ADHD and sports seem tailor-made to go together. We all know that middle schooler who is never focused in school but on the field, she looks more alive than anyone else. We’ve seen the teen who drags himself to school late and without having homework done but races to practice–and even remembers his equipment! Sports can be where ADHDers find their place, their purpose.
We thought we might be Two Moms with ADHDers and pom-poms too. Turns out, we aren’t, and we aren’t alone. Our kids struggled in sports from right about the time they outgrew diapers (like at those pee-wee leagues) and they never quite grew into bats, balls, courts, and nets. Between the two of us, we’ve seen it all–the ADHDer who chased butterflies instead of the ball, the ADHDer who climbed the backstop instead of running the bases, and the ADHDer who studied the clouds instead of the plays. If you have that kid, you’re not alone in not having the next athletic phenomenon with ADHD.
We let it go, reluctantly at times, and eventually made peace with the fact that our ADHDers were going to set the world on fire (well, maybe literally) with their tech skills (gaming anyone?), or their leadership abilities, their caring for others, or maybe theater and performing. We let go of our own hopes of what their greatness should be, took our chairs to the beach, and watched and waited for OUR KID’S own innate, individual greatness to emerge.
Two Moms and ADHD 