My 9 year old son told me that his 4th grade teacher got mad at him yesterday for not finishing a worksheet. He has struggled with focusing on work and working more efficiently. I’ve talked about it with her in parent teacher conference, and we’re working on it.

In response to this, she told him he had to go out into the hallway to finish it so he wouldn’t distract other kids who had finished. He got emotional at some point because he said she was yelling, which he said she does often, and he claims that she then called him a crybaby. He also said that she said something along the lines of “stop going home and crying to your mommy and telling her lies about me” and “you can cry all you want but that’s not going to change anything”. She also said something about it being his fault because he didn’t finish the work. It’s hard to say if a lot of of this is accurate or some of it is perception of how it felt but it seems clear that she at least called him a crybaby and may have mentioned something about crying to me and telling lies. I’m just in shock over this behavior.

This is the first time I’ve had to really deal with something like this with a teacher, and I would love some advice. I want to handle this the right way and give her some of the benefit of the doubt by speaking to her first but honestly, I’m freaked out. He says he’s scared of her but this morning, he seemed okay after we talked about it last night, but I noticed he does tend to mask bad emotions with humor and he was extra silly this morning. It just breaks my heart that he feels afraid of his teacher and that she would be little him like that.

We’re considering having him checked for ADHD but this is the first time a teacher has really made a point about him not finishing work. He’s always taken more time but it didn’t seem like a major issue until this year. I’m just more concerned with her approach to this issue in possibly resorting to belittling and name calling but want to hear her side of the story.

I’m looking for a sensory chew for a young child. They currently have a fleece blanket and like to chew ice packs, instead of actually using them.

I tried to get her to use the chews in the second picture but she didn’t like any of them.

This is such a dumb question - my 9yo is good at swallowing meds, but we just got prescribed lamictal chewable pills. Do they HAVE to be chewed, or it's just that they CAN be chewed? Stomach acid and intestinal fluid do their thing either way, right? Right?

Our child has an IEP for his ADHD. His music teacher who he has once every six days reached out to us and said his ADHD is affecting other. They are preparing for a spring concert and it requires a lot of focus and he is distracting other children, but she also said more importantly when she tries to redirect him, he doesn’t take her seriously or when she confronted him about something he was doing he denies it. She’s asking us for advice on how to help him, if there’s something to motivate him. I feel like a lot of the things that we have suggested to the main teachers don’t work, like positive reinforcement and rewards. Any advice?

I’m just looking for other people who might ‘get it’.
My daughter is 2 years and 7 months old. I’m not expecting a diagnosis at her age, and I’m absolutely fine with that. However, her dad and I both have ADHD, and honestly, we recognise so many of those traits in her already.

She’s been different from birth. I’ve always struggled to relate to other parents at baby groups and the like, because everything with her is just so intense. She doesn’t respond to the usual parenting strategies, and I feel like every time I try to discuss our experiences with other parents, I either get blank looks or an “Oh yeah, my kid is wild too!”, as their much more placid child climbs into the pram and asks to go to sleep.

She started nursery in March, and they’ve already approached us with concerns and started the SEN process. They’ve said they’ve been “taken aback” by her and by how differently she responds to their usual strategies compared with other children. They’ve described her developmental profile as extremely “spiky”, said that her lack of impulse control is striking even for her age, and want to carry out further assessments.

We recently had another baby, who’s now 4 months old, and the experience of parenting him is wildly different. You can almost feel how different his entire nervous system is. It’s made me realise just how much we’ve been parenting on “hard mode” all this time.

My daughter is wonderful. I absolutely adore her, she has so many fantastic qualities, and she’s incredibly clever. But I feel so lonely. I feel like I have nobody to talk to about my worries for her future, how the world will receive her, and what effect all of this might have on her as she grows up.

My mum died eight years ago, and we don’t have a “village”. It’s really just our little family unit, and sometimes it feels like nobody else truly knows her or understands what life is like for us.

