OT: ADHD, part whatever

If she's eating well for her size (forget age here for a while), then don't worry about weight gain. You only really need to worry about that if she is 'failing to thrive' (that is, not growing at all and eating so little that she is skinny and lacking energy). As I recal, she's a bright, energetic little thing. As she's small, she's not going to eat (or need!) as much food as, for example, James (95th percentile from birth!) did at the same age. She was slightly premature and small anyway to start with, and such babies do tend to take a while to catch up.* So long as she remains bright, energetic, interested, and eating well for her size, don't fret about it. You don't need another layer of anxiety. Kids do, after all, come in all shapes and sizes.

As for the ADHD... You are doing the best you can. I always think it's wrong to try and make such kids conform to a school regime that doesn't suit them. Good fresh food, cut the artificial colourings and chemical crap, and run the legs off them! Feed in the education on the sly as they fly past! When you think about it, sitting in a classroom for hours on end is a most unnatural way to behave. I know, I used to teach.

*My dad was born in 1929 at seven months, so two whole months early. As a kid he was under-sized and skinny. He ended up 5'10, the tallest of three brothers (their dad was 5'6"), and played rugby and was a cross country runner for his university and every RAF station he was based at until he was 42. Rebekah might surprise you yet!

And get as much buzzy flashing fidget-inducing electronic rubbish out of their environment as possible. DEFINITELY no television or computer in their own rooms, no walking around plugged into an MP3 player or mobile phone, and as little use of electronic media gadgetry in the home as possible (by anyone in the family). Nobody needs a TV, nobody needs computer games and nobody needs to have every daily activity to be accompanied by electronically relayed music and chatter.

The Palaeolithic environment we evolved in almost certainly *did* have people sitting for hours a day doing nothing very much (shelling seeds, preparing sinews, sharpening sticks and telling stories) - kinda like a 4-million-year-long quilting bee, only featuring dead antelope instead of fabric. A classroom isn't half as unnatural as sitting in front of a flashing screen for hours on end.

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