A review by southernhon
January First: A Child's Descent into Madness and Her Father's Struggle to Save Her by Michael Schofield
3.0
The book itself is a fascinating look at a family dealing with a child who is obviously very disturbed. It was a quick read and an honest look at the sad state of care and treatment of the mentally ill in our country. The book begins when Jani is three years old and her father, Michael, must take her to the mall in order to wear her out so she'll sleep. We learn all about Jani's imaginary friends, her violent outbursts and her stubborn refusals to obey her parents. I am not an expert in mental illness and make no claims to fully comprehend the extent of Jani's problems. She certainly does have issues and I am not going to minimize those in the review of this book.
However... Jani's father comes off as the most arrogant, entitled jerk imaginable. He routinely makes condescending remarks to any professional who tries to help his daughter. He insists that she stay in school even though her violent behavior is a threat to other children. He argues with psychiatrists, insisting that her behavior is caused by her "genius" IQ of 146. I have a gifted child and he was at times hard to deal with. Many gifted children have vivid imaginations and reach milestones ahead of their peers, which makes social interaction with other children difficult. However, this father constantly (at least 20 times in the book) excuses her behavior due to this alleged superior intelligence.
Jani's mother seems intent on torturing her by forcing her to attend other children's birthday parties and playdates as if she were completely normal. She often disrupts the activities, thus further isolating herself from any meaningful peer relationships. I felt sorry for Jani because she obviously couldn't handle these outings.
There is also some really bad parenting going on. One scene especially stands out in my mind. Jani, age 5, was an inpatient at a psychiatric hospital. During visitation, her baby brother begins teething on one of her toys. Instead of hitting him (which she routinely tried to do), she practically pleads with her parents not to allow him to bite her toys. Seems like a reasonable request, right? Well, her parents, in their infinite stupidity, begin trying to reason with her, saying that he will not put bite marks in her toys and the father bites the toy himself to show her that there will be no bite marks. Why couldn't they just respect her wishes and praise her for using her words instead of reacting violently? They truly are clueless parents. The poor kid is freaking institutionalized and here they are forcing her to share her toys with her brother.
After a few years of trying to use reason with her, they start the tough love approach of isolating her in her room for bad behavior, which doesn't work. I just want to say that I completely understand the parents' frustration and the need to try anything at that point. It's really too bad that she was already confused and mentally ill.
So, why would any parent choose to bring another child into this chaotic environment? Well, because Jani wanted them to. After the baby brother was born, they spend most of their time trying to protect him from Jani's wrath.
Later on in the book, it's revealed that Michael shook Jani when she was a baby. OK, now any sympathy I might have had for him has disappeared. There was also a trumped up charge of sexual abuse levied against him, which seems a little suspicious as well.
Throughout the book, you can see the marriage between Michael and Susan (Jani's mother) falling apart as he distances himself from his wife and son in some heroic attempt to "rescue" his daughter from the outside world. He is rude to his wife often and barely spent any time at all with his newborn son. It seems that Michael did not have a grip on his own emotional problems and attempted suicide when Jani was about 6 years old.
Michael, a college professor, seems to be falling apart emotionally at one point and lashes out at an entire classroom of innocent college students. Pathetic, really.
Some have accused him of Munchausen By Proxy syndrome and it certainly appears to be a possibility. Childhood onset schizophrenia is associated with brain abnormalities and Jani had none of these. It seems more likely that a diagnosis of autism with psychosis would have been more realistic. Whatever the diagnosis, it is my hope that this intelligent, unique little girl is able to function in society even with her idiotic parents in charge.
However... Jani's father comes off as the most arrogant, entitled jerk imaginable. He routinely makes condescending remarks to any professional who tries to help his daughter. He insists that she stay in school even though her violent behavior is a threat to other children. He argues with psychiatrists, insisting that her behavior is caused by her "genius" IQ of 146. I have a gifted child and he was at times hard to deal with. Many gifted children have vivid imaginations and reach milestones ahead of their peers, which makes social interaction with other children difficult. However, this father constantly (at least 20 times in the book) excuses her behavior due to this alleged superior intelligence.
Jani's mother seems intent on torturing her by forcing her to attend other children's birthday parties and playdates as if she were completely normal. She often disrupts the activities, thus further isolating herself from any meaningful peer relationships. I felt sorry for Jani because she obviously couldn't handle these outings.
There is also some really bad parenting going on. One scene especially stands out in my mind. Jani, age 5, was an inpatient at a psychiatric hospital. During visitation, her baby brother begins teething on one of her toys. Instead of hitting him (which she routinely tried to do), she practically pleads with her parents not to allow him to bite her toys. Seems like a reasonable request, right? Well, her parents, in their infinite stupidity, begin trying to reason with her, saying that he will not put bite marks in her toys and the father bites the toy himself to show her that there will be no bite marks. Why couldn't they just respect her wishes and praise her for using her words instead of reacting violently? They truly are clueless parents. The poor kid is freaking institutionalized and here they are forcing her to share her toys with her brother.
After a few years of trying to use reason with her, they start the tough love approach of isolating her in her room for bad behavior, which doesn't work. I just want to say that I completely understand the parents' frustration and the need to try anything at that point. It's really too bad that she was already confused and mentally ill.
So, why would any parent choose to bring another child into this chaotic environment? Well, because Jani wanted them to. After the baby brother was born, they spend most of their time trying to protect him from Jani's wrath.
Later on in the book, it's revealed that Michael shook Jani when she was a baby. OK, now any sympathy I might have had for him has disappeared. There was also a trumped up charge of sexual abuse levied against him, which seems a little suspicious as well.
Throughout the book, you can see the marriage between Michael and Susan (Jani's mother) falling apart as he distances himself from his wife and son in some heroic attempt to "rescue" his daughter from the outside world. He is rude to his wife often and barely spent any time at all with his newborn son. It seems that Michael did not have a grip on his own emotional problems and attempted suicide when Jani was about 6 years old.
Michael, a college professor, seems to be falling apart emotionally at one point and lashes out at an entire classroom of innocent college students. Pathetic, really.
Some have accused him of Munchausen By Proxy syndrome and it certainly appears to be a possibility. Childhood onset schizophrenia is associated with brain abnormalities and Jani had none of these. It seems more likely that a diagnosis of autism with psychosis would have been more realistic. Whatever the diagnosis, it is my hope that this intelligent, unique little girl is able to function in society even with her idiotic parents in charge.