Sometimes I Drive My Mom Crazy, But I Know She's Crazy About Me: A Self-Esteem Book for Overactive and Impulsive Children Paperback – March 2, 1993

My ADHD son is now 21 and doing very well in college and in life generally. He was a handful when he was younger struggling with school and social relationships. I first purchased this book when my son was about 8 years old. It explains ADHD in a constructive and easy to understand way while still being a fun read for a child. It often was the book he selected for bedtime reading....and he still remembers it fondly. I've since purchased this book as gifts for weary parents of other ADHD kids. Without exception their children also favored this book. It explains the medical condition while still placing an appropriate level of responsibility on the child for good behavior. Thus parents like the book too! I also had success (after many other failed efforts) with the behavior modification techniques described in 1-2-3 Magic by Thomas Phelan.

I really feel like my son is down on himself for things that are sometimes out of his control. This book is helping me help him understand what he is going through and that he is still a great kid! Best of all, his ADHD father found the book on the table and picked it up. After looking at it for a bit, he said very emphatically, "I am reading this with my son". I think that growing up undiagnosed was incredibly tough. Now both my husband and son can feel better about themselves! Great book!

My 6 yr old nephew isn't quite ready for this book. Pictures are drawn well, but in B/W, so it really won't hold his attention. I do like the material and will just hold on to it for 2-3 years.

My mom stated to me that she don't think I take my daughter condition serious enough and that I'm in denial. So I took it upon myself and bought a few books on ADHD. This book allowed me to see the other side of this disorder. It gave me some I sight from my daughter point of view as well as ways to help her get through the day. I would recommend this book to families who are in the dark about ADHD

