ODD – Oppositional Defiant Disorder. CBS News reported on it tonight. The subject of the story, 8 year old Christopher, was labeled as ODD. What the news report showed was a kid in need of a good spanking. The father of Christopher was not shown. Just the mother wrestling with Christopher telling him not to do something….asking him to “Take a minute.” I think if there was a strong father figure around to dish out corporal punishment, Christopher wouldn’t be classified as “ODD.” Christopher knew exactly what he had. And to him it meant he could act up and blame it on his disorder. Unfortunately the mother was more concerned about classifying her son’s supposed disorder, rather than actually being a good parent.
I suspect Christopher may have been acting out for the CBS camera crew. Biting his mother. General just acting bad….
I realize that I’m basing my opinion on a 4 minute news report. Yet sometimes I think we are too quick to classify children with an alphabetical soup of psychological disorders. Instead we need to teach parents how to do their job.