Cheer up, baby chick!

This post is pretty personal and a bit of a testimonial, but will also hopefully serve as a ray of hope to some folks out there who deal with mood disorders or behavioral issues, whether in themselves or their family or friends.

My son recently turned 9.  He's a great kid, smart, very social, active in Taekwondo.  He is mine, I own him, and I love him to pieces.  I don't care how 'cool' he is...I will grab him and kiss him and squeeze the daylights out of him any time I please.  That's my boy.  My first, my oldest, my son.  Any parent knows what I'm talking about, you will do anything for your kids!

From the time he was a baby we knew we were in for a heck of ride - he has always been strong-willed.  At first it may seem an undesirable quality, especially in a small child, but strong-willed can be good!  If cultivated correctly, he can turn into one determined, confident, knows-what-he-wants-and-does-what-it-takes-to-get-it adult.  But recently he has seemed...out of sorts.  Honestly, he's been a miserable shit.  Moping around, being nasty with a bad attitude, seemingly upset or angry all the time.  I've had a hard time even talking to him because he's immediately defensive and angry.  This has not made for very pleasant family time!  I want my happy little boy back.

I've done a lot of thinking and worrying about him.  Should we see a counselor?  Is there something 'wrong' with him?  What am I doing wrong as a parent?  OMG, should he be medicated?  Maybe I'm not strict enough.  Maybe I'm TOO strict.  Could it be diet or allergies?  Do we not give him enough attention?  WTF is his PROBLEM?!?! 

As you may know, I am very health conscious and do what I can here at home with natural remedies first.  Naturally the first thing I think of is food allergies.  Maybe there's something he is eating that makes him act out.  It's certainly not unheard of!  (Food coloring is a big offender when it comes to behavior).  Over the past couple years I have cut the artificially colored, flavored and processed foods down to very little here at home.  No cow's milk, no meat with 'added hormones', etc.  Naturally, it's hard to control what goes on at the school lunch table or at friend's houses or where ever, but we do our best where we live and spend most of our time.  Unfortunately, this hasn't helped a whole lot with his attitude.   

Being a Shaklee distributor, I've learned so much about what supplements do what for you, and what happens when you're deficient.  One of the first things you learn is that B vitamins are your 'happy pill'.  Sounds good! Bottoms up, boy!  (And husband, and mother, and sister, and...kidding, kidding!)  So I've been giving the child a single B Complex tablet every morning with his breakfast, along with another Shaklee product called Moodlift Complex.  Moodlift contains St. John's Wort along with a proprietary blend that helps the St. John's Wort be more effective.

We've been doing this for a week now, and the difference is AMAZING.  He wakes up in the morning joking and energetic.  I've been communicating with his teacher by email all this week, and she has said that the boy is much more focused and on task at school all day. When he comes home from school he actually speaks to me and tells me how his day was!  He is agreeable and hasn't been nearly as argumentative as before.  The negativity is not completely gone, but it is so far in the background that if I was not overly conscious of it I'm not sure I would realize it was there.

I guess my point here is sometimes a little bit of the right stuff can make all the difference in the world.  Nutrition is such a huge part of our lives, and so many people don't realize how important it is and how it affects SO MUCH of what we do.  Too many times people resort to heavy medications to 'fix' a behavior that could easily be remedied by changes in diet or by supplementing a deficiency.  Not all cases of course...there are many children that need the heavier stuff on a daily basis, and there's nothing wrong with that.  Simple solutions aren't always going to work for everyone, I'm not trying to say they are.  But if you've been feeling down, don't run to the doc and get a prescription for Zoloft.  Try a natural remedy first - diet, fitness and nutrition.  You might be surprised!