ADHD Families Podcast

What happens when you can see your child needs support, and the other parent doesn’t believe ADHD is real?

In this episode of the ADHD Families Podcast, Sharon Collon sits down with Carolyn Tate, former parenting and health journalist, late-diagnosed ADHDer and founder of Women’s Divorce Academy. Over seven years, Carolyn has helped close to a thousand women through separation and divorce.

Carolyn shares her own story: the New Year’s Eve she knew her marriage was over, the overwhelm that stretched her divorcex out for years, and the two and a half years it took to get her daughter assessed and supported when her ex-husband wasn’t on board.

This is a practical conversation about co-parenting a child with ADHD after separation. No villains, no court battles. Just how to advocate for your child, when to stop trying to convince the other parent, how to handle two homes with two sets of rules, and how to look after yourself when you’re carrying most of the load.

If you’re separated, divorcing or thinking about it, and parenting a child with ADHD, this episode gives you a clear place to start.

✅ Advocating for an ADHD diagnosis when your ex doesn’t accept it
✅ When to stop trying to convince the other parent and put that energy into your child
✅ What Carolyn’s ADHD gave her through separation
✅ Parallel parenting when you can’t co-parent together
✅ Two homes, two sets of rules: what you can and can’t control
✅ Why kids with ADHD are more adaptable than we give them credit for
✅ The financial disadvantage women face in divorce
✅ The biggest mistake Carolyn sees women make (taking legal advice from their ex)
✅ Where to put your energy when you’re carrying the invisible load
✅ Preventing burnout as a separated mum
✅ The unexpected positives women find twelve months on

This episode shares general information and lived experience, not legal advice. Please seek advice specific to your situation.
 

00:00 Welcome and why this episode
01:37 Meet Carolyn Tate
01:51 The moment Carolyn knew her marriage was ending
03:20 Overwhelm, delay and the undiagnosed ADHD brain
04:06 What ADHD gave Carolyn through separation
05:00 Carolyn’s work and Women’s Divorce Academy
06:12 The divorce disadvantage for women
08:06 Advocating for a diagnosis the other parent doesn’t accept
11:03 Why ADHD divides families
12:21 Parallel parenting after diagnosis
13:16 Advice when your ex rejects the diagnosis
16:05 Two homes, two sets of rules
17:32 Kids already navigate different rules every day
18:05 The biggest pain points women bring to divorce
19:29 What Carolyn would tell her past self
21:35 Where to put your limited energy
23:15 Looking after the mum
25:55 The unexpected positives of divorce
28:09 Women’s biggest fears about divorce
30:37 Support to call in
33:30 Final thoughts

Create a School Holiday Plan for Your ADHD Family

Six weeks off, no school structure, and a child whose brain runs on routine. This one-hour live workshop is for parents of children with ADHD who want the summer break planned before it starts.

We build your plan together, on the day:

Tuesday 10 November, 1.00pm to 2.00pm AEDT, live on Zoom
Your School Holiday Plan Pack arrives Saturday 7 November. Print it and fill it in with me live.
Can’t make it live? The replay is yours for 3 months, so it covers the whole break.

$97 AUD

Sharon Collon is a PCC Credentialed ADHD Coach and Parenting Consultant, Founder of The Functional Family and Host of the ADHD Families Podcast.

Through The Functional Family, Sharon has supported more than 40,000 families with practical strategies designed to work with the ADHD brain, not against it.

Her work helps families move away from daily chaos, overwhelm and survival mode and towards more connection, function and fun.

Build it for your worst day, not your best one.

You are too important to stay in survival mode.

***Join Managing Sibling Conflict & ADHD Session***

Why does one child seem to know exactly how to push their sibling’s buttons, then keep going until the whole house explodes?

Sibling baiting is incredibly common in ADHD families. It can look small from the outside. Standing too close to a prized possession. Making a particular noise. Saying the one thing they know will get a reaction. But underneath that behaviour, there can be much more going on.

