Mind Matters

"Parent the child you have," is a common piece of advice in the neurodiversity community, but what does it actually look like in practice when stress is high and patience is low? Why do traditional consequences often fail to build the skills a child actually needs? And how can parents distinguish between enabling a child and truly supporting them? Today, Emily Kircher-Morris talks with Cindy Goldrich, founder of PTS Coaching, and author of Eight Keys to Parenting Kids and Teens with ADHD, about the developmental reality of executive dysfunction and why "calm is power" when it comes to parenting complex kids. TAKEAWAYS "Parenting the child you have" requires letting go of the expectations of who you thought they would be and getting curious about who they actually are. Executive function is a developmental process, and the human brain often isn't fully mature until age 25 to 30. Intelligence and executive function are separate traits; a high IQ does not guarantee a child will have the ability to organize