PLAYING is fun. It is good for the child’s learning and their healthy development, no matter how old they are. Having a good play experience helps them develop skills they can use as they grow up and start to make their own way in the world. Conversely, excitement and enthusiasm are great to see in kids.
But when kids get too playful or overexcited, they can make people around them are very uncomfortable because they may get impatient easy, throw tantrum, talking incessantly, unable to sit still, have difficulty participating in quiet activities or doing things without considering the consequences.
Unfortunately, “a child that is too playful is often downplayed or trivialized, leaving the child to grow and suffer its consequences; beatings at home and school, poor academic grades and unable to fully potentials in life,” Said Dr Jibril Abdulmalik, a consultant psychiatrist at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.
According to him, “if you have any suspicion about the behaviour or the hyperactivity of the child or the ability to pay attention and concentrate, what you should do is let that child be assessed by a child mental health professional for expert’s advice and intervention if necessary.”
Dr Abdulmalik stated that some of these children actually have Attention Deficient Hyperactivity Disorder, more commonly known as ADHD, a disorder for which a lack of treatment can have several lifelong impacts.
He stated that one in every 5 children will have a mental health problem of different types, adding that “ADHD is one of the commonest mental health problems that exist in children, but many people often do not recognize.”
The child psychiatrist declared that ADHD is like a stool that has 3 legs—inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity.
“These children are very highly distractible. If they have 10 mathematics questions to answer five. By the time, they do the first question; they will want to jump up because they cannot focus their attention. It is the same thing if you send them on an errand. They cannot maintain their attention for long enough to be able to carry out the task.
“They are very hyperactive; they are full of energy and running from here to there. They cannot sit still, but always fidget, squirming, running, climbing at inappropriate times, and having trouble playing quietly.
“The restlessness is so severe that it is affecting the child in functioning. It must be causing distress to the child, the parents and teachers. If a caregiver has to look after them, in 2 hours the person is exhausted.
“Because they are very impulsive before you finish asking a question, they are already telling you the answer and they may then get it wrong. So, that impulsivity is again linked to their difficulty paying attention and concentrating.”
Ironically, Dr Abdulmalik said although such children end up being beaten, scolded, and called names a lot of the time, the problem simply has to do with the child’s brain. The child cannot help it but needs help.
He stated that ADHD is a disorder of the part of the brain that is responsible for organization, attention and concentration, although its cause is unknown.
Howbeit, Dr Abdulmalik said that ADHD is three times more common in boys than in girls, adding that usually, it will become clear if a child is really hyperactive by the age of five years. As the child grows older, it will continue to also affect the child.
According to him, “if you have any suspicion about the behaviour, what you should do is let that child be assessed by a child mental health professional for expert’s advice and intervention if necessary. Many of them do very well with a very small amount of medications that will help them to calm down, to be able to focus more and be productive.”
The medical expert said it is a common mistake that when children are too playful, parents downplay or disregard it and the child grows to suffer its consequences, including beating at home and school, poor academic grades and inability to attain life’s full potential.
He urged teachers to be aware of ADHD and to always look out for children not doing well academically or too hyperactive or too restless to find out why this is so since children can also perform poorly academically when they have hearing difficulty or poor sight aside from ADHD.
One of the misconceptions about ADHD is that it goes away once people reach adulthood. This is not true. For many, ADHD is a lifelong condition that requires treatment, which is often a combination of medication and therapy.
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