Parenting When You Have ADHD
You’re a parent of a child who has ADHD…
Who also happens to have ADHD yourself.
You’ve been through what your child has been through, and sometimes that makes it a bit easier to understand what they’re going through. On the other hand, being a parent who has ADHD can be even more challenging.
If you are a parent who has ADHD, keep reading this post to understand more about the challenges you are going through. If you know someone, like a partner, who has ADHD, this post is also for you to understand what they’re going through.
ADHD Runs In Families
When parents have ADHD, their kids are 50% more likely to also have ADHD. ADHD, just like many other mental health disorders, tends to run in families. I want to make it clear that you did not give your child ADHD by anything that you have done. ADHD is due to differences in the brain that are the reason why both you and your child have ADHD.
Parenting with ADHD
Parenting a child with ADHD is hard. Parenting when you also have ADHD can be really hard. Even thought you have an understanding of what your child is going through, ADHD can make it even harder to parent because you:
Have to keep two people on time
Feel overwhelmed by double the appointments
Need to help advocate for yourself and your child
Feel intense emotions or rejections from your child’s meltdowns
You Feel Alone In This
Parenting kids with ADHD can get lonely, and it can be lonely also when you feel like nobody else understands what you are going through. It can be hard to find other parents and caregivers who have ADHD who know what it’s like to manage your ADHD and your child’s ADHD.
At this point, you’ve probably tried everything under the sun to help parent your ADHD child, and to manage your own emotions with ADHD. You’ve looked through all of the social media posts, tried all the new parenting skills, yet you have barely seen any changes in you or your child’s behavior.
Why Your Parenting Skills Aren’t Working
It is not your fault that parenting a child with ADHD when you have ADHD has been tough for you. Instead, it’s really understandable that these strategies haven’t worked. Here’s why:
They’re made for neurotypical parents and don’t understand that you have trouble keeping a routine for yourself
Other parenting coaches have read about ADHD, but they haven’t actually experienced ADHD themselves to know what it’s like
The skills weren’t made for parents and kids who both have ADHD
As someone who also has ADHD, I get how frustrating it can be to feel like you’re not understood.
Are You Ready for More Support?
Parenting takes a lot of work and skills that are made for your family. One of the first things I do when I coach families, is understand who they are, what they’ve tried, and what hasn’t worked for them in the past.
You might be surprised that many parent coaches don’t do all of this work to understand your family from the beginning.
And I’ve seen many times that when you don’t know a family well enough, the skills will fail and be a waste of time and money.
If you want to work with someone who truly understands you to help you on your journey of parenting a child with ADHD, send me a DM on Instagram or try my ADHD Program’s self-study option!