Colton and Siblings

After Colton was diagnosed with ADHD and Pediatric Anxiety, I sat his three older brothers down and explained (as best I could) what his diagnosis meant. I explained that some of the connections in Colton's brain aren't quite right. I explained that he has a very difficult time concentrating, remaining calm, controlling his emotions, making decisions, controlling his emotions while trying to make decisions, following directions the first-second-tenth time, etc. I explained to them that he would be on medication to try to help him do better with those tasks. I explained that the medicine would help him during the time that he was in school (or for about eight hours after he took it). I explained to them that we were all going to need to practice more patience. Truth be told--this Mama has VERY little patience. Tricky! As time as gone on, we have seen days when Colton's brothers are very patient with him. They seem to be able to divert his attention during big blow-ups. They seem to be able to help him do things to expend his energy. They do their best not to raise their voices at him, or call him names or make him feel horrible. There are also days, however, when the brothers have zero tolerance. These are extra hard days at our house. These are days when voices are loud and ugly. These are days when tears are abundant, when anger is boiling over, when confusion and frustration are at their peak. These are tough days. Because we really never know what will help Colton to calm himself, or what he NEEDS at that very moment to help him control his emotions. He, all by himself, is learning strategies to help himself. I will find him downstairs on his bed with his DVD player watching a movie, or out on the trampoline jumping and jumping and jumping, or outside with his wall ball, or shooting hoops, or coloring all by himself. He is learning mechanisms that help HIM when the world around him is just too much. And at the same time we, as his family, are doing our best to learn our own coping mechanisms. We are learning patience and temperance. We are loving better and more genuinely. We are learning that our differences are our strengths. We are learning to be a stronger family.