THE TRAMPOLINE

Welcome back to the world of the ADHD family – we are surviving the long summer break really well, actually unbelievably well come to think of it! Usually by now I have at the very least resorted to such drastic measures as inviting several small children over at once for my little darlings to play with in the desperate hope that lots of similar invitations will follow in rapid succession!! As for Noah, my 12 year-old ADHD son, he is having a ball; football training has resumed this week (Hallelujah thank the Lord) and yes…………HE’S STILL GOING!!

He has actually been playing outside with the local children most evenings. I have been surprised and delighted to listen to some of their games - remember Grandmother’s Footsteps? What’s The Time Mr Wolf? Or British Bulldog? Well, they seem to be having something of a revival where we live – it almost reminds me of my own long summer holidays, the ‘dens’ we used to make, the trips to the beach, and the shows we used to put on for our long-suffering parents – remember?

At one point I did despair over how long the weather could put my children to the test and in a rash of panic drove to the nearest outdoor play equipment store and purchased a trampoline. “Good idea,” approved my unknowing husband Buzz. “Use up some of that excess energy of theirs.” Little did the poor man realise that he would spend the next four hours trying to put the monstrous thing together; wrestling with thick rubber bands and stubborn metal pieces was not his idea of a restful evening, but there we go. He did make a rather strange noise when he read the box. “Thirteen foot – whadya mean getting a thirteen foot trampoline?!” I thought the bigger it was the more it would tire them out you see - you know what I mean don’t you, bigger is better and all that.

Everything went well until it rained – the trampoline has a waterproof cover, which after three days and nights of solid rain, resembled Lake Titicaca rather than a thirteen foot trampoline. As soon as Noah spied the mass of water, his eyes lit up. “Jackass,” he shouted at the top of his voice (I’ll explain later), ripped off his shorts and t-shirt and dived headfirst into the ‘lake’! He had an amazing time skidding around on the cover like a dolphin on speed - generally soaking himself and everyone who came within 6 foot of the trampoline! Goodness knows what the neighbours thought, but to be honest when you have an ADHD child you get a little beyond all of that!

‘Jackass’ I should explain is a cult-TV programme which features wacky stunts and daring feats and other such entertaining stuff which are the making of a 12-yr old boy’s TV heaven.

Well, the fun continued well into the evening when Noah suddenly started to complain of toothache of all things. He has both upper and lower dental appliances in place and they rarely give him any trouble. Two paracetamol later and he was sleeping peacefully. Four hours later, I was woken by moaning and sobbing; Noah was in the bathroom with a pair of scissors in his mouth trying to remove the wires from his teeth! How would I explain this to the long-suffering orthodontist? I swiftly removed the scissors from his hand, trying hard to hide my horror at the thought of the potential consequences of my impulsive son’s actions.

“Mum my teeth really hurt.” More paracetamol made no difference – it was only after I had read four chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and he was still awake that I phoned NHS Direct that I was able to add Nurofen to the cocktail and he was able to get some relief – falling into a deep slumber at around 5am. This went on for the next two days – a trip to the orthodontist showed nothing, a trip to our local dentist and friend Paul also showed nothing. They were baffled – and so were we! The only thing that was different was…………. the trampoline - and Noah (being Noah) had spent morning, noon and night on the thing since we’d got it. Could it be that he had jangled some nerves which were already stretched to the limits by his orthodontic brace? We decided to give the bouncing a break and, guess what, it worked!

So for the sake of my sanity (I don’t ‘do’ little-or-no-sleep for more than two nights you see), Noah is now barred from said trampoline – he is totally gutted and smiles wistfully out of the window at the thing, finding it difficult to accept that this is the probable cause of his pain but equally unwilling to put the theory to the test!

We’re off to more reliably sunny climes in a few days so shall leave you to enjoy what remains of our own dear British Summer.

Until next time,

Jan

Jan Assheton RGN RSCN is an Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Coach and Learning Mentor and the mother of a child with ADHD. She will be sharing the benefits of her personal and professional experience every two weeks.

NEXT INSTALMENT: FRIDAY 27 SEPTEMBER