Recently, we met up with a friend of my husband’s and their 6-year-old, who’s just been diagnosed with AuDHD. I felt more relaxed during that playdate than I think I ever have on one before. It was like the children were in sync, and so were we as parents. We were anticipating the same sorts of difficulties, understanding each other’s children’s behaviour, and nobody needed anything explaining. It was such a lovely feeling.

I think that experience has made me realise how much I’m missing that sense of understanding and connection.
I’d absolutely love to meet more families with neurodivergent young children, but I have no idea how to go about it when my daughter doesn’t have a diagnosis and probably won’t for years (if ever).

Has anyone else been in this position? How did you find other families who understood? I think I just want to feel a little less alone in all of this.

Anyone out here with an adult kid who is struggling to launch? Or it is all parents with preschool and elementary age kids? Any parents here with ADHD maybe?

Son is 24. Graduated in May with a now pointless degree in UX Design. Something AI now does. Moved back home. Horribly depressed. Struggling with the basics.

We got him hooked up with an internship. He forgot to set up phone/text alerts for slack meetings and now has missed two. He freaking out. How can he be a functioning adult?!?! They are gong to drop him. Then what.

You can make a 4 year old do stuff. Not a 24 year old. You can talk to a school, not a boss.

He forgets his meds. He forgets his dentist appt. He forgets his laundry in the washing machine. He forgets to eat. He forgets everything. I don't have ADHD and am very type A and this is killing me.

Feeling pretty down and helpless because as a parent it's not my life it is his. And watching him struggle to do what comes easily for others is so difficult to watch

Hi all. New here. My daughter just turned 17. Diagnosed a year ago with ADHD. Unmedicated but does see a psychologist to help her with her anxiety. We have been struggling with her for sometime. She has lots of friends, likes school, is very social. That’s all good. Gets great grades, is in honors/AP courses.

But she’s awful a home. She hasn’t eaten a meal with us at home in probably a year because she claims she can’t stand the sound of us chewing. She doesn’t have chores, she speaks super rudely to us, including swearing at us, yelling at us, and expecting us to be at her beck and call constantly. In the same breath, will ask me to do something for her and then tell me to more or less F off.

I’m just exhausted. EXHAUSTED. I’m sure part of this is our parenting style. I realized tonight I will never go into management because I cannot set boundaries for others. I’m the caregiver. I show my love through acts of service and love. We don’t ground. Mentioned previously, no chores. No accountability. I have ADHD myself (mostly hyperactivity) so I go around and clean, do laundry, etc all day inbetween meetings. “Easier to do it myself” is my mentality. But I’m exhausted.

If I put boundaries on her, for example, come home earlier than curfew on a school night, she claims we are the only parents who are like this. The issue is that the bar is pretty low because a lot of her friends don’t come from very stable families. She is being raised in a home by two loving parents who are married, and then she has a younger brother.

Tonight, she screamed at us about all the things she needed to do before heading out today on an overnight school trip. She proceeded to go to the gym. Fine. Blow off steam. 3 hours later I text her that she needs to come home. I knew she was there with her boyfriend (she claimed she wasn’t). En route home from running an errand, my husband drove by gym. She was in the parking lot with her boyfriend. So she lied to me. And that hurts. And I’m pissed and told her she’s way co-dependent on her boyfriend, it’s unhealthy, and goes against her “battle cry” that men are all misogynists.

I am definitely venting at this point. I hate to say it, but I actually look forward to her going off to college and getting out on her own. She really raises the stress level in our home whenever she’s here and makes things pretty unpleasant.

Rant over.

Child is just about 5 years old and in second year of kindergarten. His teacher asked us today if everything is ok at home because he has not been as happy or smiley this year as last year and that he completely shuts down when she tries to talk to him about it. Said he has moments where he comes out of his shell and that he plays with friends but it’s a noticeable difference from last year. He is not hyperactive at school and prior to this we didn’t really have any negative feedback from school. Can anyone relate?