Ready for Some Football?
When they find a sport that works for them, our kids leave it all on the field — including, it seems, their symptoms, according to this mom.
All this time (15 years), and who knew? It turns out that one of the most effective strategies to focus an ADHD brain, at least in our house, is to exhaust the body. If you also exhaust a mind, you’re really rocking.
Clark, our ADHD Wonder Kid, has just wrapped up 13-hour days at Bellaire High, where the football team practiced three times a day, in the summer heat of Houston. In between the three practices each day, the boys spent most of their time in brainwash mode: lectures, films, bonding activities.
Clark stumbled home on the first day, physically and mentally spent. Instead of behaving like a zombie, he was calm and unruffled. He was helpful, conversational, and thought about the next day. Holy crap — he even did some planning; he packed a bag for the next day’s practice.
Clark kept up this regimen for six days, before team practices slipped back to two days a week. Then school started. He leaves the house at 6:45 a.m. and returns at 7:30 p.m. Football practice lasts two hours instead of five, but his mental workout in the classroom challenges him. He finishes his homework, helps clean up after dinner, and sings along with the Monday Night Football jingle.
Most of all, Clark is happy. What will we do when football season is over?
