| This article is probably not about what you think it | | | | of relief. For some adults, the ADHD diagnosis can |
| might be. I'm not here to suggest that ADHD is a bad | | | | make sense of years of struggle, frustration, and plain |
| diagnosis, and I am not here to talk about how it might | | | | old character behaviors. |
| be the wrong diagnosis. These might be valid points to | | | | But when a child is diagnosed with ADHD, many of |
| consider, but I am talking about the impact an ADHD | | | | them only hear "I'm different." Some might even think: |
| diagnosis can have on a child. | | | | - I've been found out. |
| It's sometimes hard for us adults to remember a time | | | | - Everyone knows. |
| when the world was only really about going to school, | | | | - All the kids will make fun of me. |
| making friends, flirting, and wanting to fit in. That last | | | | That's very different for adults. |
| one is real important. For most kids, and that includes | | | | Our children are very much influenced by the things |
| anyone who does not have adult responsibilities yet, | | | | we do and say. But they are more easily influenced by |
| there is just little awareness about paying the bills and | | | | the people around them and more general societal |
| balancing all the things that we do as adults and | | | | beliefs. |
| parents. | | | | Let's face it, after a while, as parents we become |
| I want to mention this because it helps frame the | | | | seen as stale, boring, and predictable. Now other |
| understanding that adults can often see and interpret | | | | parents, and our peers, are really exciting. They do |
| the world rather quite differently than children. | | | | things differently. We only see what we want to see, |
| When an adult is diagnosed with ADHD, it's not | | | | and not what goes on behind the scenes. |
| uncommon for them to have an "a-ha" moment. I've | | | | Think about that... |
| heard many times before that there is an experience | | | | |