If you’ve just received an ADHD diagnosis for your child and your first thought was “Okay… now what?” — this is for you.

I remember that moment so clearly. The diagnosis itself wasn’t the hard part. It was what came after. The urgency. The pressure. The feeling that I needed to do everything straight away or I’d somehow fail my child.

No one prepares you for that part.

This blog — and this week’s podcast episode — is about slowing that moment down, so you don’t burn yourself or your child out before you’ve even had the chance to understand what they truly need.

The day I realised the ADHD ...

If you have ever found yourself looking at your child mid meltdown and thinking, Is this ADHD or is this just bad behaviour? I want you to know you’re not alone. This question comes up again and again for parents, especially in the moments when behaviour escalates in public or when everyone is already stretched thin.

It’s not just a behaviour question. It’s an identity question. A confidence question. A am I doing this right question.

In this episode of the ADHD Families Podcast, I unpack why this question causes so much confusion, and why the answer is rarely as simple as we wish it were.

Take a breath for a second. If you’re parenting a child with ADHD and nothing seems to stick, you’re not imagining it. You’ve tried the routines, the charts, the visual schedules, the rewards and the consequences. You’ve read the books, followed the accounts, saved the posts. And yet, family life still feels exhausting and heavy.

This episode is a permission slip. Not to give up, but to stop blaming yourself. Because the problem isn’t that you’re not doing enough. It’s that you might be trying to solve the wrong problem. 

The “More and More” Trap Parents Fall Into

Most parents of kids with ...

School holidays are here. And if you’re anything like the families I work with, you probably fall into one of two camps.

There’s the “love it” camp. No lunchboxes. Lower expectations. Less pressure.
And then there’s the “oh no” camp. More mess. More noise. More juggling. More everything.

But here’s the thing I think both groups have in common.
We all imagine the holidays will feel one way… and then reality hits.

This episode is about surviving the school holidays without burning yourself out. Not thriving. Not doing it perfectly. Just staying resourced enough to get through.

Because for ADHD...

End-of-year reflection can feel like pressure. Like you’re meant to produce a highlight reel, set huge goals, and magically become a new person by January.

If you’re an ADHD parent (or you’re running a business while parenting kids with ADHD), that kind of reflection usually just adds more weight to an already full mental load.

So in this episode, I’m doing a year wrap up differently. Not as performance. Not as a “look what I achieved” list.

More like a discernment exercise.

What worked? What didn’t? What do I want to carry into 2026, and what can stay behind in 2025?

This Is About Clues,...

Finding the right words to tell your child they have ADHD can feel overwhelming. You want to protect their confidence, give them the truth, and set them up to see their strengths — not their struggles.

I remember that feeling so clearly. When my eldest was diagnosed, it wasn’t a surprise (you only had to spend a few minutes with my husband and child together to see it coming!). But I still walked out of that appointment with a photocopied pamphlet and a pit in my stomach.

No one tells you how to explain ADHD to a child in a way that builds them up. That’s what this blog — and this week’s blo...

If you’ve ever felt like you’re running a marathon in roller skates while parenting a child with ADHD, pull up a chair—you’re in good company! I’m Sharon Collon, ADHD coach, mum of three boys with ADHD (plus a husband with ADHD for good measure), and founder of The Functional Family. I’ve spent the last 15 years on a mission to make life easier, calmer, and a whole lot more joyful for families like ours.

Why I Had to Rethink Everything

When my eldest son was diagnosed, I thought I’d tried it all—occupational therapy, speech therapy, every diet under the sun, and enough behaviour charts to pa...

So often our kids with ADHD struggle to maintain friendships. As parents we do so much work counselling our kids on how to make friends and what they should do to keep them.

It occurred to me that there is no resource that we can provide neurotypical children/families about how to be friends with a kid with ADHD.

Scrolling through Facebook,  you see all the photos of families enjoying family time together. “Holidays! #blessed” “Family Fun Day”.  We often can’t help but to compare our family's lives to others. As a mum of 3 boys with ADHD (throw some Tourette’s, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, sensory processing disorder and specific learning disorders in there too), I know that often our family days out can end in tears… or sometimes in emergency room visits eeekkkk.  We have had our fair share of disasters - all of us leaving the “quality family” time disappointed and overwhelmed.  But I have learnt t...

"Why can't you just focus?!!!"

It is the night before an important assignment is due at school. It is on the most boring of topics. Your child has left it to the last minute. Every time they try and switch their brain into gear to get it done, it gets worse.  They can't focus.  You can feel your stress rising.  Why can't they just focus! The more they try, the harder it gets!

I know you understand what I am talking about. It is so hard for people with ADHD to focus on things that they are not interested in. I watch my kids (and husband) struggle with this daily. Sometimes they will start a f...