ADD/ ADHD

Here is some vocabulary words for this post. Yes I am sure you are familiar with them, but just to make sure we are on the same page. Here you go-

ADD- Attention Deficit disorder.
ADHD -Attention deficite Hyperactive Disorder.

The (brief bit of ) research that I did came up with this little tid bit-

•Diagnosis of ADHD increased an average of 3% per year from 1997 to 2006.

Nearly ever classroom of 30 students has 1-3 students diagnosed with one of these conditions. I can't even imagine how hard it must be to handle a child who has a serious case of ADD or ADHD. I do however wonder on occasion why it is on the rise.

 I have heard many theories on why it is on the rise. Better diagnosis. Nutrition. Too much TV, video games or computer time. Possibly poor prenatal care. I bet all of these can be contributing factors. I admit that sometimes I don't really believe every kid who gets labeled really needs medicated. Not that was EVERY kid. I am sure some really benefit. I just wonder if sometimes it is easier to drug than change methods to handle the situation. I imagine there is some of both.

That being said, I have my own personal theory on a contributing factor to this epidemic.

Church.

Yup. I think church is a big factor.

I bet you think I am crazy right about now. What on earth does church have to do with ADD? Possibly nothing. Follow my train of thought for a moment.

In the past church was a HUGE part of society. Nearly everything shut down on Sundays because everyone was at church. It was expected of you. Sunday meant church attendance and children were not given an out. They also didn't have their cell phones or hand held video games joining them if they were forced to attend.

(It is amazingly hard to find a graph of church attendance, so here is the best I could do.)

 
This is not worldwide church attendance or even all of the US.  I do like however that you can see the physical decline in picture form. ( Glad I do not have to turn this in for a grade.)
 
Here is one of the stats I came across-
The percentage of American adults who identify themselves as Christians dropped from 86% in 1990 to 77% in 2001. This is an unprecedented drop of almost 1 percentage point per year.
(if you wan to read more of those statistics here is the link- http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_tren.htm )
 
Ok, so moving on down the track on my train of thought, I theorize that part of the problem is lack of church attendance.
 
I don't know that my children really are any calmer or any rowdier than the average child.  They do however,  know how to sit and be quiet ( admittedly not as long as I would like the threshold to be. )
 
My point is that children are no longer being TAUGHT to sit still and listen. They are constantly being given entertainment and do not have to glean information from less stimulating sources IE - a sermon. 
 
I sincerely believe that if children were taken to church AND taught to sit quietly and listen that they would be better prepared to deal with school situations. 
 
Do I believe that this would completely take care of the problem? No, I am sure medication is a miracle for some who suffer from these conditions. I am simply saying that I think the problem could be lessened if we changed the expectations we have for our children and helped to teach them how to work within those guidelines. 
 
Thanks for taking my thought train.