Pill in His Coffee

What a great story I heard.  A rebbi told a father that he could not handle his son, he was impossible.  The father said, but he sits nicely at home ... The rebbi wasn't interested, it was either get him Ritalin or he's out of the school.  The father said he couldn't afford it and the rebbi said raise the money.  The father, seeing he had no choice, said there's one more problem.  My wife and I leave early in the morning and we won't be able to ensure he gets the medication at the same time every morning.  The rebbi said that's no problem, I'll take care of it.  I'll send him to the teachers' room to make me a coffee and to take his medicine.

Two months go by and the child is doing beautifully.  One day, the father asks his son how things are going at school.  The child said, terrific! Better than ever.

The father asks, is there anything you can attribute this to? The son says, I don't know but the only thing that is different is that every day, after davening, rebbi asks me to make him a coffee and to take this pill, so every day I make him coffee and put the pill in. 

The question asked of R' Yitzchok Zilberstein was - does the teacher have to reimburse the father for the medication!

Should we laugh or cry?

How many parents are coerced into drugging their children in order to placate school staff? What a crime!

ADD - Attention Deficit Disorder - When Parents' Attention is Deficient

Lazer Brody, a Breslover Chassid and the translator of the immensely popular "The Garden of Emuna" has an opinion about ADD/ADHD which is refreshing.  In his experience of counseling parents about children's issues, he has seen a high correlation between those diagnoses with these pseudo-illnesses and lack of attention at home.  In other words, the attention which is lacking is primarily that of the parents, and not the child!

He "prescribes" one-on-one attention for the child with no siblings around and the transformation is amazing.  He says that at least three dozen children of his readers have rendered the use of Ritalin superfluous in this way. 

Is it not tragic, make that criminal, that children are made to be the victims of their parents' poor parenting to the extent that they are labeled as sick with a disease that requires medication? There would be more of an outcry if parents weren't only too happy to give their kid a pill rather than give their child what he really needs.  It's much easier to medicate than to give of oneself.