Top 5 ADHD Parenting Tips

1) Practice Self Compassion: The change that has most improved my parenting in the last 5 years? Simply meeting myself with compassion. Making sure I get enough sleep, rest, meditation, and forgiving myself when I mess up. Afterall, you can't pour from an empty cup.

2) Validate the emotion, hold the boundary. The rule is just the rule. The time is just the time. You don't have to defend or justify it. Instead, if your child has a reaction, say something like, "Yeah, I get it! You don't want it to be bedtime! I wish we could stay up and play too, but it's 7:30...the time is just the time"

3) Visual calendars/reminders and clocks! Time blindness is a real struggle for most ADHDers, especially kids. Visual schedules help transitions feel like less of a power struggle and reduce meltdowns!

4 ) Don't take your kids reactions personally. Emotional regulation is typically delayed by 30% in kids with ADHD. They're job is to learn to regulate their emotions and part of that is just feeling safe to HAVE those emotions in front of you.

5) Repair. Apologize. Start Anew. Many of us grew up with parents who never said sorry, but returning after an outburst and saying something like, "I'm sorry I lost my temper. I'm making an effort to do that less" is impactful. It gives us an opportunity to reconnect, undo some of the damage and help our kids learn better ways of relating.