Okay, so my son was 3 last month and he's somewhat, ok REALLY hyper usually. Last week he was super crazy, my parents watch him for me during the day while I work. My Mom told me to have him tested for ADHD. Yes, he is very hyper and hard to control and throws fits and has tantrums and screams alot.... but does that mean he has ADHD or that he's just a normal kid? Boys are usually more hyper than girls in my experience and are harder to control, more rowdy, etc. Of course there are exceptions to the rule..

I know that a lot of Pediatricians tend to diagnose any and all kids with ADHD/ADD and then prescribe medications for it. So I thought that I would check here for opinions to see if I need to even mention it to him. He sure is a lot to keep up with....somedays I sware I am going to lose my mind. But I can't help but wonder if maybe he has some underlying health or environmental condition that is the culprit.

Any ideas or questions to help me sort this out would be great.....

Okay, so my son was 3 last month and he's somewhat, ok REALLY hyper usually. Last week he was super crazy, my parents watch him for me during the day while I work. My Mom told me to have him tested for ADHD. Yes, he is very hyper and hard to control and throws fits and has tantrums and screams alot.... but does that mean he has ADHD or that he's just a normal kid? Boys are usually more hyper than girls in my experience and are harder to control, more rowdy, etc. Of course there are exceptions to the rule..

I know that a lot of Pediatricians tend to diagnose any and all kids with ADHD/ADD and then prescribe medications for it. So I thought that I would check here for opinions to see if I need to even mention it to him. He sure is a lot to keep up with....somedays I sware I am going to lose my mind. But I can't help but wonder if maybe he has some underlying health or environmental condition that is the culprit.

Any ideas or questions to help me sort this out would be great.....

Well, he sounds pretty normal but then again, maybe he misses you and is acting out while you are gone. Dogs will even trash a house when the master leaves them alone too long, they have already studied such behavior on dogs who live in the home and feel abandonment.....that's why mine are outside!

Now, you can't put your son outside all the time of course! So maybe your mom could set up a rewards system for quiet time, or chores? Also, a good run each day in the back yard or park will help settle him. Kids that age need alot of physical activity as well as mental. I took my kids to playgrounds, even those McDonalds ones everyday; I would sit with a coke if I didn't want to eat and watch them tire themselves out.

Good luck. I wouldn't jump on the medication wagon just yet.

Even drug manufactures say they don't recommend meds before age six. Meds can also cause health problems/mental changes and the mechanisms of action are based on theory since they can't really test the brain for dopamine levels or really know the measure of what's normal.

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At this age, a lot of a child's behavior has to do with his experiences. Does he have a lot of limits in place? Will he respect rules if he understands them? Our youngest (turns 4 soon) is also hyper & a handfull, worse before we changed our parenting style.

Some of the things you should look at:

- How does he interact with his peer group? Does he have several days a week where he's interacting with his peer group for several hours at a time, consistently? What are his behaviors then? How is he fitting in? Does he have average, below average or above average social skills?

- Does he have known triggers? What really sets him off - write them down HONESTLY and then look at the common denominators, including parenting, siblings, noise level, etc. Is every meal a battle? Is it because he doesn't want to sit still and eat or because his biorythms make him hungry at another time or that's the time big brother talks about his day or is there another consistent factor? That's just one common example. Ours struggled with meals but we found that we had to accomodate when HE'S hungry (breakfast no sooner than 30 minutes after waking versus the rest of us who want to eat first), understand how hard it was for him to feel included because of other siblings talking, etc. Once we made some modifications in our approach (not giving in to the child but recognizing that this one is DIFFERENT from the others), mealtime battles became rare.

I think, for us, creating a behaviorial structure helped take what was commonly thought of as an ADD child and helped him to become at or above his peer level in behaviors. He's still active and creative but now has healthier outlets that appeal to him. We also went thru something similar in our ADD (inattentive) teen when he was about the same age.

I WOULD NEVER put a child that young on meds but that is a personal choice and one you'd have to think thru a great deal.

When my son was 3 , he was diagnosed with ODD. oppositional defiant disorder. We took parenting classes for this. Later He was also diagnosed with ADHD and we started meds when he was 7.

I've got two little boys--boys are definitely different from little girls--on average. Yes, they tend to be more "hyper", so I wouldn't worry about having your son tested at this young age. He may just be what is categorized as a "strong willed child". Check out a couple books by Dr. James Dobson--"The Strong-Willed Child: Birth Through Adolescence" and "Bringing Up Boys".


My oldest had some similar behaviors to what you describe when he was a toddler. It was amazing, because as his language/communication skills deepened, he had the vocabulary to express what he wanted/needed. A lot of his fits grew from communication frustrations.