Preschoolers are not supposed to have lengthy attention spans. Preschoolers are going to be restless and hyper-active, especially with the excitement of being near other children.
Articles like this make me cringe. Ritalin is so over-used, and it has such harmful side effects. I personally witnessed it with some nephews of mine (severe depression being at the top of the list...and under the age of TEN!)
When I read this part of the article,
"We're not talking about fidgety 3-year-olds," said Insel, whose agency fundedOK, not to sound like I am advocating this, but which kids do not try to jump off slides or other playground equipment? Come on! Growing up it was quite fun to see how far you could jump off the swings. Not that it is ok for them to do, but this is not extraordinary.
the study.
The research involved children with severe cases of attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder — cases that included hanging from ceiling fans,
jumping off slides or playing with fire. The researchers say the benefits of
low-dose treatment outweigh the risks for these youngsters.
Possibly sharing my thoughts on this will strike controversy, but here it is: kids hanging from the ceiling fans and playing with fire? I'm sorry. If three & four-year olds are able to get to the fans and materials for fire, then it seems like more of a supervision problem to me than a problem with the child. Child-proofing is never done. I suspect parents are not enforcing any discipline.
And I'd be interested to find out if these preschoolers have the same, stable atmosphere each day before entering preschool. Meaning, did one caregiver take care of them consistently, or are these kids a product of the daycare system, with a different person handling them each day? I'd put my money on the latter.
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