"In a fast-paced and hyperactive society a child's activity is often not tolerated".(Bernard Golse)

 
The doctor was called when the teacher said she noticed the boy, hyperactive on rainy days,  angry with the number four, nervous about storytelling, and on other sunny days he was absent minded, staring at the blank ceiling, and not paying attention not even to the computer...

Then she said that for three times he spoke her name out, loud, to call her attention. It was useless, it was a case of lost childhood, she argued, and the coordinator supported her technical speech. 

And if someone had the common sense of the art of dreaming, he would also add to the teacher's senseless words, "yes, it is the child's allurement for playing that takes him out of these solid walls, which instead teach how to march..."

The school board called the parents and in secrecy informed them of what was happening.

The mother, a little distressed, tried to explain the boy's behavior due to his age, since he was only five years old! Who does not get bored sometimes with the sameness of teaching, or would not once in a while become absent due to an insipid lesson, quickly flying to a secret garden to watch from the top of a tree, a pale chrysalis that will soon become a butterfly?

The fantasy world is not a safe bridge...  

However, they replied that in school what mattered was rigor, feet solidly grounded to enter the knowledge of things already known for a fact. Moreover, all this has the purpose to avoid a serious risk for the boy in the future, the danger of utopia!

In addition, the coordinator stated that the guidelines that have been tested several times are the right ones to be followed. Therefore, even in school, a bilingual school, time to play is very little, because there is a full schedule to follow.

The father discussed this point and said, but the universe of the child is still very small. He only has a brief time for himself in the morning and then he has his school hours. Is it not better if playing time is maintained, because at his age to play does it not mean happiness?

The parents had no success in their argumentation and felt trapped because it became clear for them that the world of fantasy is not a safe bridge for someone to be capable of living his life in thirty years. 

Without reviewing the educational pact, the parents the following week brought the child to the doctor appointed by the school board.

The doctor no doubt after examining the boy, and listening to the melodies, watching the imaginary clouds, ponds, rocks, animals, and rainbow bridges in the child's mind, sentenced him to a chemical straightjacket, because this child, who so much loved to play, suffered an attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder - ADHD!

But isn't methylphenidate a drug? the edgy mother asked the doctor, who had long deleted from his memory what doctor Groddeck said one day: "the purpose of life is to be a child".

And the boy was bored again  

Stripped of the essential, the joy of living, the doctor, in an objective manner, explained to the parents the list of symptoms [many questions] of that boy, thus justifying his diagnosis. At the end of the medical appointment, in a polite voice he assured the parents that the drug would correct the deficit by helping the child to focus and to retain with efficiency what was taught to him.

In the following months, the boy and his body were calmed down by means of a chemical gag that makes him walk in the indicated direction, according to now very limited fantasies.

An unlike metamorphosis took place, sadly invisible to the eyes of his father and mother: the boy with brown eyes now lives clinging to things, like a caterpillar on a leaf, the end of his childhood. 

The parents, however, are now quiet, despite the long hours of work. The son asks no questions and follows in peace with the school.

He received a wooden train from his grandfather. He placed it on his desk. He looked at the five colored wagons and all seemed so dull, because he has no imagination left. Nothing appeals to him because early he was expelled from the paradise of play.

The toy on the shelf is in a second place. There he was bored again, because his inventive capacity was blocked. He turned into the boy something else. At five and a half years old, he walks in a well-contained manner into the arid and gray world of the grown up. 

Conclusion 

Ah, if only the boy could ... If he only had been granted a (fair) defense... His lawyer, a fairy tales writer, without fear of monsters, would clarify that the child's resentment is a legitimate certificate, most of the times, of the incompetence of the school, or lack of joy that often disturbs a child trapped at home, between walls and the TV. Moreover, his recreation and absent-minded, in turn, is the door that opens to the seed of novelty, which grows on other worlds, often far from the sameness of Education or the pitfalls of digital sites.

Finally, the boy's defense would allege that these imaginary worlds generally have no experts of knowledge tools. They are peopled by a playful nature, woven together with innocence, a golden key that keeps alive the pure state of childhood. On the other hand, childhood should never be buried before the time...

Who does this to a child deserves, at least, to be forbidden to live the sensitive prelude to life. His behavior casts a shadow on the right to play, which belongs to every child. 

Some considerations  

This text has a special reason: to make one think about the indiscriminate use, on a child, of methylphenidate (commercially known as Ritalin), related to amphetamines, prescribed for adults and children suffering from attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

This drug aims to improve concentration, reduce fatigue and accumulate more information in less time. However, as a drug, it causes addiction, because it has the same mechanism of cocaine, and was classified as a narcotic by the Drug Enforcement Administration narcotic.

Unfortunately, Brazil accounts for the second worldwide position in using this drug, ranking only behind the United States.

In the case of a diagnosis of ADHD, what should the parents do?

1) Get a second opinion. And, for example, they could consider the opinion of an homeopathic pediatrician too.

2) Revise/question the pedagogical method adopted by the school attended by the child.

3) The parents, or the person responsible for the child, should think about the child's habits at home, the lack of contact with nature/games, time spent watching TV and the use of digital technologies... look for support, if such is the case, from a family therapist. 

Ritalin and its consequences  

I am strongly of the same opinion regarding the use of Ritalin led by Maria Aparecida Affonso Moyses (Full Professor of the Pediatrics Department, Faculty of Medical Sciences - Unicamp). She says, "For those who indicate [Ritalin], when there is an ADHD diagnosis, I do not indicate its use. (...) If I do not prescribe it to a grandchild of mine, I also do not prescribe it for any another child".

Furthermore, she explains that the "apparent calmness" induced by the drug in children is not a positive therapeutic outcome, but rather a "sign of toxicity." She further explains that this drug is dangerous because it can cause addiction and symptoms like headaches, dizziness and a zombie like effect, where a person is chemically contained in herself. And in her opinion, as a medical doctor, what counts is the family orientation. In an interview (Portal Unicamp) the following question is made to the pediatrician Cida Moyses, "Who is being medicated with [Ritalin]? Children, who are always questioning (who do not easily submit to the rules) and those who dream, fantasize, and who are utopian... (...) Thus, what is being aborted? We are aborting the questioning and the utopias". (See Moyses, Maria Aparecida Affonso (2013). Ritalin and the risks of a "genocide of the future". www.unicamp.br).

It is worth watching the documentary White Stripe - the revolution that was missing. Directed by Cacau Rhoden and produced by Maria Farinha Movies. It shows us that playing (in our society) is in risk of disappearing and, therefore, it is urgent to rescue and promote it for the good/health of our children.

References:

Breggin, P. (1998). Talking back to Ritalin: what doctors are not telling you about stimulants for children. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press.

Janin, Beatriz (2002). "Vicisitudes del proceso de aprender" Cuestiones de infancia, n. 6, Buenos Aires, UCES.

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