2008 » July » 02 - Mental Health Humor and Cartoons

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Cartoon Index Warning: The Mental Heath Humor blog is not intended to stigmatize, while viewing the content of the blog understand it is meant to be positive! Yet we cannot please every one. If you find humor about mental illness offensive, then please do not view our site.

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Archive for July 2nd, 2008

Jul 02 2008

Mental Health Humor : Ramblings…childhood ramblings…Ramblings about Me!

Published by chatobstewart under About Chato's Life, Mental Health Cartoon Post, NEW CARTOON Edit This

-*-*-*-*-*-*SITE MAP *-*-*-*-*-*- Mental Health Humor : Ramblings…childhood ramblings…Ramblings about Me!

If you’re a parent - have you heard this?
What is wrong with your kid? He needs help! My mother heard this a few times about me growing up! Nice, positive comment, huh? I was born in the 70’s in Boston. I lived just outside the city. I was, to say the least, a hyper child…. but so was my Irish twin sister. She is just a year older then me. I can remember taking fits when we did not get what we wanted. She and I had a common fit technique. I remember doing this and my mother, so used to our temper tantrums, would just let us run it till we stopped… Her thinking, I believe, was genius. Just ignore us until we ask properly or behaved.

Was there something more going on with us? Any indicators of future mental illness? Sis, grew out of the temper tantrums but I did not. I would get so worked up and hyper that I just could not calm down… Needless to say, I was normally the tail end of a beating. My Father’s view was to beat the discipline into me. That had no affect but added fuel to the out of control fire.

What came about with my unique “personality” ? Well, I got to be evaluated at the world renowned Children’s Hospital. After about 5 visits and tons of audio and visual sensory tests, they came back with my diagnosis… Dyslexia! But, they attributed the behavior to me acting out because I could not express myself as a normal child. Then they told my parents, essentially, I would be unable to take part in any sports since my problem would limit me…

I was eight. The next day my father signed me up for peewee baseball…. I sucked! That year, then next year, we were the division champions and I led with hits and runs batted in, and every team after I have a trophy from… The doctor was wrong! I could play sports and I was good at it! I was not going to play pro but I was a key asset to the team… I still have a lot of the game balls I got for being the VIP.

The point, whatever is put in your way… whether a label or a physical disability, never let it block you from doing anything!

I’m sure a lot of you reading this are thinking my childhood behavior sounds a lot like ADD or ADHA and you just might be right! But this post is not about that. It is about making lemonade from lemons. (Or a post from childhood ramblings - lol.) I grew up in a twisted home but my father always said, “Never let a label hold you down”… In that case, he was talking about the dyslexia…

In the cartoon today, you can see ME, and it is not far from the real desk I had at school… I was the “class clown”… Another way of saying he is unteachable. I spent many hours with my desk in front of the mirror. I guess the popular thinking at the time was that we would sit there and “reflect” on our behavior… NOT me! It was just a fun place to make faces and goof around.

So what do you think? As a parent, have you dealt with this? As a child, have you overcome any labels? Any ramblings from your childhood? I bet you too know how to make some tasty lemonade!