Backpacking Through ADHD

Tera Greenwood
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Weekly

Backpacking Through ADHD is your guide for navigating the twists and turns of ADHD parenting. Whether you’re just starting out or deep in the journey, this podcast offers practical tools, personal stories, and expert advice to help you and your family thrive. Explore the peaks, valleys, and unexpected paths of ADHD with resilience, support, and camaraderie to make the trek a little easier.

  1. Aug 23

    Becoming Lighter

    What if the things filling our homes are also quietly filling our minds? In this second episode of the Becoming Lighter series, Treenah Kight, founder of Live Energized, shares what has changed since her family committed to letting go of twenty-five percent of their belongings by the end of the year. This is not a conversation about minimalism or creating a picture-perfect home. It is about recognizing the mental and emotional weight attached to clutter, unfinished projects, shopping habits, and the many open loops that can be especially overwhelming for an ADHD brain. Treenah explores how reducing what competes for our attention can create more room to rest, think, connect, and become who we are meant to be. She also offers a simple, ADHD-friendly invitation to begin: one drawer, one shelf, one bag, or one decision at a time. The goal is not simply to own less. It is to carry less.

  2. Aug 9

    Becoming Together: Preparing for a New Beginning

    Becoming Together: Preparing for a New Beginning New beginnings can be exciting, scary, and overwhelming—sometimes all at once. As we close our five-part Becoming Together series, we're stepping back from the back-to-school logistics to look at something bigger: how we prepare our ADHD kids for all the new beginnings they'll encounter in life. In this episode, I talk about why transitions can carry such an invisible load for ADHD brains, why our kids sometimes fall apart after holding it together all day, and what it means to support them without trying to remove every obstacle from their path. We'll also talk about the backpack parents carry—the hope, worry, questions, and desire to get everything right—and why our children may need to see us navigating uncertainty, making mistakes, and becoming right alongside them. In Parent University, I'm sharing The Whole-Brain Child by Dr. Daniel Siegel and Dr. Tina Payne Bryson, along with a simple New Beginning Conversation you can have as a family. Because preparing our children for what's next isn't about giving them the entire map. It's about helping them trust themselves enough to take the next step—and making sure they know they'll never have to walk the trail alone. Follow Backpacking Through ADHD, leave a review, and share this episode with another family walking into a new beginning.

  3. Aug 3

    Becoming Together: Helping our Kids Understand Their ADHD

    How do we explain ADHD to our children in a way that builds confidence instead of shame? In this episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, we're continuing our Becoming Together series with one of the most important conversations we can have as parents: helping our kids understand how their amazing brains work. Instead of seeing ADHD as something that's "wrong," what if we helped our children see it as part of who they are—complete with incredible strengths, unique challenges, and endless potential? Together we'll explore: Why understanding ADHD builds confidence and self-awareness. How to explain executive functioning in language children can understand. Practical ways to help kids become their own best advocates. Why knowing their strengths is just as important as understanding their challenges. Simple conversations every family can start today. This week's Parent University features The ADHD Dude, Ryan Wexelblatt, and a practical family lesson designed to help your child recognize what helps their brain thrive. Whether you're raising a newly diagnosed child or simply looking for better ways to talk about ADHD, this episode will leave you with encouragement, practical tools, and a renewed reminder that our goal isn't to change our children—it's to help them understand themselves. Song of the Episode: The Middle by Jimmy Eat World Because the greatest gift we can give our children isn't helping them become someone else... It's helping them discover the incredible person they're already becoming.

  4. Jul 27

    Becoming Together: Medication, Tics, and Making Impossible Decisions

    Medication decisions are rarely just about medication. They carry questions about identity, side effects, school, confidence, and whether we are making the right choice for the child we love. In this episode of Becoming Together, I share our family’s honest experience with taking a summer medication break, preparing for school, navigating tics, and facing decisions that do not always have one clear answer. We’ll talk about separating fear from what our children are actually experiencing, becoming students of our children, and replacing the pressure for certainty with curiosity. In Parent University, we explore the research of Dr. Russell Barkley and practice this week’s family lesson: observation before evaluation. This episode is not medical advice—it is a reminder that we can make thoughtful, loving decisions with the information we have and remain willing to learn and adjust along the way.

