fidgety, or restless, and rather than discipline Bobby in a way that changes his behavior, she suggests to the parent at a parent/teacher meeting that Bobby would benefit from the drug Ritalin. In some cases the suggestion is stronger, saying that unless the parent convinces the physician to prescribe Ritalin for Bobby he will be transferred to another class, suspended or expelled. I can cite cases where I've examined a boy or a girl who did not meet the criteria for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, and when I shared those findings with the child's pediatrician the pediatrician has agreed with me but said, "But, Dr. Blansett, if I don't prescribe the Ritalin, I'll continue to get angry calls from the teacher." In these cases, the teacher is actively instructing the physician what to prescribe and in what doses. In an age when the "economy is supposed to be so good", and both parents work, if both parents live together still, there is rarely time for a meal together, let alone the time to discipline your children. Teacher don't want to, or are afraid to, or choose not to discipline children at school. Teacher often point to how a child's attention is improved once Ritalin is begun. They rarely point out that Ritalin and other stimulants like coffee and nicotine, improves almost everyone's attention. So what? Teachers, by blurring pharmaceuticals and discipline also blur the distinction between education and therapy. And, then they are practicing outside of their license. For most attention disorder problems there are non drug therapies available. They aren't quite a quick acting as a pill, but they are longer lasting. They might take more time, such as making a paddle with your child, and then applying it to the child's bottom appropriately. George Will points out that this is an age that tries to medicalize every difficulty. Perhaps we ought to return to good old parenting, good old teaching, and instead of a pill, a good old (restrained, non abusive, appropriate, but meaningful) spanking.
Next week we'll continue to examine how neighbors can help neighbors in parenting.
Dr. Phillip Blansett is a psychotherapist in private practice in Nashville and West Wilson County.
--------
WORD COUNT: 498