In this episode, Credentialed ADHD family Coach Sharon Collon is joined by registered Psychologist Jacquie Ward to unpack why ADHD sibling conflict can escalate so quickly and why focusing on who started it often makes things worse.

They explore boredom and low-arousal states, rejection sensitivity, fairness, emotional regulation and the role parents can unintentionally play when they step in as the referee.

Because when the same fights happen again and again, the answer is not another lecture about being nice to each other. It is understanding the predictable pattern and knowing what to do when it starts.

✅ What sibling baiting and “rage baiting” actually look like

✅ Why an ADHD brain may seek stimulation by provoking a sibling

✅ How boredom and low-arousal states can contribute to conflict

✅ Why rejection sensitivity can turn a small interaction into a huge emotional reaction

✅ How asking “Who started it?” can intensify the conflict

✅ Why ADHD children’s strong sense of fairness can make arguments harder to resolve

✅ The difference between being the family referee and becoming the competent captain

✅ Why being steady is often more useful than trying to make everything fair

✅ How to recognise the predictable patterns behind recurring sibling fights

✅ Why having scripts ready matters when you are dysregulated too

It is feeling like you are dealing with the same fight on repeat.

One child baits.
The other reacts.
Someone explodes.
You step in and try to establish what happened.
Everyone argues about what is fair.
You become dysregulated too.

Then, the next day, it happens all over again.

In the heat of the moment, it can be incredibly difficult to remember the parenting strategy you intended to use. You might start gently, become stricter, raise your voice, separate everyone and then wonder afterwards what you could have done differently.

Sharon and Jacquie explain why the goal is not a home where siblings never fight.

The goal is to understand the pattern, know how to interrupt it and have a clear playbook for what to do next.

00:00 Sharon’s childhood sibling-baiting story
01:15 Why sibling baiting is so common in ADHD families
02:35 What is baiting and rage baiting?
03:37 What baiting looks like at home
04:46 Why the obvious trigger is not always the real problem
05:43 Rejection sensitivity and ADHD sibling conflict
06:44 Why a small poke can become a 40-minute meltdown
07:25 What happens when parents ask, “Who started it?”
08:13 The problem with becoming the family referee
09:12 The competent captain approach
10:39 Why steadiness matters more than perfect fairness
12:05 Staying regulated when your children are not
12:43 The two-day sibling conflict observation exercise
13:57 Identifying predictable problems
15:23 Why parents need practical scripts
15:59 What success with sibling conflict actually looks like
17:55 Advice for parents after a difficult day

If you are constantly breaking up fights, figuring out who started it, or dealing with explosive reactions, join Sharon Collon and Jacquie Ward for the Managing Sibling Conflict & ADHD Workshop on 11 October, 1pm to 4pm AEDT. You’ll learn what is really driving the conflict, how to step out of the referee role, and get practical scripts and a clear playbook for handling sibling fights with more confidence, shortening the conflict and supporting better repair. 

Book before 10pm AEDT Wednesday 7 October and you'll also get our Sibling Baiting and ADHD Scripts, eight scripts from Jacquie and me, valued at $197, free.

👉 Join the Sibling Conflict Workshop

If screentime is another source of daily arguments, difficult transitions or emotional blow-ups in your family, join Sharon for the Screentime + ADHD Workshop on 13 October at 1pm.

Learn how to approach screentime with the ADHD brain in mind and walk away with practical strategies you can use at home.

Usually $197, now reduced to $97.

Join Sharon and turn another predictable family friction point into something you feel better equipped to handle.

👉 Save your spot!

Sharon Collon is a PCC Credentialed ADHD Coach and Parenting Consultant, Founder of The Functional Family and Host of the ADHD Families Podcast.

Through The Functional Family, Sharon has supported more than 40,000 families with practical strategies designed to work with the ADHD brain, not against it.

Her work helps families move away from daily chaos, overwhelm and survival mode and towards more connection, function and fun.

Build it for your worst day, not your best one.

You are too important to stay in survival mode.

