Logo and Motto of the HyperactiveClub.com

The Hyperactive Club

Welcome to the landing page of TheHyperactiveClub.com, aka ClubHyperactive.com.

The goal of this site is to offer support to people who are hyperactive, their friends and family, and to increase understanding of what it’s like to “live in their skin.”

It can be challenging to be around hyperactive people, especially kids. But the reality is that people don’t grow out of this. Many adults do learn how to harness this energy and direct it in productive ways. In my case, I was repeatedly in trouble for talking in class and attempting to “teach from the back of the classroom.” My career ended up being that of a speech teacher. A bit ironic, when you think about it, that I got paid for doing the same thing that sent me to the principal’s office. Better yet, I also spent a lifetime “corrupting others” by teaching them to talk …. in class.

Hyperactivity and the diagnosis of ADD or ADHD is often a moment of anguish for those families who have one or more children who face this condition. I know that my teachers either loved or hated me, and it was no fun to be in the room with someone who literally had a stack of dittoed referral forms with my name on them. I was sent to the principal’s office so often that I had my own reserved seating there, a desk with books and writing supplies.

Yep. I know. If you’re a teacher, you have those kids like me who take it out of you.

But before you bail on this, just know that we hyperactive kids really are not trying to be a pain. We just have so much energy. And as a radio talk-show once noted, “you won’t hear a farmer complain about having a hyperactive worker when the crops need to be brought in.”

True enough. Some of us just aren’t wired to sit down and keep quiet. I’ve found that the misfits such as myself often end up in the speech & debate programs at their schools, or over in the theater department.

The message here is that there really is a place for us.

Now, these days there are issues surrounding whether to medicate your kid. We faced this with my son, and tried not doing it for a long time, to the distress of his teachers, and then trying it briefly with no clear benefit. The fact that he was on meds late in his high school career actually complicated his later entry into the military. So, be aware that the cost-benefit choice on this point is not always clear.

My articles and stories where will be, as much as I can make them, upbeat and helpful. This is not to deny or trivialize the headaches we have coping with people who have inappropriate behavior and don’t seem to know “when to dial it down.” My wife of almost 38 years still says to me, when I recount the happenings of my day: “You didn’t really say that, did you?!”

So, the thing about being a communications teacher is that it’s not that I don’t make mistakes or lose arguments, I’m just better equipped to know why I screwed up and what I can do about it.

Damage control is a thing to be avoided in the first place, but practiced freely when needed.

So, that’s about it for a kickoff message. You can read more about this in the HyperactiveClub.com link here.

I’m going to sharing resources, stories, and advice gathered from a variety of experts and people with lived experience. It may not always be what you want to hear, but it will be delivered with respect and compassion. And in the end, that’s what counts. We all still need to be accountable for our actions, but it’s also true that unrealistic, limiting, or unfairly negative and restrictive world-views cause needless suffering and friction.

Some days, what counts the most, is being able laugh a bit at ourselves and our situations. And a little forgiveness goes a long, long way.

Robb Lightfoot, author Problem Child: The View From The Principal’s Office.

June 2020

Author

robb@robblightfoot.com
Author, educator, humorist, entrepreneur, astronaut - one of these isn't true. :)