[lbo-talk] More drugs please?

John Thornton jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net
Thu Nov 23 19:34:49 PST 2006


joanna wrote:
>
> This para caught my eye:
>
> "Fate Riske, 3, of Fond du Lac, Wis., takes two antipsychotics and a
> sleeping medicine to control what her mother, Elizabeth Klein-Riske,
> said were hours-long tantrums, a desire to watch the same movies
> repeatedly and an insistence on eating the meat, cheese and bread in her
> sandwiches separately."
>
> Correct me if I'm wrong but tantrums are quite common in 3-year olds,
> and yes, they can last a while if the parents do not know how to help
> the kids contain them. Wanting to watch movies over and over? Sure. Why
> not? It's kind of like a pacifier. As for foods not touching each other,
> that's one of the commonest childhood fears/requests. Why fight it?
>
> Joanna

Tantrums may be quite common but that doesn't mean they are the way a healthy child expresses themselves in a healthy family relationship.

While anecdotal, no child in my extended family ever had a tantrum while they were young until very recently. None of my siblings, cousins, nieces or nephews displayed such behavior. They were taught it was inappropriate behavior very early on. Any displays of such behavior were never rewarded, frequently punished, and never repeated. That simply isn't true today and this behavior has gradually become more acceptable over time.

If this womans child has tantrums she more than likely encouraged that behavior early on in the child's life without realizing it because it seemed the easier path at the time. Her child tested the boundaries and found where her mother set the boundaries concerning this behavior. This woman now regrets the decision not to assert parental control strongly enough by setting different boundaries and so again takes the easier route to controlling her child, drugs. The child would eventually learn the tantrums were inappropriate through interactions with others.

It is hardly a sign of psychosis however, and the rest of these "symptoms" are symptoms of being alive as far as I can see.

Children learn by repeated exposures to the same stories and seem to prefer frequent exposure to the familiar more than constant exposure to new stories. At least that's what I remember from what I've read on how minds develop.

I still don't like different foods intermixing on my plate and prefer to keep them separate. Of course I may need anti-psychotics as well and simply not know it but that seems unlikely.

If the child mixed everything together on the plate and ate it that way this person would probably identify that as a symptom as well. If we're going to start medicating people for shit like this everyone will requiring medication for something.

John Thornton



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