***Join the ADHD Family Quest***

How many tabs about ADHD do you have open right now?

On your phone, on your laptop. The one about dopamine. The one about demand avoidance. The routine chart someone swore by at 11pm.

You are not short on information about ADHD. You could probably explain executive function better than your GP can. And your Tuesday morning at 7:40am still falls apart.

That gap between everything you know and what actually happens in your house is not a knowledge problem. In this episode, Sharon Collon breaks down the two traps almost every ADHD family gets stuck in: knowledge farming, where you collect information you cannot implement, and system farming, where you buy the visual schedule, the magnetic chore chart and the beautiful Etsy printable, and it dies within a fortnight anyway.

She tells the story of two families who photographed the washing chart in her laundry, and why she already knew standing there that it would not work in their houses. Then she gives you the one shift that changes how you build anything at home from here: build the system for your worst day, not your best one.

Pick one thing you have been trying to make stick. Not all of them. One.

The biggest takeaway?

The system is not there to make a child comply. It is there to do the job your child’s brain cannot do yet, so they can practise the rest without failing every single day while they learn.

00:00 — How many ADHD tabs do you have open right now
01:15 — The gap between what you know and what happens at 7:40am
02:10 — Trap one: knowledge farming
04:00 — Trap two: system farming, and what you conclude when the chart fails
05:45 — The question Sharon wants you to answer for yourself
06:30 — The washing chart story: two families, two phones
08:45 — Why every household has its own physics
11:00 — The shift: build for your worst day, not your best one
12:45 — Question one: does it work when you are not in the room?
14:00 — Question two: does it work on a bad day?
15:00 — Question three: what skill is actually missing?
16:45 — Why getting started and stopping are skills, not attitude
18:15 — Kate’s story: getting Sunday back
21:00 — Why it is called The Functional Family
22:45 — The bridge between knowledge you cannot use and systems that will not hold
24:15 — “I think I need one to one coaching”, answered honestly
25:45 — What to do this week

As you have heard in this episode, the problem was never that you did not know enough. It is that information cannot tell you which friction point to fix first in your particular house.

That is exactly what we will do in my FREE ADHD Family System online workshop. In sixty minutes you will build your own one page Family Friction Map and see exactly where your house is losing time and energy.

100% free. No cost, no catch.

📅 1 September — 7pm AEST
📅 4 September — 1pm AEST
📅 8 September — 7pm AEST

If you are ready to turn what you have uncovered into practical change, The ADHD Family Quest is my four-week, coaching-led experience designed to help you build systems that work with your ADHD family, not against it.

It is the unglamorous middle bit nobody sells you. The bridge between knowledge you cannot implement and systems that will not hold.

Inside the Quest you get a private 30 minute one to one onboarding call with me so you start on the right friction point, five checkpoint playbooks with the templates already built, videos under five minutes with one action step each, three monthly group coaching sessions with me for the days it wobbles, and three months of access to the app and every resource.

September Spotlight bonus: enrol by 10pm AEST on Monday 8 September and you also get the live Friction Map group coaching session with me on Thursday 10 September, where we map your household’s friction points together and decide what to do about them. The Quest is open all year. This bonus is not.

Because you were never supposed to be the system holding everything together.

Sharon Collon is a PCC Credentialed ADHD Coach and Parenting Consultant, Founder of The Functional Family and Host of the ADHD Families Podcast.

Through The Functional Family, Sharon has supported more than 40,000 families with practical strategies designed to work with the ADHD brain, not against it.

Her work helps families move away from daily chaos, overwhelm and survival mode and towards more connection, function and fun.

Build it for your worst day, not your best one.

You are too important to stay in survival mode.

Week one, the reward chart is magic.

Your child is racing to the fridge for their gold star. The school bag is actually being put away. Nobody is nagging. Nobody is arguing. And you think, finally, THIS is the thing that is going to change our family.

Then week two arrives.

The magnets are missing. The stickers are on the floor. Nobody cares about the chart anymore and another beautifully laminated parenting system gets shoved into the kitchen drawer where hope goes to die.

