Please have yourself diagnosed for A. A. A. D. D

(this was shared with me, and is OH so accurate! How could I not pass it along :o) 

Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder

This is how it manifests:
1) I decide to water my garden.
2) As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide my car needs washing.
3) As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.
4) I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
5) I lay my car keys down on the porch table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.
6) So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and empty the garbage first.
7) But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.
8) I take my check book from my purse on the porch table, and see that there is only 1 check left.
9) My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.
10) I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
11) As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need to be watered
12) I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.
13) I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.
14) I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.
15) I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.
16) I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.
17) So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
18) Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
* the car isn't washed
* the bills aren't paid
* there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter
* the flowers don't have enough water,
* there is still only 1 check in my check book,
* I can't find the remote,
* I can't find my glasses,
* and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired.
I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.
Do me a favor, will you? Forward this message to everyone you know, because I don't remember to whom it has been sent.
Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!!

GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.
LAUGHING AT YOURSELF IS THERAPEUTIC.

You figure it out.

So parents, you know how you have those times, where you have said the exact same thing to your kids probably a dozen separate times, with at least a dozen variations (just in case wording it differently SOME how actually will get thru to the part of their brain that “get’s it”) all in only a weeks time (maybe 2 or even 3 if you’re lucky).  Well, I’m getting better and better all the time at looking at my kids calmly when there arises some sort of anxiety amongst the ranks over nothing of substance whatsoever, and just saying to them, “YOU figure it out.” 

I mean, honestly, did I wear your sneakers and then NOT put them on the shoe shelf?  Well then, why do I have to stop what I’m doing to go look for the missing one?  Did I teach you to hit your sibling “only joking” and then wonder why in the world they hit you back?  Did I make all the dirty dishes when you and 2 other kids had friends over and no one cleaned up after all the late night munching?  So why are you wondering why there are no clean bowls to eat breakfast with?

I looked at the kids, and not sure if it was out of total exhaustion, or just that I was blessed with the total disconnect I needed at the time, but with NO emotional stress whatsoever, I asked a couple of them … “So, just wondering something?  Is there anything different I could say today then what I said yesterday, the day before, or even the day before THAT that would make it easier for you to understand YOUR role in the argument you want me to stop between you all?”  ‘Noooo.  Not really.”  “Well then, I suggest you take a deep breath and then YOU go and figure it out. See ya. :o)”  you must end with a happy grin, just to let them see that YOU can choose NOT to yell, pitch a hissy fit, or let their desire to be big old grumpy farts have any effect over YOU enjoying YOUR day. 

Nope, I’m going to enjoy my book, putting it away when I’m done so I know where it is next time I want it.  I’m going to make myself something to eat, and even clean up after myself so the counter is clean for whomever comes in after me.  I’m even going to rinse and stack my dirty dishes, occasionally even loading the dishwasher if the kid with the duty has unloaded it.  I’m going to clean out the kitty litter and tend to the dog, because I chose to have the pets.  I’m even going to save your little toys from ending up being hidden by the dog, even though you did NOT put them away.  Why? Because I don’t want the dog to have them.  I never said you were going to get your little toys BACK, I just took them away from Baby Grrrl.  I know, I know, I’m such a mean mom.  But one of these days, I’ll get to sit back and grin as I listen to YOU tell YOUR kids “You’ll figure it out” as you shoo your kids off to settle their own quarrels. 

todays answer

Purple Pancakes