Somedays it just sucks being a parent to a child with ADHD (Poem)

Written by Allison Solomon and shared by CADDAC in honour of National Poetry Month. Do you have a poem about your experience with ADHD? Submit it here and we'll feature it this month!

I see him exiting the building.
My heart shatters into a million pieces.
I know what that look means.
I watch my son as he walks to my car.
I know that I am watching a boy who feels defeated, a boy who feels like a failure, a boy who doesn’t understand why life is doing this to him.
I don’t even have to ask, “how did chemistry go to today?" because I know the answer.

I want to take him in my arms and tell him that everything will be okay.
I want to take him in my arms and tell him that this too shall pass.
I want to take him in my arms and keep him there to protect him from this world.
I want to take him in my arms and tell him that I love him, that a grade will never define him, that the only person that will define him is him.
I want to scream out to the universe, please stop, has he not endured enough.

I hold my tears back as he gets in the car.
I tell myself to keep it together.
I tell myself to not let him see the hot damn mess I am at the moment.
I tell myself that this is not about me, this is about my beautiful son, who today needs me to be his strength,
I tell myself that this too shall pass, even though I am not sure at this moment that I can believe that.

He closes the door, we drive in silence.
The air is so heavy, I feel like it is suffocating me.
How can silence be deafening?

I glance at my son, and while all he can see is failure, I see a human being who gets knocked down by life and gets back up.
I see a human being who defines the word courage by getting back into the ring each and every day.
I see a human being with a heart of a gold.
I see a human being who continues to defy the limits that a school system wants to put on him.
I see a human being who is kind and generous.

I know that this is not the time to tell him this.
I know that this is the time to let him process his emotions.
I know that this time to simply sit in the silence.

We drive into the driveway.
He opens the door.
As he exists the car, I say, tomorrow will be better but today sucks.

Can you relate? Is this your story as well?

Today I salute all those beautiful teens/ tweens/ children with ADHD. Today I salute them for all their courage, grit, resilience. Today I salute their perseverance, determination and ability to face adversity.

From the diary of Allison Solomon: The joys of being a parent to a child with ADHD, cancer survivor and broken hearted by the loss of her dad to cancer.
Allison Solomon
@allisonleighsolomon
FaceBook Group: The Mom Matrix - mom’s of teens supporting one another