Reply #63: I agree that this kind of thing was underreported in the past,

[wickerwoman]

but I also think many kids today are wired differently from their parents and that a lot of it is dietary.

When I was in school, every year we seemed to have one or two of "those" kids- the ones who were constantly disruptive and a pain in the ass and usually turned into bullies before they dropped out. Now I substitute off and on and most classes have five or six unmanagable little buggers.

I've experimented with my own diet a lot recently and I've noticed that eating junk food has a profound and immediate effect on my moods. When I eat vegetables, I'm chilled out but if I stop for a few days and eat junk I get really aggressive and pessimistic- like the worst case of PMS imaginable.

I've seen what most kids are fed for lunch in schools and it's absolutely shameful and appalling. I know I ate complete rubbish 24/7 when I was growing up and I know it affected both my mood and my ability to concentrate. If anything surprises me it's that this kind of thing doesn't happen more often.