So, why do reward charts seem to work brilliantly for children with ADHD, until suddenly they don’t?

In this episode, Sharon explains why reward charts often clash with the way the ADHD brain experiences motivation, novelty and time, and why the answer isn't becoming more consistent, finding a bigger reward or buying an even fancier chart.

You'll also learn what works instead: designing simple systems and environments that make the behaviour you want the easiest, most obvious next step.

00:00 Why reward charts work, until they don't

02:30 Sharon's reward chart graveyard

03:45 Why novelty motivates the ADHD brain

05:30 The problem with delayed rewards

06:30 The ADHD brain pays in cash, not credit

09:15 Why this isn't a willpower problem

11:00 Look at what already works in your family

12:30 Why systems work better than reward charts

14:15 Remove barriers and make the behaviour easier

17:00 Where rewards still fit and what to try this week

If your house is full of abandoned charts, half used planners and systems that worked beautifully, until they didn't, this is exactly the work we're doing inside my FREE ADHD Family System online workshop.

We'll map the friction points in your family and start looking at how to change the environment around them, so daily life isn't dependent on everybody remembering, staying motivated and having a good day at exactly the same time.

Because you don't need another prettier chart.

You need a system that can hold your family on the hard days too.

100% free. No cost, no catch.

📅 1 September, 7pm
📅 4 September, 1pm
📅 8 September, 7pm

If you’re ready to turn what you’ve uncovered into practical change, The ADHD Family Quest is my four-week, coaching-led experience designed to help you build systems that work with your ADHD family, not against it.

Because you were never supposed to be the system holding everything together.

Places are limited.

Subscribe to the ADHD Families Podcast

Explore practical ADHD family support and resources from The Functional Family

Share this episode with another parent who wonders why their child saves their biggest emotions for home

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify - it helps more ADHD families find the podcast

Sharon Collon is a PCC Credentialed ADHD Coach and Parenting Consultant, Founder of The Functional Family and Host of the ADHD Families Podcast.

Through The Functional Family, Sharon has supported more than 40,000 families with practical strategies designed to work with the ADHD brain, not against it.

Her work helps families move away from daily chaos, overwhelm and survival mode and towards more connection, function and fun.

You do not need to spend more money on a better chart.

You need an environment that supports the action.

They held it together all day.

The teacher says they were fine. Maybe they even had a great day.

Then they walk through the front door and within 10 minutes, everything falls apart. The bag gets thrown. There are tears over the wrong snack. A sibling looks at them the wrong way. Something tiny turns into a full meltdown that wipes out the entire evening.

So why does your child with ADHD manage all day at school — then completely unravel at home?

In this episode, Sharon explains after-school restraint collapse and why home is often the place where children finally release everything they’ve been holding together all day.

You’ll also learn why the first 30 minutes after school need their own system, what to do when your child is already dysregulated, and why planning for siblings, snacks, sensory input and your own capacity can completely change the afternoon.

Why ADHD children can hold it together at school and fall apart at home

What after-school restraint collapse actually is

The signs that “bad behaviour” may actually be dysregulation

Why the ADHD brain can arrive home completely out of fuel

How medication rebound may affect the after-school window

Why reasoning, consequences and explanations don’t work mid-meltdown

What to do instead when your child is emotionally flooded

Why the first 30 minutes after school matter so much

How to create an automatic decompression space

Why the first 20 minutes should be a low-demand window

How your first greeting can either lower or increase demand

Why siblings need their own after-school plan

How to design the 3–5pm window for the whole family, not just the child with ADHD

When worsening after-school meltdowns may be a sign that something else has shifted

The biggest takeaway?

After-school collapse isn’t random. It’s predictable. And predictable problems can be planned for.

