In my experience labelling a child as ADHD is a gift for you as a parent and for the child. Because now you know what you can do to really love, nurture and support your child. How does this work? An ADHD label is society telling us a child is not fitting the system, they are different. The gift is that you now know your child is struggling within the system. So your role, as parent, is to give your child the understanding, guidance, love and support they need so they can be in the system and thrive. To me this understanding comes from really loving and accepting your child just as they are and celebrating their unique qualities.

Myth 1: All children learn in the same way

We all learn in different ways. One way to classify our learning is to look at it in three ways – kinaesthetic learning (experiencing); visual learning (seeing) and auditory learning (hearing). Each of us has learning style strength. However, much of our school system is geared towards auditory and visual learning. This makes it much more difficult for children who are kinaesthetic (like many ADHD children) to learn from teachers and parents. If this is the case for your child you may like to bring this point to the awareness of their teacher and discuss ways to support them learning in a kinaesthetic way.

Myth 2: All children’s brains develop in the same way and at the same time

Our bodies develop and grow at different times and so do our brains. The different facets of our brain will develop when they are ready. Not when we reach a certain age or date. So we need to accommodate this and realise that each child needs to be supported in a different way. We need to understand each child and what they are capable of and where they need understanding and support. One strategy could be to hold your child back from starting school or allow your child to repeat a school year so it is easier for them to connect.

Myth 3: All children must thrive in the school system if they are going to succeed

Often children who are labelled ADHD are sensitive, creative and have amazing other abilities. Sometimes these abilities don’t fit into the school system so you may need to support your child’s abilities outside of school. There are so many examples of people who didn’t thrive at school but became successful afterwards - Dick Smith and Richard Branson to name a few. The key is to support their ‘self-esteem’ through love and acceptance of who they are do that they can step fully into their unique gifts when they leave school. May you celebrate your child’s uniqueness so they thrive!