The environment your child lives in is either making their day easier or harder, and for children living with ADHD it makes an enormous difference. In today's episode Mon explores one of the most powerful principles in habit science: that the right behaviour becomes far more likely when the space around us is designed to support it. You will learn how to look at your child's room through fresh eyes, what to change, what to remove, and how to involve your child in building a space that actually works for them. If you have ever tidied a bedroom only to watch it unravel by Tuesday, this one is for you. Hit play and find out how to set your child up to thrive on their own terms.

SCIENCE REFERENCES

Clear, J. (2018). Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones. Avery Publishing.

Duhigg, C. (2012). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Random House.

Wansink, B. (2006). Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. Bantam Books. (Environmental design principles applied to behaviour change.)

Thaler, R.H., & Sunstein, C.R. (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Yale University Press.

If your child with ADHD seems to need constant movement, this episode will change the way you see it. Today Mon explains the science behind bouncing and jumping, and why rhythmic, repetitive movement is one of the most powerful tools you have for helping your child regulate their nervous system and focus. You will learn exactly what is happening in the brain during movement, why it matters so much for children living with ADHD, and how to build it into your daily routine without any fuss using a simple habit stack strategy. Hit play and discover why a mini trampoline might just be the best investment you make this year.

SCIENCE REFERENCES

Blomqvist, S., Olsson, J., Wallin, L., Wester, A., & Rehn, B. (2013). Adolescents with intellectual disability have reduced postural balance and muscle performance in trunk and lower limbs. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 34(1), 198–203.

Archer, T., & Kostrzewa, R.M. (2012). Physical exercise alleviates ADHD symptoms: Regional deficits and development trajectory. Neurotoxicity Research, 21(2), 195–209.

Ratey, J.J., & Hagerman, E. (2008). Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. Little, Brown and Company.

Wilkes, S., Cordier, R., Bundy, A., Docking, K., & Munro, N. (2011). A play-based intervention for children with ADHD: A pilot study. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 58(4), 231–240.

When a child living with ADHD is dysregulated, telling them to calm down rarely works. But telling them to breathe and knowing why that works is a different thing entirely. This episode looks at the science behind breathing and the ADHD brain, why slow deliberate breathing is one of the few regulation tools that works in the middle of a meltdown rather than before or after it, and how to teach this skill to a child before they need it most.

SCIENCE REFERENCES

Jerath, R., Edry, J.W., Barnes, V.A., & Jerath, V. (2006). Physiology of long pranayamic breathing: Neural respiratory elements may provide a mechanism that explains how slow deep breathing shifts the autonomic nervous system. Medical Hypotheses, 67(3), 566–571.

Porges, S.W. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation. W.W. Norton & Company.

Siegel, D.J., & Bryson, T.P. (2012). The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind. Delacorte Press.

Zaccaro, A., Piarulli, A., Laurino, M., Garbella, E., Menicucci, D., Neri, B., & Gemignani, A. (2018). How breath-control can change your life: A systematic review on psycho-physiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 353.

Before a child living with ADHD can learn, they need to feel safe. Not physically safe. Emotionally safe. This episode shares a personal story about one teacher who shifted their approach and the difference it made to one boy who had been dreading their class. It looks at the research behind why connection must come before curriculum, why the threat response in children living with ADHD makes this even more critical, and how you as a parent can open the door to that conversation with your child's teacher.

SCIENCE REFERENCES

Immordino-Yang, M. H. (2016). Emotions, Learning and the Brain. W. W. Norton and Company.

Pianta, R. C., Hamre, B. K., & Allen, J. P. (2012). Teacher student relationships and engagement. In S. L. Christenson et al. (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Student Engagement. Springer.

Barkley, R. A. (2013). Taking Charge of ADHD: The Complete, Authoritative Guide for Parents. Guilford Press.

We have talked about what happens at the end of the day. Today we are going to the other end. What your child is exposed to in the first thirty minutes after waking has a direct impact on how well they sleep that night. This episode looks at the science of morning light, why it is one of the most effective tools for shifting the sleep cycle in children living with ADHD, and how to make it work on a school morning when getting outside is not always realistic.

Full Spectrum Lamp from Block Blue Light

SCIENCE REFERENCES

Viola, A. U., et al. (2008). Blue-enriched white light in the workplace improves self-reported alertness, performance and sleep quality. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health, 34(4), 297 to 306.

Leproult, R., Colecchia, E. F., L'Hermite-Balériaux, M., & Van Cauter, E. (2001). Transition from dim to bright light in the morning induces an immediate elevation of cortisol levels. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 86(1), 151 to 157.