00:00 — Why your child falls apart the moment they get home
01:20 — Why ADHD kids hold it together at school and release at home
02:30 — What after-school restraint collapse actually is
03:35 — When “bad behaviour” is actually dysregulation
04:20 — Why afternoons need a completely different system
05:15 — Medication rebound and the after-school window
06:00 — What to do when your child is already melting down
07:10 — Building the crucial first 30 minutes after school
08:15 — Decompression, no demands and the after-school handover
09:25 — Why siblings need an after-school plan too
10:15 — Designing the 3–5pm window for the whole family
11:20 — When worsening meltdowns are telling you something has shifted
12:05 — Put the 3pm crash on your family’s Friction Map

As you’ve heard in this episode, after-school meltdowns aren’t random, they’re predictable. And when we can see the patterns creating friction, we can start building systems that actually support the whole family.

That’s exactly what we’ll do in my FREE ADHD Family System online workshop. You’ll start creating your own Family Friction Map and identify where small changes could make family life feel a whole lot easier.

100% free. No cost, no catch.

📅 1 September — 7pm
📅 4 September — 1pm
📅 8 September — 7pm

If you’re ready to turn what you’ve uncovered into practical change, The ADHD Family Quest is my four-week, coaching-led experience designed to help you build systems that work with your ADHD family, not against it.

Because you were never supposed to be the system holding everything together.

Places are limited.

Subscribe to the ADHD Families Podcast

Explore practical ADHD family support and resources from The Functional Family

Share this episode with another parent who wonders why their child saves their biggest emotions for home

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify - it helps more ADHD families find the podcast

Sharon Collon is a PCC Credentialed ADHD Coach and Parenting Consultant, Founder of The Functional Family and Host of the ADHD Families Podcast.

Through The Functional Family, Sharon has supported more than 40,000 families with practical strategies designed to work with the ADHD brain, not against it.

Her work helps families move away from daily chaos, overwhelm and survival mode and towards more connection, function and fun.

Predictable means mappable. And mappable means you can get ahead of it.

You are too important to stay in survival mode.

The toast was cut the wrong way.

That’s all it took.

Suddenly there are tears, slammed doors and an emotional reaction so huge you’re standing there wondering, how is THIS the hill we’re dying on today?

If your child with ADHD can go from zero to completely overwhelmed over something that seems tiny, this episode will help you understand why.

Sharon breaks down what’s really happening underneath ADHD emotional dysregulation, meltdowns and big emotional reactions and why the size of the reaction often has very little to do with the size of the trigger.

You’ll also learn why reasoning with your child in the middle of an emotional storm rarely works, what Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD) can look like in everyday family life, and what to do instead.

Why small triggers can create enormous ADHD emotional reactions

How executive function affects emotional regulation

Why the “wrong toast” is rarely actually about the toast

What RSD is and why ordinary corrections can feel enormous

Why your child may hold it together all day and fall apart with you

Why explaining, reasoning and consequences don’t work mid-meltdown

How co-regulation helps your child come back online

Five practical things Sharon does during big emotions

Why the real teaching happens after the storm

The biggest takeaway?

Your calm is the tool. Everything else gets built on top of it.

00:00 — When the smallest thing triggers a huge emotional reaction

01:20 — The kitchen sponge story: when the reaction doesn’t match the trigger

02:15 — Why ADHD emotions can feel so big, so fast

03:30 — Executive function, emotional regulation and the missing “pause”

05:00 — Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD) and why correction can hurt

06:35 — How to correct with warmth without walking on eggshells

07:20 — Why your child holds it together for everyone else — then falls apart with you

08:45 — Co-regulation: why your nervous system matters

09:35 — Five things to do during an ADHD emotional meltdown

11:45 — What NOT to do when your child is emotionally flooded

12:45 — Spotting your family’s predictable emotional flashpoints

13:20 — The ADHD Family System and building your Friction Map

If your family keeps getting caught in the same meltdowns, transitions and daily battles, there’s probably a pattern underneath them.

In this free workshop, Sharon will help you identify your family’s biggest flashpoints and start building your Friction Map — so you can plan for difficult moments instead of constantly bracing for them.

100% free. No cost, no catch.

