Yes, I'm THAT Mum.

Do you remember what it was like when your first born was a baby and you had all these plans? Whether it was making tentative plans to send your child to a private school, being the doting parent who attends all your child's extra curricular activities, to being the parent who would *NEVER* let their child cry it out in their bedroom?

I was the parent who would ensure my son didn't watch TV as long as the sun was shining. If his behaviour turned out of control (my brother had ADD), I would never consider medicating him.
Not that I'm against those who do these things; it just wasn't an upbringing I wanted my perfect child to experience.

Hahahaha. Ohh, naive new mum L, you were so cute and innocent!

I did okay with my plan to minimise the television Spawn watched - he didn't really watch TV at all until he was 18 months old. And even then, he was limited in his exposure towards it until he was at least 2. Now, however? Our TV is always on ABC Kids whenever Spawn is home (unless he has a movie on upstairs), even though it isn't always being watched. Take today for example; the sun is shining, it's relatively warm for a mid-winter afternoon, and Spawn has come home from school early, like he does every Wednesday and Thursday. He is currently glued to the television whilst I sit on the couch. Neither of us are absorbing any of that glorious vitamin D - and I'm okay with that!

Anyway, I completely digressed from my reason for blogging today!
Yesterday during our paed appointment, it was decided that Spawn would trial medication to help with his anxiety. So now he is not only on Ritalin, which has a bad stigma on its own, but he is also on a medication commonly referred to as Prozac. Yup, my almost 6 year old is on Prozac.

The decision to give him that half a tablet this morning was most definitely NOT made lightly. In fact, I think it's one of the hardest decisions I've made to date as a parent. I filled the description with the thoughts of, 'the pediatrician knows what he's doing' and, 'calming Spawn will help him do better at school and become more confident in his abilities' - because let's face it, dealing with anxiety doesn't really help ones confidence.

Even so, I struggled with the idea of actually having Spawn take the pill. Until a glorious friend (you know who you are!) reminded me on a Facebook status of the main point behind all of this: "anxiety is just another medical condition that can respond to treatment."

Which brings us to now. Spawn was noticeably calmer at school this morning. After his first half a tablet. Not sure if it's because of the Prozac, or merely because he self-settled, but either way, I no longer regret my decision to trial Spawn on it.

Have faith in yourselves, fellow parents. None of us make decisions regarding our children lightly, and we shouldn't be made to feel like bad parents if our decisions don't conform with the 'norms' of society.

Love to all.

- L. x