My kids are now teenagers. One of the most helpful books I have read is called "Raising Resilient Children" by Robert Brooks, PH.D., and Sam Goldstein, PH.D. I guess I should confess: I was going to be the perfect parent with the perfect children. The funny thing is, my beautiful children came into the world and, thank goodness, had other ideas. They are both bright, quirky, and talented; making us laugh often. We didn't end up with little carbon copies of ourselves, we ended up with two glorious individuals who are, thankfully, different than their parents.

Soon, we learned the realities of parenting. Around kindergarten, we noticed our son was having difficulty staying focused and on-task in school. He had the same issue in extra-curricular activities. Thrown for a loop, we blamed the school. Our son was and is extremely intelligent. He began talking at 9 months. He was reading very well by 4 years old. If a child that smart couldn't pay attention in class, we reasoned, there must be something wrong with the teacher. By third grade, after seeing him struggle with learning and then anxiety, we took him to a doctor and discovered he was one of 11.2% of boys diagnosed with ADHD. (Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, November 17, 2011) We had never envisioned our child having to deal with such a hurdle. We sought medical help and read books. That's when I discovered "Raising Resilient Children". I wanted both of my children to succeed and be happy regardless of any circumstances. The chapter on developing appropriate expecations and goals by accepting our children for who they are was very helpful in helping us to deal with ADHD and any other obstacle that came our way.