📅 1 September — 7pm
📅 4 September — 1pm
📅 8 September — 7pm

Ready to go further?

The ADHD Family Quest is a four-week, coaching-led experience designed to help families create practical, lasting change at home.

Less collecting ADHD parenting tips. More changing the patterns and systems creating friction in your actual family.

Because it was never meant to sit entirely on Mum’s shoulders.

Places are limited.

Subscribe to the ADHD Families Podcast

Work with Sharon

Sharon featured in The ADHD Weasel

Watch Sharon on The Morning Show

Sharon Collon is a PCC-credentialed ADHD coach and parenting expert who helps families move from survival mode to calmer, more connected and functional family life.

Her approach helps families understand ADHD, support emotional regulation, map predictable friction points and build ADHD-friendly systems that work on the hard days — not just the good ones.

Predictable means mappable. And mappable means you can get ahead of it.

You are too important to stay in survival mode.

Why does your child melt down at exactly 7:15am, 3:15pm and 8:45pm, like clockwork?

On the ADHD Families Podcast, Sharon Collon, PCC credentialed ADHD coach and founder of The Functional Family, explains why ADHD meltdowns aren't random. They run to a very tight timetable, and that timetable is the most useful information you've got.

Sharon unpacks the three windows where most ADHD families break (morning launch, after school landing and the bedtime encore), answers the question every parent asks her, and walks you through four practical moves to plan for the pattern instead of reacting to it. If you've been hunting for the trigger, this episode will change where you look.

🎁 Join the free ADHD Family System session and map your family's flashpoints: https://www.thefunctionalfamily.com/system

✅ Why a meltdown is a capacity problem, not a decision
✅ The three daily windows where ADHD families break
✅ Why the trigger is never actually the cause
✅ "Is my child doing this on purpose?" and why the answer is no
✅ Why it lands on you, the safest person in the room
✅ Move #1: Map your flashpoints for one week
✅ Move #2: Lower demand at the spike, not all day
✅ Move #3: Build a rhythm into the hard window
✅ Move #4: Move the demand off the person and onto the system
✅ The school gate example, start to finish

⚠️ If you've ever stood at the school gate bracing for impact, this episode is for you.

00:00 – The meltdown you could set your clock by
01:00 – Sharon's own flashpoint: the school uniform collar
02:40 – Why it's not random: demand outruns capacity
04:10 – Window 1: The morning launch, 7 to 8am
05:10 – Window 2: The after school landing, 3 to 4pm
06:10 – Window 3: The bedtime encore, 8 to 9pm
07:10 – "Is my child doing this on purpose?"
08:50 – The question that changes how parents see afternoons
10:20 – The four moves to plan for the pattern
14:10 – The school gate example and your free next step

100% free. No cost, no catch.

In this free workshop, we map your family's flashpoints together and build the beginnings of your friction map, so you can plan for your week instead of bracing against it.

It isn't a webinar full of generic parenting advice. It isn't more reading. And it's definitely not another thing to add to your plate.

Three free sessions, pick whichever suits you: 📅 1 September, 7pm 📅 4 September, 1pm 📅 8 September, 7pm

🔗 Save your free spot here

Ready for more than a workshop?

The ADHD Family Quest is a 4-week, coaching-led experience for families who want lasting change, not another round of tips.

Your whole family moves forward together, because it was never meant to sit on mum's shoulders.

This isn't therapy. It isn't a course. And it's definitely not a quick fix. Spots are limited.

🔗 Secure your spot here

Sharon Collon supports ADHD families to move from survival mode to functional, calm and connected, using ADHD-friendly systems that honour how sensitive nervous systems actually work.

Working with Sharon, families:

Predictable means mappable. And mappable means you can get ahead of it.

You are too important to stay in survival mode.

You've found the support.

You've done the research.

You know your teenager could benefit from ADHD coaching...

But every time you bring it up, you're met with, "I'm fine." or "I don't need it."

If you're wondering how to help a reluctant teen without pushing them further away, this episode is for you.

