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I have had a few children in my classes over the years that were identified as having ODD. It's real. One had been born with crack in his system. The other had a myriad of issues.
It's not like they are handing out this label like they do some other ones. These kids are a handful, that's for sure.
Corporal punishment would not fix this issue, but would probably make it worse.
I have a young relative who was diagnosed with ODD. He was a difficult child right from the beginning. His mother was caring and nurturing with him all along while his father was not a very attentive parent. Even though it was his mother who paid the most attention and was the one who got him help, he took his anger out on her---this despite him being angry that his father didn't pay much attention to him. Now, as a young adult, he has put his mother through so much grief.
Interesting... thanks for the feedback. I guess this is a useful diagnosis for some people, but the teen I met seemed like he needed to be told "No" more often. I felt like he had his parents wrapped around his finger.
With legitimate mental disorders it is usually a matter of degree. Lots of people, and kids have weird erratic behavior at times. But when it happens with great frequency, in many different situations, and is extreme, THEN it becomes a disorder. Don't throw the "baby out with the bathwater" by denying that some kids have real disorders just because your kid has done the same thing once or twice.
I was talking to a parent the other day, and the parent said their kid has ADHD (doesn't everyone, now?) and "Oppositional Defiant Disorder", or ODD. ODD was a new one to me, so I looked it up...
I'm starting to think we create medical labels to make excuses for everything. It isn't your fault you don't discipline your child, and it isn't your fault he acts up. He just has "Oppositional Defiant Disorder", and the disorder makes him not do what you say.
It seemed to me like the teen was being a regular teenager without boundaries. He's picks on and cusses his parents, and they don't know what to do with him. They got onto him for something he did, and he went around moving furniture and unplugging stuff to get back at them. If you let a teen run wild without any consequences, of course they're going to take advantage of every inch you give them and try to take more. However, if you discipline your child or teen and enforce a certain standard, they won't get "Oppositional Defiant Disorder".
A coworker summed it up pretty well when he said the cure for ODD back in the day was a belt.
I'm opening the floor for discussion from psychologists/non-spanking parents who will say this disorder is real and the parents who keep their kids in line who say it is a made up excuse. Go!
I do think that personality disorders (and disorders like this) exist. However, I believe they exist primarily due to poor parenting and upbringing.
From my observation, the vast majority of people these days are very poor parents.
I do think that personality disorders (and disorders like this) exist. However, I believe they exist primarily due to poor parenting and upbringing.
From my observation, the vast majority of people these days are very poor parents.
Well....you'd find that to be false. Poor parenting has gone on since he family unit started. It's just that these days most of us have learned that what used to be 'beat the crap out of the kid' doesn't work. Overall we try to work with those with issues and problems...not hide them away and dump them off.
ADHD is a bunch of cr@p, but ODD? Heck I lived with it! My brother and my mom. Apparently, right from the get go. When she'd yell at him, he'd just stare her in the face like she was nuts or something. My mom had a humorous side to it, and of all the things she came up with to call that kid: "Odd." How funny. How prescient (55 yrs ago).
Well, I can't say I was as extreme as some of these kids, but problems with authority? From day one, that was me. And no, a hit with the belt did NOT help.
As a matter of fact, I've often wondered why some kids react so badly to punishment that other kids figure they deserve and accept. Two kids do something wrong. Both get punished. One says, "I deserved it", and moves on with his life. The other kid resents the punishment and adds it to his list of bad things that happen to him that he carries with him the rest of his life. Why?
And just to add, acting out against authority isn't all bad. I grew up with a passive mother and a domineering, abusive father. By all accounts, I should have been a passive and submissive daughter. I got myself out of that situation and to this day, my feeling is that any man who thinks he can abuse me better make it a good hit, because if I am left standing, he's dead meat. According to all the science and literature out there, I should have gotten myself into an abusive relationship because of my family dynamics long since, but I haven't and I never will.
Psychologists benefit when corporal punishment is outlawed.
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