‘If my Son was a Dog, I’d Have him Put Down’: Mother of ADHD Child

No, it is true that I don’t know what it’s like to live with a violent ADHD child and it is equally true that I shouldn’t judge other parents, but I can’t help being repelled when I hear a mother speak this way about her child:

A mother has described the torment of having a son with severe ADHD, admitting that if he were an animal, she would have him put down.

Jenny Young has four children aged 25, 23, 19 and 10 and astonishingly, not only have they all been diagnosed with the behavioural disorder, but she too was told she had it in her mid-forties.

But it is her youngest child Ryan, 10, who suffers with the most extreme symptoms of the condition as well as severe learning disabilities, subjecting Jenny to daily violent attacks.

She said that because she is his mother, and not a pet owner, she must put up with it.

Jenny explained that she is the main target of his frustration and that if Ryan, who has the mental age of a two-year-old, were her husband they would have divorced by now.She added that people should not judge her for her comments until they have heard her story.

Jenny said that she used the example of putting a dog down because she has a member of the family who went through the traumatic experience of having their dog euthanised after they could not control its violence.

‘It was a horrendous traumatic experience for the whole family. They worked really, really, hard and did everything they could possibly do for [the dog].

‘They spent lots of money and put lots of effort in and ultimately they had the choice to have her put down.

‘I don’t liken Ryan and the dog exactly but there is a choice. When you have a dog that behaves [violently] and might attack you any minute, you have a choice.

‘I wouldn’t be without Ryan but [ I was trying to make the point] that when you’re the mother of a child like Ryan there is no choice. There isn’t a refuge for battered mums – you have to get on with it.

Click here to read my post, The Rampant Misuse of ADHD Pills

Click here to read my post, Who Needs Quality Teaching or Parenting When You Have Medications?

Click here to read my post, Get Your Kids on Ritalin Before Their Grades Suffer

Click here to read my post, It is Doctors Not Teachers Who Are Helping Children Get Good Grades

Click here to read my post, Doctors Create a New Normal by Over-Prescribing Drugs

Tags: ADHD, ADHD children exhibiting violence, boy with adhd compared to a dog, I’d have him put down, If my son was a dog, Jenny Young, Jenny Young adhd, living with an ADHD child, mother would put down son because of adhd, violence and ADHD

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