Dam Parenting

ADHD parenting hacks: what actually works when you're already overwhelmed?
If you have ADHD and you're raising kids, you probably don't need another person telling you to wake up at 5 a.m., buy a planner or just be more disciplined.
You need things that actually work for your brain.
In this ADHD Awareness Month episode of DAM Parenting, Eva sits down with Liam from Dads do Art, for an honest, funny and very real conversation about parenting with ADHD. Between them, they've tried the planners, timers, routines and productivity tricks. Some help. Others end up in the ADHD hack graveyard.
So they're putting the popular ADHD hacks to the test, giving them honest scores out of ten and talking about what it's really like to use them while raising young children.
In this episode, we talk about:
Why planners, time blocking and endless phone reminders don't always work.

Preparing for the school morning

Habit stacking and making boring tasks a little easier to start.

Visual timers

Dopamine snacks

Body doubling:

Sensory kit

Sleep, emotional regulation, ADHD paralysis and the pressure to be a more disciplined parent.

But this conversation is about more than lunchboxes, forgotten appointments and getting everyone out of the door.
It's also about the shame that comes with feeling as though you should be able to do things that seem easy for everyone else. It's about understanding your own brain, finding the support that works for you, and learning that being kinder to yourself is not the same as giving up.
Because ADHD is not one-size-fits-all. A hack that transforms one person's morning might become another person's abandoned purchase. The goal isn't to become a perfectly organised parent. It's to build the support and systems that make your own life a little easier.
Parenting with ADHD in the Netherlands?
Whether you're raising children in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam, Haarlem or elsewhere in the Netherlands, doing family life far from your original support network can make the hard days feel even harder. You deserve practical support and a community where you don't have to pretend you've got it all together.
This episode is for parents with diagnosed or suspected ADHD, and for partners who want to understand what life can look like alongside it.
🎧 Listen, find the hacks that work for you, and leave the rest in the graveyard.
DAM Parenting: You are seen. You are not alone.
Find more about DAM Parenting and listen on your preferred platform at https://damparenting.nl/listen

You finally got the ADHD diagnosis. So why do you feel wrecked?
DAM Trauma, episode 4, for ADHD Awareness Month. Trauma therapist Adina Petre, who was diagnosed late herself, on the grief nobody warns you about: rereading old school reports, the anger at the people who missed it, the shame that decades of being called lazy leaves behind, and finding out about yourself because your child was assessed first. Plus the first thing she works on when a newly diagnosed client walks in.
Guest: Adina Petre, trauma therapist based in Amsterdam working with international clients.
This episode is not a diagnosis or medical advice. If it brings up more than a podcast can hold, talk to your huisarts or a therapist.

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late ADHD diagnosis · adult ADHD diagnosis · ADHD grief · diagnosed with ADHD as an adult · ADHD in women · ADHD shame · ADHD and trauma · parent with ADHD · child diagnosed first · neurodivergent parent · ADHD in the Netherlands · parenting in the Netherlands
#ADHD #LateDiagnosis #DAMTrauma

Cancer Support in the Netherlands: Help in English
Where can you find English-speaking cancer support in the Netherlands? A cancer diagnosis is difficult anywhere — but navigating treatment, family life and an unfamiliar healthcare system far from home can make it even harder.
In this conversation, Katherine, founder of Cancer Support Netherlands, shares her experience as a two-time breast cancer survivor, a mother of two and an international resident who turned her own need for support into a community.
We talk about receiving a cancer diagnosis abroad, trusting your instincts when something doesn’t feel right, explaining cancer to your children, supporting a partner through illness, and finding people who understand what you’re going through. What began with a Facebook post asking for a cup of tea grew into English-language peer support for people affected by cancer.
Cancer Support Netherlands is a Dutch nonprofit offering English-language peer support to people living with cancer, survivors, partners, family members and carers.
Find support: https://cancersupportnetherlands.nl
Instagram: @cancer_netherlands
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🌍 Explore more resources for international families in the Netherlands: https://damparenting.nl
You are seen. You are not alone.

TW: this episode talks about miscarriage and pregnancy loss. Skip it if today isn't the day. It will be here.
Released on Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day 15 October 2026, this episode is for anyone who has lost a pregnancy or a baby while living in the Netherlands, and for anyone supporting someone who has.
Melissa, an American living in Rotterdam, went through three pregnancy losses in the Dutch system before having her two children. She talks honestly about a missed miscarriage at her first midwife (verloskundige) appointment, deciding between medical management and a D&C (curettage), a second loss alone during Covid, a termination for medical reasons, and a near-sepsis emergency at Erasmus MC.
We cover:
Going through miscarriage as an expat, in a second language and an unfamiliar healthcare system

Why grief after early pregnancy loss is normal, and why it can last months

What to say (and not say) to a friend after a miscarriage

Sibyl, the app Melissa built for pregnancy loss support

Sibyl is a private companion app for pregnancy loss, built from lived experience with gynaecologists, fertility specialists and a reproductive mental health psychologist. It's for any kind of loss, from failed fertility treatment to stillbirth, whether it happened yesterday or months ago.
OFFER: One month free with code DAM2026
Website: https://www.sibyl.care
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6787125952
Instagram: @sibyl_app

Support in the Netherlands: your huisarts (GP) or verloskundige can refer you to a psychologist, including English-speaking ones.
If you're here for someone else, send this to them, or just message them that you're thinking of them.
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DAM Parenting is an English-language podcast for international and expat parents in the Netherlands. We arrived without a village, but we built one anyway. The village is for the hard days too.

Is it ADHD, or is your child just exhausted from a new school, a new language and a new country?
It's #ADHDAwarenessMonth. Child psychologist Kate Berger from the Expat Kids Club on why some kids hold it together all day and fall apart at the front door, what a Dutch teacher really means by "druk", and how to get from a first worry to an assessment. Plus the one thing she says parents nearly always know first.
Guest: Kate Berger, child psychologist and founder of The Expat Kids Club, supporting families in the Netherlands for over 18 years.
Mentioned on the episode: -https://www.amsterdam.nl/en/health-care-support/personal-budget/
- Tilt Parenting
-The Expat Kids Club provides psychoeducational assessments and screenings for many neurodevelopment conditions, including ADHD and ASD. We do not formally diagnose, but use standardised assessment measures that yield information to provide reports that include diagnostic indication (if relevant), as well as tailored recommendations for access to academic accommodations (aligned with IB-standards), and additional (mental) health services in supports in NL and abroad. We also, of course, offer therapeutic intervention. For more information about our services please see expatkidsclub.com 

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