Parenting with ADHD: It’s a Unique Challenge
When you have ADHD, parenting can feel like a never-ending balancing act. The same traits that make ADHD difficult in daily life—like time blindness, impulsivity, and distractibility—can make parenting especially tricky.
Common ADHD challenges for parents:
Forgetfulness: Missing appointments or forgetting to follow through with tasks.
Difficulty with routines: Struggling to establish and maintain consistent family routines.
Time management issues: Feeling like there’s never enough time to do it all.
Emotional intensity: Getting overwhelmed or overreacting in stressful moments.
Hyperfocus on certain tasks: Focusing too intensely on one thing and losing track of other needs.
Disorganization: Difficulty keeping track of children’s schedules, belongings, or schoolwork.
But here’s the good news: There are strategies that can help!
- Create simple, visual routines (think charts, calendars, and timers).
- Break tasks into small, manageable steps to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
- Use reminders (phone alarms, sticky notes) to stay on track.
- Build in regular self-care to recharge your own energy.
- Practice self-compassion: Parenting is hard, and ADHD adds its own layer of difficulty. Be kind to yourself.
Learn more about Parenting:
Meet Pam & Elisa
Co-Owners of Restful Parenting
At Restful Parenting, we bring you over 15 years of experience working with children of all ages and their parents. We are both Early Childhood Educators and Infant and Child Sleep Consultants and have extensive experience in early childhood development as well as a natural ability to understand children and their sleep.
