Are you ODD?

I just came across this one in the comments of a wonderful post by dear friend Laura Weldon- School ADD Isn't Home ADD.  Be sure to read that post!

ODD stands for Oppositional Defiant Disorder.

I think it's going to be my new favorite *disorder* - overtaking the ridiculous SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Here are the dead-giveaway signs:

• Actively does not follow adults' requests
• Angry and resentful of others
• Argues with adults
• Blames others for own mistakes
• Has few or no friends or has lost friends
• Is in constant trouble in school
• Loses temper
• Spiteful or seeks revenge
• Touchy or easily annoyed

Well I've just about got them all covered - except that I don't blame others for personal mistakes!

Of course the certified experts suggest that if your kid/life-partner/MIL is exhibiting these symptoms....that you should have them see a CERTIFIED EXPERT - for medication, to be monitored, studied, etc.

Ever notice how all of today's ridiculous *disorders* are forms of non-conformity?

It's a little one-sided, don't you think?

The thing is....I know tons of people who genuinely suffer from pathological CONFORMITY - people who buy 700k homes with no money down, people who outsource the raising of their children to government agents, blindly dump money in mutual funds, stare at cellphones all day long, buy cars they can't afford, etc. all because their neighbors, the metaphorical Jones', do so.

I mean recently someone was telling me that they were told by their *financial adviser* that they had to save $1.2 million in order to send their three children to college.  Now there's NO WAY they could save that much before their kids were 18....but that's slightly beside the point, incredibly.

All I did was SUGGEST that there's no way college could possibly be worth that much money. After all, it's a staggering amount of $$$$$!

But they all but exploded on me and my mere suggestion.

TerminalConformist - But how are they going to ever get a job if they don't go to college?


Me - You mean like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Michael Dell and the rest of the most successful people out there?


Then there was another outbreak/explosion and I dropped the subject, lest the ambulance with men in white jackets have to be summoned.