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Day Care Is Causing the ADHD Epidemic | Erica Komisar

John Anderson Media

356,014 views

Erica Komisar argues that ADHD is not a neurological disorder but a stress response. The result of the brain's stress-regulating system being activated too early.

Prolonged separation from mothers, locks children into chronic fight-or-flight: distractibility is the flight response, aggression the fight.

Erica Komisar is a clinical social worker, psychoanalyst, parent coach, and author. With over thirty years of experience in private practice, she works to alleviate pain in individuals who suffer from depression, anxiety, eating, and other compulsive disorders. She is the author of Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters.

Full interview: How Universal Childcare Could Destroy a Ge...

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20 Comments

@marysisak2359 3 months ago

I used to walk my dogs at 4:30 in the morning (even in winter). I remember one particularly cold morning when I started to think about all the babies that would be woken up in a matter of hours, quickly dressed and fed, taken outside in the cold and dark and put into the backseat of a cold car facing backward, taken out of that car (probably when it was just getting warm), taken back into the cold and dark and into a brightly lite, noisy room full of strangers and left there. I started to cry for these babies. I posted this story on facebook. I wondered if it made a difference to anyone.

@debbietodd8547 3 months ago

I raised my kids in the late 70's/80's and stayed home with them, it just wasn't an option to me. I couldn't fathom taking my screaming baby/toddler to a daycare at 7-8 am and then working all day and focusing on a job. We did without a lot, no fancy vacations, just camping and cooked everything from scratch, sewed and knit their clothes. We also didn'tj have the expense of computers/cell phones etc. Not saying it was perfect but if I had it to do over I would still choose to be home with my babies.

@DeedeeG-y3h 2 weeks ago

I worked in daycares while in college. I watched the children of doctors and lawyers. It is literally impossible for the few of us to give the care that these babies need. It was actually heart breaking.

@tanyaanderson144 3 months ago

This makes sense. I have 4 kids but the one child I put into daycare at 6 weeks old to go back to work has severe adhd while my other children don’t. I have struggled with adhd and severe anxiety as a child and was always in daycare also. All of this is so against our true nature. We’ve been torturing our own children for decades.

@animals5662 3 months ago

When my daughter turned 2.6 i put her into play school so i can have extra free time & take good care of my second daughter who has health issues. I would wake her up even when she didn’t want to, feed her breakfast even when her body wasn’t ready for food and dress her while she was crying and hurry her into the car and drop her into a noisy room with teachers that would talk so loud and children crying everywhere. Whenever she came home she would be quiet and never want to talk about school and at the end of the week, she would always fall sick. I had enough. 2 months of trying and i told my husband that m not going to send her to school anymore. I will keep her safe at home and look after her. She doesn’t need to be forced to learn anything until she turn 4. Till then she will be at home with me and be a carefree child. It is hard taking care of both of my daughters because i have extreme back pain and incision pain yet keeping her away from school and crèche at an early age when she isn’t ready is the best decision I ever made. She is thriving and a happy child. Keep your child off from daycare. Period

@alexandermossel6466 3 months ago

Not only daycare. Dysfunctional families with constant stress are a good contender. Especially, when you are the 'one kid too much'.

@kellyanns3375 13 days ago

I have worked daycares for under fives and agree with this completely. The "normal" approach for new babies enrolled in daycare is for mothers to drop the child and leave immediately. The child goes into a panic. New surrounding, no Mama. Yes, they always "settle" but I've often felt they are simply in a state of shock. Like a part of their brain is shutting down to survive. I suspect the high increase of anxiety in young people (elementary school age and high school) is due to this early separation from Mothers.

@REwing 3 months ago

Mothers and big sisters, and other females in the families, were part of the caring of children, generations ago. Discipline was also very obvious. Today’s behaviour and rearing children, is very different, with different outcomes.

@AndreasKachais 2 weeks ago

Children need their mother all the times.

@perilouspenny8001 4 months ago

It’s common sense. Over intellectualising the obvious - ages 0-6 children fair better in constant, close proximity to their mothers - just as nature intended.

@bosse641 3 months ago

So thankful I grew up in a normal old-school home with mom at home taking care of her children.

@Alwizcaliteach 3 months ago

Really appreciate her ability to say a lot in a short time AND that you've made this SHORT video.

@amandah2490 3 months ago

I also wonder about modern-day baby strollers. Once upon a time, the baby/toddler would be facing their mother when being pushed along so they could always see her. The big wide world is a scarey place if all you've known is the safety of your crib and home. If something unexpected happens, or the child sees something unsettling, then the baby/toddler will look at their mother for reassurance. Nowadays, the baby/toddler faces away from their mother and is being pushed directly at whatever may upset/worry/frighten them, and they have no reassurance from their mother as she can not see her child's facial expression to know that something has bothered them.

@sophiagreene 12 days ago (edited)

As an adult with ADHD, who has experienced significant amounts of childhood and adult trauma, I can see this totally. Not to mention the military. We have to put our babies in daycare as early as 6 weeks. They open as early as 5:30am-6:30am and will not be able to pick them up until 6:30pm. I as a first time mom was faced with choosing to deploy 5 months after having my baby. I was still lactating and my daughter struggled with separation anxiety. I still have guilt to this day😢

@lmcq9774 3 months ago

I believe public schools are also hugely responsible for the ADHD epidemic. They label kids early on and put on meds and so goes the cycle.

@ImCarolB 3 months ago (edited)

I agree with a lot of what she said, but it got me thinking about my own family history. I was a stay-at-home mother (I am now 74) and so were all the mothers for generations back. There was always a child who today would be diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, oddly always the eldest, the one who spent the most early time alone with the mother and yet displayed noticeable behavior from early infancy. In my case, I was an ADD mother with the first child (ADHD) of three children close together. I will admit with sorrow that those years were a nightmare but I swallowed the discomfort and when my children were grown, they all expressed that they had a wonderful warm environment as children. As a rule, I would heartily recommend being home with the children, especially as infants, but it almost makes me cry when people declare that in the past, there was no such thing.

@Awake-h1m 2 weeks ago

This makes so much sense. Babies need their mothers... period.

@martinbebow9190 3 months ago

Daycare is a form of child abuse. A child needs a mother (and father) for healthy development.

@SuzieQGirl 3 months ago

Thank you for sharing these truths. I’ve raised this issue over the past 36 odd years and people look at me like I’m talking crazy.

@brendastanton1924 3 months ago

I had babysitters growing up and so many unsettling memories associated with them. Then a latchkey kid when school started. Developed so many stomach issues that by high school breakfast consisted of Pepto Bismol. Later developing such severe anxiety that I became agoraphobic. Now I work in a preschool and I’m seeing it play out again and again 😢. I do my best and love them but they truly need their mother.