In this episode of the ADHD Families Podcast, Sharon Collon is joined by ADHD Teen Coach Kimberley, who shares why so many teenagers resist support, what ADHD coaching actually looks like, and how parents can introduce help in a way that builds trust instead of resistance.

Together, they unpack why resistance isn't defiance—it's often protection—and why the right support, at the right time, can help teens build confidence, executive functioning skills and emotional resilience that lasts well beyond school.

✔️ Why resistance to support is often a sign of protection—not defiance

✔️ How executive functioning challenges can be mistaken for laziness or lack of motivation

✔️ Why ADHD coaching is different from therapy

✔️ How to introduce coaching without pressure or conflict

✔️ What teenagers actually work on during ADHD coaching sessions

✔️ Why connection comes before strategy

✔️ How confidentiality works between coaches, teens and parents

✔️ What progress really looks like in ADHD coaching

✔️ Why confidence and self-awareness come before behaviour change

✔️ How coaching helps teenagers understand and work with their ADHD brain

00:00 – Why teens often refuse ADHD support

03:12 – Meet Kimberley: ADHD coach, educator and mum

05:34 – The executive functioning skills teens are missing

08:02 – Why your teen keeps saying "No"

11:03 – How to introduce ADHD coaching without creating resistance

12:54 – What ADHD coaching actually helps teenagers with

15:53 – Building trust, confidence and connection before strategies

20:44 – The biggest mistakes parents make when seeking support

27:49 – What success looks like when coaching starts to work

30:56 – Special offer for ADHD Teen Coaching

Looking for practical, strengths-based support for your teenager?

Kimberley is an ADDCA-trained ADHD Coach, former secondary teacher and mum of three children with ADHD. She specialises in helping teenagers build executive functioning skills, confidence, emotional regulation and practical strategies in a supportive, judgement-free environment.

👉 Book your Free 20-min Discovery Call with Kimberley

Feeling like you're constantly reminding, nagging or putting out fires?

Join Sharon's FREE ADHD Family Systems Workshop to learn the simple systems that reduce daily overwhelm, lower family conflict and help your home run with less stress—and more connection.

We start first week of September. We would love to have you!

👉 Reserve your FREE SEAT here

Sharon Collon helps ADHD families create calmer homes, stronger relationships, and practical systems that reduce overwhelm. Through her programs, resources, and podcast, Sharon shares compassionate, evidence-informed support for parents navigating the realities of ADHD family life.

Whether you’re struggling with emotional regulation, executive functioning, school stress, or family routines, Sharon’s work is designed to help parents feel supported — not judged.

School camp can feel like a huge milestone… but for parents of children with ADHD, it often comes with a whole lot of worry.

Will they sleep?

Will they remember their medication?

Will they make friends?

Will they cope without me?

If you've ever found yourself staring at the camp permission slip while mentally preparing for every possible scenario, you're not alone.

In this episode of the ADHD Families Podcast, Sharon Collon shares practical, ADHD-friendly strategies to help your child prepare for school camp, manage the challenges while they're away, and recover well once they return home.

Drawing on her experience as a PCC Credentialed ADHD Coach, parenting expert, and mum of three children with ADHD, Sharon explains why camp can feel so overwhelming for the ADHD brain and how a little preparation can transform the experience for the whole family.

Rather than expecting your child to simply "cope," you'll learn how to build the right scaffolding so they can thrive with confidence.

