ADHD and mind altering drugs continued

I received this in my in box today which is quite condemning, just wondering if anybody has any comments in the continuing debate for parents managing ADHD. Remembering that the UK always follows the USA.  There must be another way!

An extensive article published in USA Today  revealed that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recorded 45 child deaths attributed to new anti-psychotic drugs, yet experts say the death toll could easily be as high as 450,  as only 1 to 10% of adverse reactions are ever reported to the FDA. Equally alarming is that the number of anti-psychotic drugs prescribed for 2 to 18-year-olds grew from under 500,000 in 1995, to approximately 2.5 million in 2002  —  a 400% increase, while sales of anti-psychotic drugs have soared 1,500%, from $500 million in 1991 to more than $8 billion in 2003.  

Springtime for Families

Well, it's that beautiful time of year again, Springtime.  New buds popping up all over the place, new life in the fields, baby lambs skipping and hopping everywhere. 

Today, I want to encourage families everywhere to breathe in the Spring air and have a new lease of life in the family. 

Mum if you haven't relaxed with your children lately, take time off even if it's sitting in your own back garden and play with them talk with them, laugh with them.  Play a silly game that will encourage you all to laugh. Dad's have a game of football with them, challenge them at playstation, read a story together or better still invent one.  Build them a playhouse in the garden out of scrap material and a giant packing box, so what if it rains, who cares? You won't shrink!  Children, plague your parents to play WITH you, they need it too!  Life is too serious today, no wonder we have high levels of stress.  Just taking time to play with your children, really play with them can be as de-stressing for you as it is fun and exciting for them.

 I challenge you all to go out and do something together that you haven't done before.  Only one rule! It musn't be organised entertainment like the cinema or a fairgound or Circus or Alton Towers!  You have to be creative in keeping your money in your pocket and entertaining the children yourself.

In this age of technology and entertainment, it is all too easy to lose touch with your children as we 'pay' for them to be entertained by someone else.  Some of the funniest and most memorable times I have had with my son have been making cardboard swords that eventually get smashed to pieces and we laugh as we battle with two stumps of cardboard giggling hysterically as another piece drops off.