I purchased this book for my 6 yr old son as a way for him to relate to his ADHD as I did with his asthma book. My son is hyperactive & impulsive. This book might be right for some children, but I don't believe it's right for ours. My review is for the book but I also want to offer ideas from our successes that may help a struggling parent.. It's a long review but maybe it will help someone out there in some way.What I liked about this book:*The first half explained what many ADHD kids experience. Our son related to it.*Addressed how organization can be helpful.*Addresses how many children live with ADHD so that the child doesn't feel different.*Makes mention about support groups for parents of children with ADHD thru CHADD.*Addressing that it is helpful to find an activity/sport the child enjoys/is good at. In the book he discovers bowling. (Some kids enjoy faster paced activities/sports like soccer, football, hockey, tae kwon do/karate, etc. Slower paced sports like baseball & bowling sometimes lose hyperactive kid's attention fast.)*Introduces an initial positive reinforcement plan that offers a sticker reward system. ...I didn't care as much for the books suggested format, as it takes the child 6 weeks to earn reward. <<In real life we want our child to "buy into the program" much quicker and therefore, make it easier for them to earn their reward for good behavior in a shorter amount of time. At my son's first school they placed him in their "HUG" program where our son earned smiles/frowns throughout the day for behavior. He was to work on (1) hands & feet to self, (2) quiet mouth during instruction. He had 8 chances to earn smiles & his initial goal was to earn 3 of 8. He would receive a sticker at end of each day for earning goal. At end of week he could pick out a still small but bigger prize (erasers, colored ink changing pen, etc) if he earned his goal all week. After a few weeks of meeting his 1st goal, they increased goal to 5 of 8. He always made his goal from day one, with the exception of 1 day. Had he stayed at that school his goal eventually would have been 8 of 8. I was told that after kids master their "HUG" program challenges, they go on to address other challenges thru the reward incentive program, only focusing on no more than two challenges at a time so they don't overwhelm the child. At home we began something similar to this as well. Our son earned army men as currency for brushing his teeth, being ready by a certain time for school, being asked no more than once to do something(usually only in areas where he struggles with transitioning), doing good deeds just because (given at random), showing manners (given at random), etc. He then is allowed to trade in his army men (only on good behavior days) for an item from his prize bag. The bag includes items he wants to earn, some he's picked out, such as puzzles, books, hotwheel cars, crafts, "homemade coupons" for redbox rental, ice cream cone, etc. Key to this is to offer items child wants to earn. Many children can help pick out items they want to work towards earning at home. We are currently offering him a secondary weekly prize to earn and a bigger monthly prize that he picked out to earn for good (wanted) behavior. We decided to do this in conjunction to everything else because his behavior went from awesome for 4 months, to over the top unwanted almost immediately. His second school offered no help & was threatening expulsion. After two months of almost daily unwanted behavior, once we re-introduced the different incentives for wanted behavior AND the teacher began being more positive & praising him for the wanted behavior more (took sending a letter to the principal & superintendent recommended by advocate requesting IEP-Individual education plan, FBP-functional behavior plan, education evaluation, and positive reinforcement plan be put in place) that he has since had a few weeks both at home & school of fabulous (wanted) behavior.What I didn't like:*The use of the word "stupid" in several sentences within this book. We consider it a bad word in our home because it's not a polite word to use so it bothered me seeing it used several times and I found myself modifying the sentences as I read them to him.*The somewhat negative approach with the way unwanted behavior was being approached, with sentences that read "I know you can try harder" or "can't you try harder" after the child only earned 5 of 15 stickers, instead of complimenting the child on earning 5 stickers and making the child feel confident and boost their self esteem that helps make them work harder to earn more stickers. Instead, I'd recommend saying, "Wow buddy, you got 5 stickers today. Although you didn't earn 15 to get your reward you are on your way to earning (fill in blank with whatever child is working to earn). I'm proud of you, I know you worked really hard for those 5 stickers today. Tomorrow's another day, maybe you can have an even better day and earn even more stickers. I also always tell my son how proud I am of him and give him hugs, even more so on difficult days.*I do not favor medication as the initial response to ADHD. We tried it against our better judgement while enrolled at his second school when we felt backed into a corner, not knowing our legal rights, and being told our son would be expelled and sent to an alternate school (while in kindergarten). I've learned since after speaking with several advocates (recommended by our psychologist, and learning advocates are available to help parents/schools in every state regarding special education services) that my son's school was not following procedures. While attempting medication, we ran into trouble with scary side effects for our son. We decided it would be best for our son if we found alternate means to help him, only attempting medication as a last option, not first. Given our experience with medication, I did not care for the parts that talked about medications even though I am aware it can be helpful for some children.*The comments where the mom says "You drive me CRAZY! I don't know what to do with you sometimes!" and the child's comment "WHY DON'T YOU JUST PUT ME IN THE TRASH CAN AND THROW GARBAGE ON ME?!!" I didn't like the way that thought process could affect a child's self esteem, to feel that way. Maybe I'm being too serious about this book, but I'm reviewing it based on our family's personal experiences & successes with positive reinforcement of wanted behavior through calm words, reactions, expressions, while demonstrating constant love and hugs rather than frustrations, unkind phrases, etc. I prefer to offer more positive support that helps promote & boost my son's self esteem when providing material for my son to read that supports this.Each child is different so it's about brainstorming & finding what works for your child, whether they have ADHD or not. There is such a stereotype regarding ADHD and many parents I initially spoke with about our positive reinforcement plan who were not parents of ADHD children passed judgement and criticism on my child and me for unwanted behaviors and my parenting, feeling I wasn't doing "my job". Some people just don't "get it" that ADHD isn't something made up, children are not purposefully acting out as they really do want to learn and follow direction, their body just doesn't allow them to. People not familiar with ADHD do not understand that children & adults with ADHD "are programmed differently inside" and shouldn't be punished for the way their brain is wired. Don't be afraid of stepping outside of the box and trying different parenting techniques and finding books that will be helpful to you, instead of falling into the "punish your child & take everything away" for unwanted behaviors "or medicate your child because it helps" viewpoint. In our experience, those options didn't help and left us all even more frustrated. It wasted valuable time and took a bit longer to get a plan in place that was effective for our son. Some people & parents of non ADHD children feel it's a bad thing to offer incentives for wanted/good behavior. I believe it's no different than offering an allowance to kids for doing their chores. And if you are able to find success without having to medicate your child, wouldn't it be worth it?I didn't favor the way this book was written, especially in it's second half. It's not a good fit for our family. I feel for us it's a 2 star, but because this book does offer some good points, I rated it a 3 star. I would recommend checking it out at the library first before investing your money in this book.

Wonderful book for our family. My little guy was diagnosed with ADHD. He often thinks he's a bad kid and that he is not smart and that I am too frustrated with him at times. This book does a wonderful job explaining the dynamics in a way that my 8 year old son could relate to. It was helpful for the adults to. It is a great understanding book. I recommend it to all families that have to deal with ADHD on some level.

My daughter loved to have me read her this book when she was trying to understand what it meant to have ADD. It helped her to realize that having Attention Deficit "Difference", as we call it, just makes her special and I love her for it

Book was not what I expected!! Consistently mentioned ADHD and I don't believe kids need to begin their young childhood referring to themselves as ADHD children.