With summer in full swing, you’re probably doing some vacation planning. Maybe you’re seeking “fun for the whole family,” as some venues and theme parks advertise. Not an easy task. How do you plan an experience captivating for your 8-year-old, fun for your preteen, and even entertaining for you and your college-bound young adult? Inherently you know an inclusive experience—one that includes everyone—is key. You are a family, after all.
When thinking about whole-family fun this summer, don’t forget about other things that require a family-focused perspective. You know from experience that when one child is struggling, it can be upsetting—not just for you but for everyone else in your family. Social-emotional functioning can suffer, and so can whole family functioning, if challenges aren’t addressed with an inclusive perspective. Because you are, after all, a family.
When it comes to ADHD, a whole family perspective is also key. If you or your spouse has ADHD, then there’s a 50% chance that one of your children has it, too. And if your 8-year-old child has ADHD, chances are also high that your pre-teen or college-bound kid is heading to high school or university with it, too, threatening mental health and academic success if left untreated.
Oh, and let’s not forget about this. If one of your children has just been diagnosed with ADHD, maybe you or your spouse has been struggling with ADHD, too, but you’ve chalked up the challenges to some incorrect explanation—like personality, or being colossally disorganized, and just plain unmotivated. These explanations do you, your spouse, and your relationship, no favors. Maybe ADHD has been in the mix with your relationship all along. There’s a 50% chance of that being true if one of your children has ADHD, making things difficult for you as a couple. Why let undetected and untreated ADHD chip away at the family foundation you cherish and work so hard to protect with your children andwith your spouse?
Whether it’s more the daydreamy (what used to be called ADD) or hyperactive type, ADHD can have serious consequences for your whole family. If you struggle to regulate your own focus and emotions, it’s going to be tough to help your child who is unregulated, too. And if one, or both, parents have challenges with undiagnosed ADHD, your relationship with each other and with your children can suffer, too. Driving safety, DIY projects started and finished, job satisfaction and security, mood and mental health, relationship cohesion and longevity—all of these can be negatively impacted by ADHD but improved with ADHD treatments.
At The Possibilities Clinic, we offer a family-focused perspective when it comes to assessing, diagnosing and treating ADHD. That means we see children, siblings, and parents. Contact our Clinic Care Coordinator to learn more about our family-focused and Adult ADHD assessment options. You deserve to have whole-family fun this summer. But, in the long run, you deserve so much more than that.
