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Why Back-to-School Is So Overwhelming for Parents With ADHD

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The first month of school is officially over. Are we tired yet?

September is often portrayed as a fresh start. New backpacks. New teachers. New routines.

But if you are a parent with ADHD, September can also feel like an organizational nightmare: Your inbox is filling up with messages from teachers. There are forms to complete, new online portals to figure out, extracurricular schedules to coordinate, lunches to make, and seemingly endless dates to remember. And if your child has ADHD or learning difficulties like you, you may also be trying to organize accommodations, communicate with resource teachers, and help a child who is struggling with their own transition back to school.

And all of this is happening while the rest of your life continues on as usual.

I often hear parents with ADHD describe feeling as though everyone else received an instruction manual that they somehow missed. Other parents seem to know when picture day is, remember to sign all the permission forms, and arrive at curriculum night on time. Meanwhile, you may find the email three days later while searching your inbox for something entirely unrelated. We often laugh at these experiences in retrospect but in the moment, they don't feel funny at all.

The Gap Between Planning and Doing

A friend of mine with ADHD, whom I'll call Chantal, once told me about missing her son's first parent-teacher meeting of the year.

The frustrating part was that Chantal had actually done almost everything right: She found the teacher's message in her crowded inbox, dealt with the new scheduling system, and chose an appointment........

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