00:00 – Why school camp feels so overwhelming for ADHD families

02:43 – Why camp is uniquely challenging for the ADHD brain

03:52 – Before camp: setting your child up for success

05:41 – Preparing teachers, medication and sleep

07:10 – Packing strategies that reduce overwhelm

10:03 – During camp: building regulation and support

12:22 – Managing social exhaustion and trusting the process

13:20 – The post-camp restraint collapse explained

15:21 – Your biggest takeaway as an ADHD parent

16:37 – Free ADHD Family Systems Workshop & final thoughts

✔️ Why school camp places extra demands on the ADHD brain

✔️ How to decide if your child is ready for an overnight camp

✔️ The conversations to have with teachers before camp begins

✔️ Medication and sleep strategies that reduce unnecessary stress

✔️ Practical packing systems that support executive functioning

✔️ Why one trusted adult at camp can make all the difference

✔️ How to create a simple emotional regulation plan before they leave

✔️ Why social exhaustion is often mistaken for behavioural problems

✔️ What restraint collapse looks like after camp—and how to respond

✔️ How to help your child recover emotionally and physically after camp

If you're tired of solving the same family challenges over and over again, join Sharon's FREE ADHD Family Systems Workshop.

You'll learn how to identify your family's biggest friction points and build ADHD-friendly systems that actually work—so life feels calmer, easier and more connected.

👉 PICK YOUR FREE SESSION NOW

Sharon recently shared her simple CRC Method for reducing overwhelm in ADHD families—Get Curious, Get Regulated, Get Clear. Because the behaviour is the smoke, not the fire. When we stop trying to fix every behaviour and start understanding what's driving it, family life can become calmer, more connected and a whole lot easier.

👉 Watch my ADHD parenting segment on The Morning Show

Sharon Collon helps ADHD families create calmer homes, stronger relationships, and practical systems that reduce overwhelm. Through her programs, resources, and podcast, Sharon shares compassionate, evidence-informed support for parents navigating the realities of ADHD family life.

Whether you’re struggling with emotional regulation, executive functioning, school stress, or family routines, Sharon’s work is designed to help parents feel supported — not judged.

Has your child ever dropped the F-bomb at exactly the worst possible moment? Maybe it was at a family dinner, in the school pickup line, or right in front of Grandma. If so, you're definitely not alone.

In this episode of the ADHD Families Podcast, Sharon Collon, PCC Credentialed ADHD Family Coach, unpacks one of the most common challenges parents bring to coaching sessions: swearing. Sharon explains why swearing is often linked to ADHD impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, novelty-seeking behaviour, and dopamine-driven reactions, rather than disrespect or poor character.

You'll learn why traditional punishment approaches often fail, how to reduce the emotional charge around swear words, and practical strategies that help children develop better self-regulation and communication skills. Sharon shares real-life examples from her own family, along with simple tools parents can start using immediately to reduce conflict and create calmer family dynamics.

✅ Why swearing is often a symptom of ADHD, not a behaviour problem

✅ How impulsivity affects a child's ability to filter language

✅ The link between emotional dysregulation and swearing

✅ Why novelty and strong reactions make swear words "sticky"

✅ How attention and dopamine can unintentionally reinforce swearing

✅ Why punishment rarely solves ADHD-related swearing

✅ How to stay calm and avoid making swear words the main event

✅ The power of replacement words and modelling language

✅ Working "upstream" to reduce triggers and dysregulation

✅ Teaching contextual awareness about where certain language is appropriate

✅ Practical scripts parents can use immediately

00:00 Introduction: Why ADHD and swearing is such a common family challenge

01:45 Why swearing is usually a symptom, not disrespect

04:00 ADHD impulsivity and the missing filter

07:00 Emotional dysregulation and why big feelings trigger big language

10:00 Novelty, reactions, and why swear words become sticky

12:30 Attention, dopamine, and reinforcement

14:30 Why punishment doesn't work for ADHD-related swearing

16:30 Strategy #1: Don't make the swear word the main event

18:30 Strategy #2: Teach and model replacement words

21:00 Strategy #3: Work upstream and reduce dysregulation

23:30 Strategy #4: Build contextual awareness

25:00 Final recap and encouragement

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Sharon Collon helps ADHD families create calmer homes, stronger relationships, and practical systems that reduce overwhelm. Through her programs, resources, and podcast, Sharon shares compassionate, evidence-informed support for parents navigating the realities of ADHD family life.

Whether you’re struggling with emotional regulation, executive functioning, school stress, or family routines, Sharon’s work is designed to help parents feel supported — not judged.