Congrats man, that's good that you're taking someone in and helping them out.
When she's old enough, just tell her to smoke weed instead of giving her legal speed for ADHD...just playin, don't tell her to smoke it...but really, there are ways to deal with that stuff besides hardcore medication...she take ritalin or adderal? if you aren't tryin to talk about it, that's obviously cool too...just thought i'd ask...she's also 11, when I was 11, I NEVER wanted to sit in one place for long, and I didn't think things through all the time, but I don't have add, or adhd...I was just a kid, and that's what kids do (not sayin she doesn't have anything related to short attention span, but the speed is bad news)...that'll come with getting older, and being in a more comfortable environment that shows affection...
edit: I was reading what you said above...about the nervous thing and attention...she lived in a place where she didn't have a nuclear family, of course she's going to be out of sorts...If I had lived with 20+ people for a long time, and then had a "real family" I would probably be weirded out too and ALWAYS want to be around them. By adopting this girl, you showed her that you care about her and that want to make her life better, she's probably just extrememly overjoyed that someone is taking that kind of interest in her, just because they genuinely care for her as a human being.
I'm not tryina say she doesn't have ADHD or ADD, but honestly there's quite a few kids that have that shit, who don't really have it. And that's not to say they don't have long attention spans...BUT...when you were a kid, did you EVER want to read shit that the school gave you for an assignment? I never fuckin did...I didn't like sitting down all the time, and not cause I have ADD or ADHD, it's just cause some people are just more active than others...She's probably got so much going on inside of her brain right now she doesn't know what to do.
This may seem out of place for me to say this, so I hope you don't take any offense, but therapy might not be a bad route to take, even if it's only every one and awhile, with the living situation that she grew up in, she might need someone like that to talk to or confide in about certain things...but I'd also recommend letting her tell you whatevers on her mind...You seem like you'll be a good parent though so I'll shut the fuck up...
Good luck mang!
When she's old enough, just tell her to smoke weed instead of giving her legal speed for ADHD...just playin, don't tell her to smoke it...but really, there are ways to deal with that stuff besides hardcore medication...she take ritalin or adderal? if you aren't tryin to talk about it, that's obviously cool too...just thought i'd ask...she's also 11, when I was 11, I NEVER wanted to sit in one place for long, and I didn't think things through all the time, but I don't have add, or adhd...I was just a kid, and that's what kids do (not sayin she doesn't have anything related to short attention span, but the speed is bad news)...that'll come with getting older, and being in a more comfortable environment that shows affection...
edit: I was reading what you said above...about the nervous thing and attention...she lived in a place where she didn't have a nuclear family, of course she's going to be out of sorts...If I had lived with 20+ people for a long time, and then had a "real family" I would probably be weirded out too and ALWAYS want to be around them. By adopting this girl, you showed her that you care about her and that want to make her life better, she's probably just extrememly overjoyed that someone is taking that kind of interest in her, just because they genuinely care for her as a human being.
I'm not tryina say she doesn't have ADHD or ADD, but honestly there's quite a few kids that have that shit, who don't really have it. And that's not to say they don't have long attention spans...BUT...when you were a kid, did you EVER want to read shit that the school gave you for an assignment? I never fuckin did...I didn't like sitting down all the time, and not cause I have ADD or ADHD, it's just cause some people are just more active than others...She's probably got so much going on inside of her brain right now she doesn't know what to do.
This may seem out of place for me to say this, so I hope you don't take any offense, but therapy might not be a bad route to take, even if it's only every one and awhile, with the living situation that she grew up in, she might need someone like that to talk to or confide in about certain things...but I'd also recommend letting her tell you whatevers on her mind...You seem like you'll be a good parent though so I'll shut the fuck up...
Good luck mang!