Today’s conversation is a candid, honest look at what it’s really like to parent while navigating ADHD yourself. My guest is Laura Key, Vice President of Content Strategy at Understood.org and the host of the award-winning ADHD Aha! podcast. Laura was diagnosed with ADHD at 30, and she brings both professional insight and lived experience to this conversation as a mom raising two neurodivergent kids. Laura and I talk about the emotional labor so many mothers carry, the unique challenges parents with ADHD face, and why self-compassion is not optional—it’s essential. We dig into shame, burnout (both the quiet, everyday kind and the big, overwhelming kind), communication with partners, and the pressure that can come with framing ADHD as a “superpower.” This episode is an honest exploration of the joys and struggles of parenting with ADHD, and a reminder that you’re not alone in any of it.

About Laura Key

Laura Key is Vice President of Content Strategy at Understood.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering the 70 million people with ADHD, dyslexia, and other learning and thinking differences in the United States. She's also the host of the award-winning ADHD Aha! podcast.

Things you'll learn from this episode

How adult ADHD is often misread as anxiety at first, and why addressing one can illuminate the other

Why late identification can bring both grief and relief after years of self-blame for brain-based differences

How shame and invisible executive function demands can quietly dominate family life, especially for moms

Why being great in a crisis but overwhelmed by daily details is a common—and misunderstood—ADHD pattern

How burnout can show up as both “micro” and “macro” exhaustion, including frenetic busyness that masks collapse

Why recovery often starts with basic regulation and more realistic self-expectations, not grand productivity plans

Resources mentioned

Understood.org

Understood on Instagram

Understood on LinkedIn

ADHD Aha (podcast)

Imposter Syndrome After a Lifetime of Hacking Her ADHD (Debbie with Laura on ADHD Aha)

Understood’s podcast study on women, podcasts, and ADHD

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