STOP DRUGGING CHILDREN

It seems like ordinary child behavior is now considered "mental illness"
["The Ritalin generation," Accent, Oct.14]. For centuries parents have been
raising "overactive children" without any drugs into healthy productive
adults.

I don't think the problem today is that we don't drug our kids enough but
the opposite: We drug our kids too much. What are the alternatives to
drugs? Nutrition. For example, a diet of highly processed foods and
sugar-coated cereals and treats can really make kids "wired."

So make sure your child has a healthy diet. Also,in a learning atmosphere,
make sure the child is actually understanding what is being taught. Do you
think you could sit patiently if you were a kid and didn't understand what
was going on?

Drugging our kids so they will be more "manageable" may sound like a
solution, but is giving strong mind-altering drugs really the best thing
for our children? Especially when we know they will grow up healthy without
them.

Gary Hatfield

Irvine

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski