"I'll do it later!": Now vs. Not Now, Part 1

Your teenager has two weeks to write a paper. You mention it, and they tell you they know. A week later you mention it again. Then it's 7:30 the night before it's due, and the same kid who couldn't get started is typing at the kitchen table like their life depends on it. And you're standing there wondering where this was two weeks ago.

In the first episode of our two-part series on ADHD, we walk through one of the most useful ideas I share with families. Many kids with ADHD live in two time zones, now and not now. Drawing on Dr. Russell Barkley's work, we talk about why a deadline two weeks away can feel almost unreal until it suddenly becomes urgent, and why that has very little to do with intelligence or how much a child cares. We get into prospective memory, which is simply remembering to remember, and why "after dinner" isn't actually a plan. We also cover why kids with ADHD often lean harder toward the reward that's right in front of them, and what to do when two parents see the same behavior completely differently.

This episode is about understanding what's happening. Part 2 is about what to do. As I tell families often, ADHD is usually not a problem of knowing what to do. It's a problem of doing what you know when you need to do it.

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