The ADHD habits podcast

This one is for you, the parent who gives everything and often forgets to save a little for themselves. In today's episode Mon talks about the science behind parental self-care and why looking after yourself is one of the most important things you can do for your child living with ADHD. She also shares how low tox living has become a big part of her family's life, why she started paying at...

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 f...

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...

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 thi...

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...

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...

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 itsel...

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 chi...

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...

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,...

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 cove...

For many children living with ADHD the hardest moments at school do not happen during activities. They happen in between them. This episode looks at the science behind why transitions are so difficult for the ADHD brain, how to talk to your child's teacher about it, and one simple classroom strategy that reframes your child from struggling to capable. Plus why consistency across home and schoo...

We know screens before bed are not ideal. But for children living with ADHD the impact goes well beyond a late night. This episode looks at what blue light actually does to the brain and why children living with ADHD are particularly vulnerable to its effects. What can you do to help? We discuss two practical options, one of them easier than you think. Block Blue Light website SCIENCE REFERENCES C...

We have covered what to add to the plate and what to take off it. This week we are talking about something that never even makes it to the conversation and it might be the most overlooked factor in how your child's brain performs every single day. Hydration. Research shows that even mild dehydration significantly impairs attention, memory and mood in children living with ADHD and most kids are...

The bedtime battle is not just about behaviour. It is about biology. Children living with ADHD are already slow to produce melatonin, the sleep hormone, which means the body needs extra help knowing that sleep is coming. This episode looks at the science of sleep routines and why doing the same things in the same order every night is not just good parenting practice. It is a biological signal. One...

Last week we added protein to breakfast. This week we look at the other side of the equation. Refined sugar, artificial food dyes, and ultra-processed foods can undermine everything you are trying to build for a child living with ADHD. Most families never hear this at diagnosis. This episode breaks down the research in plain language and leaves you with one simple habit: check one label. Just one....

Most parents of children living with ADHD spend their days in reactive mode putting out fires, managing meltdowns, and struggling to get to the end of the day in one piece. This episode is about shifting from reactive to proactive. Using the science of locus of control and the habit framework from Atomic Habits, Mon walks through what parents actually have power over and how one small proactive ac...

This episode is coming out late. Not because I forgot, but because I spent Mother's Day eve in the emergency department with my mum. She is okay. But it was a reminder that life does not care about your schedule. In this episode I talk about what happens when life gets in the way of the habits you are building, why that is not the problem you think it is, and the one thing research shows makes...

Research shows that children living with ADHD who move before school show significant improvements in attention and mood that last throughout the entire day. Not just the first lesson. The whole day. In this episode we look at why the morning is the most valuable movement window of all, what the science says about timing and the ADHD brain, and how to build a simple morning movement habit that tak...

The meltdown that came from nowhere. The intensity that seemed out of proportion. The child who cannot calm down no matter what you try. In this episode we look at why emotional regulation is genuinely harder for children living with ADHD, what is actually happening in the brain when big feelings arrive, and why connection, before any strategy or consequence, is the most important tool you have. S...

Phone calls home home. Difficult parent teacher interviews. A report that says your child isn't reaching their potential. If this sounds familiar, this episode is for you. School is genuinely one of the hardest environments for children living with ADHD. Not because of ability or effort, but because of fit. In this episode we look at what the classroom actually asks of an ADHD brain, why the g...

Bedtime battles. A child who cannot switch off. A morning that starts already behind. If this is your family, this episode is for you. Nearly three quarters of children living with ADHD experience significant sleep problems, not because of behaviour, but because of biology. In this episode we look at why the ADHD brain runs on a different body clock, what that costs your child every single day, an...

Most families aren't told at diagnosis that children living with ADHD frequently present with deficiencies in the specific nutrients the brain needs most - omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, B vitamins and vitamin D. In this episode we look at what the research shows about nutrition and the ADHD brain, why protein at breakfast is one of the highest-impact daily habits available, and how what goes on t...

If you've ever felt like you were doing everything right and it still wasn't working, this episode is for you. Because the research shows that the most powerful variable in your child's ADHD journey isn't the habit system. It's you. Your presence. Your regulation. Your consistency. In this episode we look at what that means and what to do with it.

In this weekend episode we step back from the daily habits and look at the bigger picture, the science of how habits actually form, why the process takes longer for children living with ADHD, and why that's not a reason to give up. It's a reason to stay the course. Because every small moment of consistency, however imperfect, however unremarkable, is doing exactly the right work. The long...