Just remember, "normal" people don't always act the "right" way either...

Sometimes, we don’t act like we should. Be that “normal” people, or those with ADHD. We all make mistakes and we don’t always react the “right” way. But people like me, “normal” people, learn from our mistakes and tries to do better the next time. People with ADHD don’t know how to. Therefore, they act the “wrong” way more often, but that doesn’t make them bad people.

One day we were on the beach and I sat there with my bucket making small castles. Henry took my bucket and started tearing down all my towers to make a racing path for it, strongly believing it was his time to play. And when I would try to protest, he would get mad at me for intervening in his project. And then, as I gave up, and let him destroy everything I had built, he just left it. I was so annoyed at him, I felt like running after him and hitting him. If it was any other person I probably would have. But I didn’t.

This might make him seem incredible selfish and ignorant, and that’s pretty much what I thought at the moment, but he isn’t. And here is why. Like any other kid with ADHD, he isn’t really patient enough to wait for his time, but simply goes ahead with what he wants too. And that day we wanted to play with the sand just like me, which makes it sibling bickering, just like in any other family.

When I got annoyed with him and blamed him, he would give me anger as he was not able to properly control his emotions, especially at such early age. Today he doesn’t get as angry as quickly, but he still has his moments. I feel sorry for that, because he can’t control it, and even though he knows afterwards that he behaved wrong, he does not know how to prevent it. He tries, but he doesn’t understand his own behavior. This does not mean my brother is mean or egoistic, it just means he can regulate his feelings.

Back at the beach, my father grabbed him and made him apologize to me, not in the most subtitle way perhaps, but still. Soon, me and Henry sat and made our sand castle together. Well, at least until he ran away to catch the waves instead…