Practices

ADD and ADHD are not two different things. ADD is the older public word for what is now called ADHD, inattentive type, and the quieter presentation is not a lighter version of it.

The mix up matters more than it sounds. Parents sometimes hear ADD and take it to mean something mild that will not need treatment, and school or…

Manuals rename things. Paediatric bipolar became disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, whole categories were reshuffled to line up with the international classification, and none of it changed who anybody was.

If you have old paperwork carrying a label nobody uses now, that is bookkeeping rather than a hidden verdict on you. What is worth your attention is…

Some people will not believe this exists whatever you show them. You are allowed to give a short honest answer and then let the conversation go.

Keep one or two plain facts ready for people who are genuinely curious, because that conversation is often worth having. It is a different…

Talking a lot is on the diagnostic list. It sits with the impulsive symptoms, which makes it part of the condition rather than proof that you are self absorbed.

That reframe is worth having, because most people who do this have been told off for it for years and have drawn an unkind conclusion about…

Encourage one thing your spouse wants to try, and tell them you have got their back.

Go, I am here if it wobbles. A secure base is what lets someone venture out bravely.

When something hard lands, say it out loud: we will face this together.

Turn a my problem into an ours. Facing it as a team halves its weight.

In one decision this week, ask what is best for us, not only what is best for me.

The small choices reveal the we. Let one lean toward the partnership over the self.

Keep the smallest thing you said you would do for your spouse today.

The call, the errand, the small promise. Trust is built from tiny kept words.

Speak about the future today as we, not I, in one thing you mention to your spouse.

When we are older, the home we are making. Language that assumes a shared road ahead.

Pray for them, by name, for one thing they are quietly carrying.

To ask God for the very thing that weighs on them is one of the most intimate acts of love.

Whatever you estimate, add to it. Fifteen minutes is the figure you get at midnight with empty roads; at midday the same trip takes twenty five.

Do not try to estimate better, since accurate estimating is the thing that is hard. Use a rule you can apply without judgement instead: take your…

When you book something, put everything into the entry there and then: the address, the phone number, what you have to bring. You will never have that information more easily to hand than at the moment of booking.

The alternative is standing on the pavement at ten to one, searching for which branch it was, with the insurance card at home. Booking is already a…

The benefit comes from how often you touch it. Writing something in is a rehearsal, looking it up is a reminder, and by the time the day arrives you have met it so many times that nothing takes you by surprise.

Which is why a scruffy system used constantly beats an elegant one opened weekly. Give yourself a couple of fixed moments to look, first thing and…

A three o'clock appointment half an hour away is a half past two appointment. Put the true start time in and let the calendar hold it, rather than asking yourself to work it out on the day.

Lateness usually comes from anchoring on the time printed on the letter and treating the journey as though it cost nothing. Writing the leaving time…

A child who cannot yet catch their own drifting needs somebody close enough to catch it for them. Where they sit does a lot of that work quietly.

From nearby a teacher sees attention go before the work is lost, and can bring the child back without stopping the lesson for everyone. Proximity…

Bring a child back with the smallest signal that does the job. A tap on the desk, a hand on the shoulder, or simply standing beside them will usually be enough.

Say a child's name across a room and everyone turns to look. Do that twenty times a day and the child learns something about themselves in front of…