Thank you for writing about your own journey as a speaker and what you hope to do in the world to support parents. I just sent off a pitch letter to speak to a nonprofit focusing on family mental health. I'm not a parenting expert or trained psychologist. Selling the idea of lived experience is different than being a professional with years of degrees and accolades. Yikes. Advocating for parents is hard stuff. Your wake is creating a path of helpfulness.
Well done on the wonderful work you do. Parents of neurodivergent kids are often so unsupported. A mother whose child had just been diagnosed as neurodivergent asked me if she could chat to me about it. I asked my neurodivergent daughter, by then in her twenties, what advice she would give the woman. She said, "Tell her to repeat what she wants her child to understand over and over in different ways. So often I didn't understand even when I thought I did."
Ocean used to answer questions like this for me. Even recorded a few podcasts and videos. Now if he says anything, it's "I'm not interested in that." Helping me for the sake of it isn't his thing these days. And doing anything non-preferred has never been his thing. At least he isn't a people-pleaser!
Luckily my memory banks are full, and I live with the ups and downs of his neurodivergence, and my own, every day.
This work came out of those chats with fellow parents. The ones where I gained insight, and where I simply listened, and finally where I had some wisdom to offer. We're all just humans trying to navigate through this bizarre world.
Thank you for writing about your own journey as a speaker and what you hope to do in the world to support parents. I just sent off a pitch letter to speak to a nonprofit focusing on family mental health. I'm not a parenting expert or trained psychologist. Selling the idea of lived experience is different than being a professional with years of degrees and accolades. Yikes. Advocating for parents is hard stuff. Your wake is creating a path of helpfulness.
Thank you Cindy. Yeah, but what you’re offering is so needed. Nobody has YOUR perspective or lived experience.
Well done on the wonderful work you do. Parents of neurodivergent kids are often so unsupported. A mother whose child had just been diagnosed as neurodivergent asked me if she could chat to me about it. I asked my neurodivergent daughter, by then in her twenties, what advice she would give the woman. She said, "Tell her to repeat what she wants her child to understand over and over in different ways. So often I didn't understand even when I thought I did."
What a fabulous insight!
Ocean used to answer questions like this for me. Even recorded a few podcasts and videos. Now if he says anything, it's "I'm not interested in that." Helping me for the sake of it isn't his thing these days. And doing anything non-preferred has never been his thing. At least he isn't a people-pleaser!
Luckily my memory banks are full, and I live with the ups and downs of his neurodivergence, and my own, every day.
This work came out of those chats with fellow parents. The ones where I gained insight, and where I simply listened, and finally where I had some wisdom to offer. We're all just humans trying to navigate through this bizarre world.