In the United States 9 percent of schoolchildren have been diagnosed with ADHD, that is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the condition invented for children who really cannot stand (or sit) all day like battery hens in schools, learning passivity and obedience while their little limbs are telling them to run around outside and explore the big wide world and hone their physical skills.
In the United States these 'sick' children are treated with drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall
In the United Kingdom 3% of children are diagnosed with ADHD.
In France, however, only 0.5 percent of children are labelled with ADHD, and, most of the time, teachers try to get to the bottom of the problem, if the children are restless - not enough exercise, intolerance to food, too much T.V., bereavement, a sense of betrayal - the usual stuff that throws us all off balance, and which healthy unregulated people regard as the stuff and essence of life.
It has been suggested too, that French children enjoy a more structured upbringing, more like the upbringing enjoyed by children here, 50 years ago. There was no eating between meals, a regular bedtime, regular mealtimes, church on Sunday, but children were free to play and wander and roam. Nowadays there is precious little structure, yet at the same time children's lives are micromanaged.
Once these children are habituated to taking drugs as the cure to life's ups and downs there is no hope for them. Another passive zombie, another life long customer for the drugs industry.
Yet these children are taking powerful stimulants, amongst whose side effects are sleeping difficulties, dizziness, vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, headaches, numbness, irregular heartbeats, breathlessness, seizures, verbal and motor tics, and depression, weight gain, weight loss and stunted growth and sudden death.
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