Wams, E. J., et al. (2017). Linking light exposure and subsequent sleep: A field polysomnography study in humans. Sleep, 40(12).

Barkley, R. A. (2013). Taking Charge of ADHD: The Complete, Authoritative Guide for Parents. Guilford Press.

If mealtimes in your house feel like a daily negotiation you never seem to win, this episode will change how you see that fight. Fussy eating in children living with ADHD is not a phase and it is not a parenting problem. It is biology. This episode looks at the science behind why so many children living with ADHD struggle with food, why the dinner table battle was never really about the food itself, and what you can actually do about it. Plus a practical habit that gets more nutrition into a brain that needs it without turning every meal into a battleground.

Well Nourished Link

SCIENCE REFERENCES

Dunn, W. (2007). Supporting children to participate successfully in everyday life by using sensory processing knowledge. Infants and Young Children, 20(2), 84 to 101.

Khalsa, S. S., et al. (2018). Interoception and mental health: A roadmap. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 3(6), 501 to 513.

Schreck, K. A., Williams, K., & Smith, A. F. (2004). A comparison of eating behaviors between children with and without autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34(4), 433 to 438.

Comparison is one of the most human things we do. But for parents of children living with ADHD it can become one of the most damaging. This episode looks at the science of social comparison, why measuring your child against their neurotypical peers was never a fair contest, and how shifting that comparison changes everything. The only measure that is fair, honest and genuinely motivating for a child living with ADHD is who they were yesterday. This episode explores why and how to make that shift at home.

Be Everything You Are! Organiser

SCIENCE REFERENCES

Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117 to 140.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The what and why of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self determination of behaviour. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227 to 268.

Hoza, B., et al. (2004). Self perceptions of competence in children with ADHD and comparisons to their peers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72(3), 382 to 391.

Progress for children living with ADHD rarely looks like progress. It does not follow a straight line and it does not look the way we expect it to. This episode looks at what the research says about small wins, why the brain responds to them in a way that is neurologically significant for children living with ADHD, and why breaking habits down smaller than you think you need to is not giving up on ambition. It is working with the brain instead of against it.Be Everything You Are! Organiser

SCIENCE REFERENCES

Fogg, B. J. (2019). Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Schultz, W. (1998). Predictive reward signal of dopamine neurons. Journal of Neurophysiology, 80(1), 1 to 27.

Amabile, T., & Kramer, S. (2011). The Progress Principle. Harvard Business Review Press.

Clear, J. (2018). Atomic Habits. Penguin Random House.

We know movement helps the ADHD brain. But how much movement actually makes a difference? This episode gets specific. Research shows that twenty minutes of deliberate movement that raises the heart rate produces real, measurable changes in attention, impulse control and cognitive performance in children living with ADHD. This episode covers what that looks like in a real family on a real morning, why cognitively engaging movement is even more powerful, and how to attach the habit to something that already exists in your day so it actually sticks.Be Everything You Are! OrganiserSCIENCE REFERENCES

Pontifex, M. B., et al. (2013). Exercise improves behavioural, neurocognitive and scholastic performance in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Pediatrics, 162(3), 543 to 551.

Gapin, J. I., Labban, J. D., & Etnier, J. L. (2011). The effects of physical activity on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms: The evidence. Preventive Medicine, 52(1), 70 to 74.

Ratey, J. J. (2008). Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. Little, Brown and Company.

Singh, B., et al. (2025). Effectiveness of exercise for improving cognition, memory and executive function: a systematic umbrella review and meta-meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine.

When a child living with ADHD is overwhelmed, the brain's alarm system takes over. Thinking, reasoning and problem solving go offline. This episode looks at one of the most well researched emotional regulation strategies available and why it works: naming the feeling. Science shows that putting a word to an emotion actually calms the brain down. Not eventually, in the moment. This episode covers how to build this skill before the hard moments arrive and how the Be Everything You Are! organiser can support that practice daily.

Be Everything You Are! organiser

SCIENCE REFERENCES

Lieberman, M. D., et al. (2007). Putting feelings into words: Affect labelling disrupts amygdala activity in response to affective stimuli. Psychological Science, 18(5), 421 to 428.

Siegel, D. J. (2012). The Whole Brain Child. Delacorte Press.

Torre, J. B., & Lieberman, M. D. (2018). Putting feelings into words: Affect labelling as implicit emotion regulation. Emotion Review, 10(2), 116 to 124.