Becoming Together: Preparing for a New Beginning

New beginnings can be exciting, scary, and overwhelming—sometimes all at once.

As we close our five-part Becoming Together series, we're stepping back from the back-to-school logistics to look at something bigger: how we prepare our ADHD kids for all the new beginnings they'll encounter in life.

In this episode, I talk about why transitions can carry such an invisible load for ADHD brains, why our kids sometimes fall apart after holding it together all day, and what it means to support them without trying to remove every obstacle from their path.

We'll also talk about the backpack parents carry—the hope, worry, questions, and desire to get everything right—and why our children may need to see us navigating uncertainty, making mistakes, and becoming right alongside them.

In Parent University, I'm sharing The Whole-Brain Child by Dr. Daniel Siegel and Dr. Tina Payne Bryson, along with a simple New Beginning Conversation you can have as a family.

Because preparing our children for what's next isn't about giving them the entire map.

It's about helping them trust themselves enough to take the next step—and making sure they know they'll never have to walk the trail alone.

Follow Backpacking Through ADHD, leave a review, and share this episode with another family walking into a new beginning.

How do we explain ADHD to our children in a way that builds confidence instead of shame?

In this episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, we're continuing our Becoming Together series with one of the most important conversations we can have as parents: helping our kids understand how their amazing brains work.

Instead of seeing ADHD as something that's "wrong," what if we helped our children see it as part of who they are—complete with incredible strengths, unique challenges, and endless potential?

Together we'll explore:

Why understanding ADHD builds confidence and self-awareness.

How to explain executive functioning in language children can understand.

Practical ways to help kids become their own best advocates.

Why knowing their strengths is just as important as understanding their challenges.

Simple conversations every family can start today.

This week's Parent University features The ADHD Dude, Ryan Wexelblatt, and a practical family lesson designed to help your child recognize what helps their brain thrive.

Whether you're raising a newly diagnosed child or simply looking for better ways to talk about ADHD, this episode will leave you with encouragement, practical tools, and a renewed reminder that our goal isn't to change our children—it's to help them understand themselves.

Song of the Episode: The Middle by Jimmy Eat World

Because the greatest gift we can give our children isn't helping them become someone else...

It's helping them discover the incredible person they're already becoming.

Medication decisions are rarely just about medication. They carry questions about identity, side effects, school, confidence, and whether we are making the right choice for the child we love.

In this episode of Becoming Together, I share our family’s honest experience with taking a summer medication break, preparing for school, navigating tics, and facing decisions that do not always have one clear answer. We’ll talk about separating fear from what our children are actually experiencing, becoming students of our children, and replacing the pressure for certainty with curiosity.

In Parent University, we explore the research of Dr. Russell Barkley and practice this week’s family lesson: observation before evaluation. This episode is not medical advice—it is a reminder that we can make thoughtful, loving decisions with the information we have and remain willing to learn and adjust along the way.

Before we start teaching our ADHD kids social skills, maybe we need to ask a different question.

What if the challenge isn't that they don't know how to be a good friend? What if they're simply missing the invisible social cues that so many of us take for granted?

In this week's episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, we're continuing our five-part Becoming Together series by exploring how to help our children build social awareness without making them feel like they need to change who they are.

Through a real moment from tennis practice, Tera shares the delicate balance of helping a child grow while fiercely protecting their confidence. You'll also hear insights from Parent University, featuring Ryan Wexelblatt (ADHD Dude), and learn this week's simple Family Lesson: The Detective Game—a curiosity-based way to practice noticing social clues together without shame or criticism.

Whether you're parenting an ADHD child or you're an adult who's still learning these same lessons, this episode is a reminder that becoming isn't about becoming someone else. It's about becoming more fully yourself, one small step at a time.

In this episode:

Why social awareness is different from social skills

How ADHD affects reading social cues

A simple shift from correction to coaching

Parent University: Ryan Wexelblatt (ADHD Dude)

Family Lesson: The Detective Game

Song of the Episode: Better Place – Rachel Platten

If this episode resonates with you, please follow the podcast, leave a review, and share it with another family walking this trail. Together, we're becoming—one conversation, one lesson, and one connection at a time.

As another school year begins, many of us are carrying more than backpacks and school supplies. We're carrying questions, hopes, and fears that we rarely say out loud.

Will my child make friends?

Will their teacher understand them?

Will they come home believing they're enough?

In this first episode of the Becoming Together series, I'm inviting you into our family's journey as we're living it, not after we've figured everything out, but right in the middle of it. 

This week also marks the beginning of a new rhythm for our series. Every episode will include our family's story, one Parent University resource, and one simple Family Lesson you can practice together at home.

Parent University

Family Lesson

Whether you're a parent, grandparent, teacher, caregiver, or one of my younger adventurers listening along, I hope this episode reminds you of one important truth: none of us are walking this trail alone.

Let's take the first step together.

In this episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, Tera is joined by Lisa Richer, founder of Journey2Bloom, for a grounded conversation about ADHD, parenting, advocacy, burnout, masking, learning differences, and the messy middle of becoming.

Lisa is a neurodiversity consultant, neurodivergent success partner, late-diagnosed ADHD woman, and mom of two neurodiverse sons. Together, Tera and Lisa explore what it means to be in the same ocean but different boats, why no two ADHD journeys look exactly alike, and how curiosity can change the way we understand ourselves and our kids.

