How to Neutralize a Bored (ADHD?) Boy? The Schoolteachers Dilemma and creative Solution

Jonathan is almost graduating his first year of school. I went better than we thought considering his ever present ADHD symptoms (although we do not have an official diagnosis). All in all he is up to his class level in his studies. He reads tolerably well in Hebrew, recognizes a few letters in the English alphabet and he can compute up to 100. We are still struggling with getting to school on time in the mornings (as both my husband and I are NOT morning people, the understatement of the century..., I sometimes wonder who's fault this really is) and when Jonathan is bored or unsatisfied he may break out into a mood and lash at his teacher. This effect can be enhanced if his routine is broken, which in the summer months of school it usually is.

The first graders are appointed to conduct the ceremony of Shavuoth - the celebration of summer, first ripening of fruit an crops and the traditional date that the Torah (or 10 commandments at least) were given to the people of Israel in mount Sinai at ancient times. The ceremony rehearsals composed of 3 weeks in May in which the children are expected to continue their studies independently with various assignments parallel to rehearsals in small groups. The frontal lesson routine is totally broken.

Jonathan was not finding himself in all this. He did not want to join the dancers and could not keep quiet while the other children rehearsed their lines. His teacher was finding it difficult to get him to cooperate at all. And then, on the second week of rehearsals (after suffering his nasty bouts of screaming and boredom for the first week)  she had a brilliant idea! She assigned him a task that is important on the one hand and affords no rehearsal with other on the other. Jonathan would easily recognize his place in the ceremony without disturbing the other children or the rehearsals and he would feel needed! His role was to declare the ceremony has reached its end (and to invite the audience to stand up for the national anthem). Jonathan had one lie to memorize and was the only child to speak solo. He was exited and felt himself important. We picked the importance message up at home, on cue from the teacher and he became manageable for the rest of the rehearsals.

The parents were invited to the ceremony and I was almost as excited as Jonathan could be. He behaved impeccably during 20 minutes of ceremony, sitting quietly on the side of the stage and singing along when required. Then he started to get smile and wave at me, and made thumbs up signs to me and wiggled about in his seat. Just as I was wondering why he was so exited, he got up, picked the microphone and spoke his line. The sound was bad and the speakers beeped. Jonathan undaunted, simply repeated the line again and everyone stood up for the anthem. Then my important boy put the microphone down on its designated cushion and stood proud and erect center stage for the duration of the anthem! I was busting with pride.

Turns out the school filed it all. I am embedding the video here. I hope Jonathan will enjoy the memory as I will. Unfortunately the anthem part is cut off in the school footage! Lucky I filmed and photographed it myself! Proud mama all the way!

https://youtu.be/eLtTPTUzPP0

Purim Carnaval, Dressing Up

Jonathan is old enough to actually enjoy the idea of dressing up in the season of Carnival which also corresponds to the Jewish Purim holiday. He is also big enough to choose his costume; variety however makes for a jumpy (ha ha) decision…

With Purim coming up, Jonathan was permitted to dress himself up in kindergarten for a whole week with silly hats, fun accessories and costumes. This meant he had lots of fun with the whole idea of dressing up, but also that he could not be expected to be able to choose a costume ahead of time. Variety can be confusing.

As he is also relatively tall, the costumes for toddlers will not do, this means the prices are becoming considerable. I therefore decided to learn from last year’s mistake and buy the costume at the latest moment possible. Last year I bought a clown costume and a week before the party he asked for a rabbit. And so I paid for two costumes. Luckily the clown was reduced and Jonathan was still small enough for toddler sizes. This year I started asking about the costume 3 weeks before the party, so the theme can “cook” a bit in his head. But I had no intention of buying early, as I was convinced he would change his mind many times. Jonathan surprised me by remaining constant, he repeatedly mentioned a lion or a bear. I asked him if the bear would be as panda and he got fixed on the panda bear and stayed with it for two whole weeks.

So I purchased a toddler panda costume (as the bear was not available in larger sizes) and the split it into two parts and added fabric so that I created a panda bear suit for a taller boy. Jonathan was very happy to receive the costume and a whole week before the party in the kindergarten, which was to be the high point of the Purim festival; he dressed up in the panda daily. There were also the clown costume and rabbit from last year, which were also split up and enlarged, and he dressed in them too at home. Variety seemed to be successful, providing him with fun for a whole week of dressing up at home. The Panda however was the most popular. I was hopeful till the very last, that he would remain constant to his request. But on the day of the party, the boy insisted on wearing the Rabbit from last year. The only condolence I could have was that the pictures taken last year of Jonathan in the Rabbit costume were not really very nice, and that this year I could hope for better pictures because the boy has finally started to cooperate with the camera.

And so, Jonathan had particular fun with the tail on the pants which he showed me, posing for the camera with his butt stuck out. We also both put rabbit ears on our head and made some self portrait pictures using the bathroom mirror. Even in kindergarten we had the photographer take a picture of us together. Even Jonathan’s daddy has a cool picture with the white rabbit – Jonathan the rabbit kissing daddy on the lips is just too cute!