Quiet

Life with kids is not quiet!  There's constant chatter.  Noisy toys.  And lots of commotion.  I like quiet.  It's the only way I can hear the voices in my head to write my stories!  So I can never understand why my kids insist on having music playing, or the TV on when they're doing their homework.

"No TV!"  I always say, and turn it off whenever I find it on.

Well, last week, my son and I went to visit the psychologist.  We suspected he might have ADD.  One of the questions was, "Does you son like to have music or noise when he's doing his homework?"

"Why, yes," I said.  "And it's driving me crazy!"

The psychologist laughed.  Then he went to his computer and pulled up some brain pictures.  "This is a normal brain," he said, pointing and some MRI images.  "You can see normal activity in the frontal lobe."

I looked at the picture and nodded my head.

He continued.  "Here's a brain of a person who has ADD."  he pointed at the frontal lobe, where there were obviously black "holes" in it.  "There's not enough activity here to be picked up by the MRI," he explained.

He pulled up another picture.  The brain had even more "holes."  "This is what happens when you 'force' an ADD person to focus.  They shut down even more."

"Okay," I said.  "But what does noise have to do with it?"

The psychologist grinned.  "Noise stimulates the frontal lobe and helps the ADD person focus.  The 'holes' shrink."

Bubba thought that was great news.  "See, Mama!  I told you I needed music and TV to help me do my homework!"

So  much for quiet!