They talk about defiance versus dysregulation, the emotional weight parents carry, how diagnoses can inform without defining, and why asking “Help me understand how” may open more connection than asking “why.”

If you are parenting a neurodivergent child, navigating school support, questioning what your child needs next, or rediscovering your own ADHD identity later in life, this conversation is for you.

For consultation and support, visit Lisa at journey2bloom.com.

Song of the Episode: “A Beautiful Noise” by Alicia Keys & Brandi Carlile

As the school year comes to an end, many ADHD kids aren't just counting down to summer—they're carrying the emotional weight of months spent trying to focus, fit in, regulate big feelings, and hold everything together.

When that invisible backpack gets too heavy, emotions often spill over. What adults sometimes see as overreacting, defiance, or attitude may actually be a nervous system that's simply exhausted.

In this heartfelt episode of Backpacking Through ADHD: Becoming, Tera speaks directly to the child who has ever wondered if they're "too much"—too emotional, too sensitive, too loud, or too difficult—and reminds them of a truth every child deserves to hear:

You do not need to become smaller to deserve love.

Together, we'll explore:

Whether you're listening with your child or on your own, this episode is an invitation to replace shame with understanding and to remember that our hardest moments never define our worth.

Song of the Episode: Brave – Sara Bareilles

Because being deeply emotional doesn't make you too much.

It makes you human.

And you are still worthy.

In this episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, Tera sits down with clinical psychologist and behavior analyst Dr. Katrina Ostmeyer for a powerful conversation about what’s really happening underneath ADHD behaviors.

Together, they explore emotional regulation, the nervous system, perfectionism, masking, and the difference between defiance and dysregulation—especially in children who don’t yet have the words to explain what they’re feeling.

Tera also shares personal parenting moments with Grayson, including a recent experience on the baseball field that left her questioning how parents are supposed to respond when behavior looks intentional on the outside, but feels like something deeper underneath.

Dr. Katrina brings both professional expertise and lived experience as a parent of two neurodivergent children, creating a conversation that feels grounded, validating, and deeply human.

This episode is for:

Because sometimes behavior isn’t about defiance.

Sometimes it’s a nervous system asking for support.

To learn more about Dr. Katrina Ostmeyer and Beyond the Individual, including virtual services, visit:

Song of the Episode: “Human” – Christina Perri

If this episode resonated with you, please follow, review, and share Backpacking Through ADHD with someone who might need this conversation too.

In this episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, we’re talking about something that happens fast, often, and sometimes leaves a mark we don’t know how to fix: what happens after the impulse.

This conversation is especially for ADHD kids who have ever had a moment they wish they could take back… and for the parents and caregivers helping guide them through it.

When emotions move faster than words, ADHD kids can react before they fully process what they’re feeling. But this episode isn’t about shame, blame, or “fixing” behavior. It’s about teaching something deeper: repair.

Because friendship isn’t built on getting it right all the time. It’s built on noticing, reconnecting, and learning how to come back after hard moments.

Throughout the episode, Tera shares practical language kids can use, ways parents can model repair at home, and gentle reminders that ADHD kids are not “bad friends” — they are learning a more complex version of friendship rooted in emotional awareness, empathy, and resilience.

This episode is also deeply personal. Although Grayson isn’t joining Tera for this conversation, the episode is written for him knowing he’ll listen someday — making it feel like a heartfelt letter to him and to every child learning how to navigate connection, mistakes, and belonging.

Song of the Episode: Brave — Sara Bareilles

Because bravery isn’t always loud. Sometimes bravery is saying, “I’m sorry.” Sometimes it’s asking, “Can I try that again?” And sometimes bravery is simply choosing to come back into the moment after wishing you could run away from it.

If this episode resonates with you, please follow, review, and share Backpacking Through ADHD with someone who may need this reminder today.

Keep going. Keep practicing. Keep becoming.

In this episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, Tera explores what happens when the body is carrying more than anyone can see. Becoming Regulated: When Your Nervous System Runs the Meeting is a conversation for women with ADHD who look composed on the outside but know how much effort it takes to stay steady underneath.

Tera reflects on the difference between functioning and feeling regulated, the invisible load so many women carry into work, motherhood, relationships, and leadership, and the quiet ways nervous system overload can shape how we think, react, and move through the world. She also shares a personal reflection on what it means to feel safe in your body, the power of being deeply known, and why regulation is less about becoming less emotional and more about becoming more honest about what support looks like in this season of life.

This episode is especially for women navigating ADHD in midlife, where hormones, emotional labor, and changing capacity can make old systems stop working the way they used to. If you’ve been wondering why everything feels heavier than it once did, this conversation is for you.

Follow, share, and leave a review if this episode speaks to you. It helps more listeners find the podcast and join the journey.

Here is a slightly shorter Podbean version too, in case you want something tighter:

In this episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, Tera explores the quiet kind of overload that hides inside competence. Becoming Regulated: When Your Nervous System Runs the Meeting is for women with ADHD who are still functioning, still showing up, and still wondering why everything feels harder in their body than it used to.

This episode unpacks the difference between composure and regulation, the invisible load women carry into work and home, and the impact of ADHD, midlife, hormones, and emotional labor on the nervous system. It is a grounded, honest conversation about support, self-trust, and what it means to build a life that feels more sustainable from the inside out.