Neurodivergent Parents
Jan 21, 2025
Neurodivergent Parents - I had a great question in last week's group call!
“I am one of those late diagnosed genX ADHD parents - what gems or observations have you picked up over the years working with parents who are neurodivergent?"
Neurodivergent Parents
The biggest challenge I see with my neurodivergent clients is the belief that they are somehow supposed to figure out how to show up in the world as if they are neurotypical. It simply doesn't work and creates so much self-judgment and shame. In general, the arc of my work with these parents is a journey of self-discovery and celebration that sometimes looks like this:
At First - Next - Then - Finally
- At first - Lots of questions about tools designed to make you show up how you think you’re supposed to. At the same time, exploration of the idea that the way you're currently showing up might not be so bad.
- Next - A shift into a deep acceptance of who you are: that you do things differently and that this is how you thrive. Even realizing how you’ve already been succeeding this whole time, even though you thought you were failing. For many people, it's a lightbulb moment.
- Then - Leaning into that lightbulb - If this is just how you do stuff, what would YOUR way of handling life (and parenting) look like? How would YOU set up your day? If there were no rules and you were on a desert island without social expectations or societal norms, how would you conduct yourself, and what would you do in a day?
- Finally - Implementing your desert island vision in real life. What would it tangibly look like for you to do your life, your way?
Muggles Like Me
Muggles like me (aka neurotypical people) can relatively easily make ourselves what society tells us to be. Still, we can also go our whole lives without confronting the gap between societal expectation and the authentic self…leading to a life half-lived and potential half-realized.
A neurodivergent parent, on the other hand, is pure magic and a gift to their children because they confront what others avoid: the fact that unabashed authenticity is what we are all supposed to be doing. Learning to step into life on our terms is how we become fully ourselves, incredible parents, and inspire our kids to do the same.
Whether or not neurodivergence is part of your work in figuring out authentic parenting, it's my job to help you walk your path to that parenting. Set up a Discovery Call with me, and I'll show you how.
Learn more about group parent coaching here.
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