Ep.23 Parenting While Battling Your Own ADHD: Insights, Strategies, and Emotional Regulation

UNrattled: A Podcast for Parents

In this empowering episode of the UNrattled Podcast, host Austin Lee sits down with Maggie Kellar, a psychiatric nurse practitioner and certified ADHD specialist, to explore the profound challenges and opportunities of parenting with ADHD. This conversation dives into what it means to manage ADHD as an adult while raising children, offering deep insights into the neurodevelopmental aspects of ADHD and how it impacts family dynamics.

Whether you're a parent with ADHD yourself or raising a child with ADHD, this episode provides essential strategies for creating structure, managing emotional regulation, and improving family life. Maggie Kellar brings her personal experience with ADHD—having been diagnosed as an adult—alongside her professional expertise to discuss how parents can navigate disorganization, impulsivity, forgetfulness, and the added pressures of parenting with ADHD.

The episode touches on critical topics like:

• The difference between hyperactivity and inattentiveness in ADHD.
• How ADHD impacts emotional regulation, leading to reactive parenting.
• Practical tools for staying organized, improving communication with your spouse, and ensuring your children feel safe and supported.
• The importance of self-compassion and understanding your brain’s needs as a parent with ADHD.

With actionable advice on maintaining balance and creating a supportive environment for your family, Parenting While Battling Your Own ADHD is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to better understand how ADHD influences parenting. By the end of this episode, you’ll have a clearer picture of how to manage ADHD in your daily life, create lasting habits, and improve both your mental health and your relationship with your children.

Join us for a deep dive into the world of neurodiversity, and discover new ways to thrive as a parent while managing ADHD. Whether you’ve been diagnosed with ADHD or are raising a child who has, this episode will help you make sense of the challenges and guide you toward a more harmonious family life.

Key Takeaways:

1. What ADHD Really Is:
   • Maggie Kellar explains ADHD as a neurodevelopmental disorder that impacts brain function throughout a person's life. She shares insights into how ADHD affects attention, focus, and impulse control, and how parents can manage these challenges.

2. ADHD’s Impact on Parenting:

• ADHD influences not only how parents interact with their children but also how they organize family life. From forgetfulness to emotional outbursts, understanding the root of these behaviors can help parents make more informed decisions.

3. Practical ADHD Management Strategies:

• Maggie and Austin share time management tips, organizational hacks, and strategies for emotional regulation. These tools can help parents with ADHD create smoother routines and lessen the stress on family relationships.

4. Recognizing ADHD in Children:

• ADHD often runs in families, and parents with ADHD may have children with the condition too. This episode covers how to support kids with ADHD, while also ensuring your own mental well-being.

5. Emotional Regulation for Parents:

• One of the most challenging aspects of parenting with ADHD is controlling emotional responses. Maggie offers practical techniques for self-monitoring and calming emotional reactivity to avoid outbursts that can destabilize family dynamics.

Guest:

Maggie Kellar is a psychiatric nurse practitioner and certified ADHD specialist with firsthand experience managing ADHD in both her personal and professional life. Her expertise provides an invaluable perspective on how ADHD shapes both the individual and family dynamics. Maggie brings her deep knowledge of neurodiversity and her personal journey of being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, offering listeners tools and understanding for navigating life as a parent with ADHD.

Timestamps:

• [00:02:10] Introduction to Maggie Kellar and her journey with ADHD.
• [00:09:00] Defining ADHD: What it means for adults and parents.
• [00:15:50] The impact of ADHD on family life: Managing disorganization, impulsivity, and forgetfulness.
• [00:22:40] Emotional regulation and how ADHD leads to reactive parenting.
• [00:30:15] Tips for creating structure and improving communication in an ADHD-affected household.
• [00:35:50] How to support children with ADHD while managing your own challenges.
• [00:40:00] Key takeaways and tools for thriving as a parent with ADHD.

Subscribe to the UNrattled Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube to stay up-to-date with new episodes packed with practical parenting tips and insights. You can also find the recommended resource, Raising Good Humans: A Mindful Guide to Breaking the Cycle of Reactive Parenting by Mark Fields, mentioned in this episode here.