Occasionally I have great ideas!
And here’s one of them.
These are things to tell your children about ADHD, things I wish my offspring understood, not only about their ADHD, but their other mental health issues as well:
* The sooner you accept that things will be different for you, and that could mean more difficult for you than for your peers, the sooner you will feel lighter and find your own way of understanding.
* Just because something is hard, like; a type of therapy, assignment, job duty, adulting, etc. doesn’t mean you get to hide from the world and ignore it. It still needs to be done.
* You are not defined by 4 letters of the alphabet or your mental health issues. These are merely parts of you like your sense of humor, eye color, or attitude.
* Change is hard and no one can change things you don’t like about yourself but you.
* Change, life, everything is hard. Move on.
* Stop focusing on what you cannot do. Focus on what you can do.
* Embrace your weirdness, your inner “otter”. That’s the creative part inside of you. The music we dance to that no one else hears. (For the record, if I call either daughter “weird” they just say “well, I’m YOUR kid!” Truth!)
*Life is like when I flipped my ’92 Jeep Cherokee December of 2010. I had control of the vehicle up until the point I hit black ice. You are only in control of things in your life to a point. After that, hanging on tight to that which you do not control only causes soreness later.
* If you don’t like yourself, change what you don’t like.
* No matter how you feel about yourself, never let ANYONE treat you as “less than”.
* And for Otter’s sake, don’t learn all this the hard way like me!!!!
… rant over children. As you were … unless you decide to change.
Alyssa ‘Otter’ Sheldon
See in ADHD Mascot & goddess that gave birth to Mayhem and Chaos
“Well, I was odd & I met your dad & he was odd, and we had you, an Otter, because you are otter (odder) than anyone I know!”
~ Her mom, when the Otter nickname was bestowed.