So That's It, Then

Parents are the Problem

The appearance of Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD) is one of those mad ideas that inevitably arise in a culture controlled by a systematic and programmatic rejection of original sin. Children are at worst regarded as pure, blank slates upon which good things can be written. More often they are thought of as angelic beings, at least until reality intrudes. Even more common is the notion that they are "just like adults", only smaller.

It is not surprising, then, that when children begin to show signs of acute self-absorption and self-will, coupled with a strong resistance to anyone telling them what to do or how to do it, the Unbeliever naturally concludes that the child must have a (physical or psychological) malady of some kind. Such behaviour cannot be the fault of the child. To make it official the "experts" rush to give this phenomenon a name, so that it can be written about in the academic journals and text books. It can also be formally diagnosed, since symptoms can be codified. Moreover, thankfully, as we have been reminded in a recent article in the Daily Mail, it can be treated with "powerful amphetamine-like stimulant drugs, which work by affecting levels of brain chemicals known as neurotransmitters, aiding concentration and reducing hyperactivity," otherwise known as Ritalin.

And so a couple of generations of kids (most of them boys) have been fed a steady diet of drugs to quell their intrinsic and natural rebelliousness. Now, however, recent British research has concluded that "children suffering from the behavioural disorder can control their symptoms - simply by learning self-discipline."

Well, actually, that is a bit of an oversimplification. Researchers have had very positive results from a computer game which requires concentrated thought in order to win. After playing the game, the researchers at University of Hertfordshire's School of Psychology in Hatfield reckoned that their subjects had reduced their self-absorbed impulsive behaviour by twenty-five percent. Wow. ADHD can now be treated by the child learning self-control.

Ah, but here's the rub. The child must be willing to be taught self-control, right? If not, no treatment can occur. They have to be willing to play the game in the first place. Actually, come to think of it, a lot of money, effort, and psycho-babble could have been saved by having the ADHD child directed to a chess board. No doubt the outcome would have been the same.

Let's be very clear. ADHD is a condition in children caused by parental neglect and abuse. Neglect, because Unbelieving parents have wilfully ignored the intrinsic selfishness and lust for personal autonomy that has been in every human heart since the Fall, Messiah excepted. This is as stupid and short-sighted as the parent who thought he was successfully feeding and clothing his child by ensuring there was food in the cupboards and clothes in the closet. Abuse, because modern parents have failed in their duty to correct, train, and discipline their children out of their selfishness and natural rebellion, and so left them imprisoned and racked by their impulses, lusts, and self-absorption.

We did not need some very expensive research scientists to tell us this. Well, actually, Unbelievers do--because in large measure Science has become their holy writ. Will it change anything? Of course not. At least not until our culture faces the uncomfortable truth of intrinsic human depravity--and traces its implications appropriately through to child-rearing practice. But that will not happen because it would cut far too close to the bone. Some much-loved idolatries would come under threat.

So here is what will happen. The valiant researchers, clutching their fresh research grants, waving scientific papers, and presenting myriads of variants of new computer games to teach self-discipline will eventually discover that virtually the whole bunch of children diagnosed with ADHD resist playing such games. Consternation will generate need for a new disorder to be discovered which will eventually be named "Game Phobia Syndrome" or "GPS". Drug companies will work feverishly to discover a chemical treatment for this disorder. And so it will go.

But this fact remains. One of the great tragedies in the West is the systematic abuse and neglect by parents of generations of children in the name of an "enlightened" denial of the true moral guilt and sin before a Holy God, with which they and their children were born.