  5. Jul 19

    Becoming Together: Teaching Social Skills Without Crushing Confidence

    Before we start teaching our ADHD kids social skills, maybe we need to ask a different question. What if the challenge isn't that they don't know how to be a good friend? What if they're simply missing the invisible social cues that so many of us take for granted? In this week's episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, we're continuing our five-part Becoming Together series by exploring how to help our children build social awareness without making them feel like they need to change who they are. Through a real moment from tennis practice, Tera shares the delicate balance of helping a child grow while fiercely protecting their confidence. You'll also hear insights from Parent University, featuring Ryan Wexelblatt (ADHD Dude), and learn this week's simple Family Lesson: The Detective Game—a curiosity-based way to practice noticing social clues together without shame or criticism. Whether you're parenting an ADHD child or you're an adult who's still learning these same lessons, this episode is a reminder that becoming isn't about becoming someone else. It's about becoming more fully yourself, one small step at a time. In this episode: Why social awareness is different from social skills How ADHD affects reading social cues A simple shift from correction to coaching Parent University: Ryan Wexelblatt (ADHD Dude) Family Lesson: The Detective Game Song of the Episode: Better Place – Rachel Platten If this episode resonates with you, please follow the podcast, leave a review, and share it with another family walking this trail. Together, we're becoming—one conversation, one lesson, and one connection at a time.

  6. Jul 16

    Becoming Together: What I'm Afraid of This School Year

    As another school year begins, many of us are carrying more than backpacks and school supplies. We're carrying questions, hopes, and fears that we rarely say out loud. Will my child make friends? Will their teacher understand them? Will they come home believing they're enough? In this first episode of the Becoming Together series, I'm inviting you into our family's journey as we're living it, not after we've figured everything out, but right in the middle of it.  This week also marks the beginning of a new rhythm for our series. Every episode will include our family's story, one Parent University resource, and one simple Family Lesson you can practice together at home. Parent University Dr. Russell Barkley – Understanding Executive Function Family Lesson Conversation Ping Pong: A simple five-minute activity that helps children build conversation skills through curiosity, connection, and laughter. Whether you're a parent, grandparent, teacher, caregiver, or one of my younger adventurers listening along, I hope this episode reminds you of one important truth: none of us are walking this trail alone. Let's take the first step together.

  7. Jun 29

    Becoming in the Messy Middle: Same Ocean, Different Boats

    In this episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, Tera is joined by Lisa Richer, founder of Journey2Bloom, for a grounded conversation about ADHD, parenting, advocacy, burnout, masking, learning differences, and the messy middle of becoming. Lisa is a neurodiversity consultant, neurodivergent success partner, late-diagnosed ADHD woman, and mom of two neurodiverse sons. Together, Tera and Lisa explore what it means to be in the same ocean but different boats, why no two ADHD journeys look exactly alike, and how curiosity can change the way we understand ourselves and our kids. They talk about defiance versus dysregulation, the emotional weight parents carry, how diagnoses can inform without defining, and why asking “Help me understand how” may open more connection than asking “why.” If you are parenting a neurodivergent child, navigating school support, questioning what your child needs next, or rediscovering your own ADHD identity later in life, this conversation is for you. For consultation and support, visit Lisa at journey2bloom.com. Song of the Episode: “A Beautiful Noise” by Alicia Keys & Brandi Carlile

  8. Jun 7

    Becoming Confident: When You're "Too Much" and Still Worthy

    As the school year comes to an end, many ADHD kids aren't just counting down to summer—they're carrying the emotional weight of months spent trying to focus, fit in, regulate big feelings, and hold everything together. When that invisible backpack gets too heavy, emotions often spill over. What adults sometimes see as overreacting, defiance, or attitude may actually be a nervous system that's simply exhausted. In this heartfelt episode of Backpacking Through ADHD: Becoming, Tera speaks directly to the child who has ever wondered if they're "too much"—too emotional, too sensitive, too loud, or too difficult—and reminds them of a truth every child deserves to hear: You do not need to become smaller to deserve love. Together, we'll explore: Why the end of the school year can be especially challenging for ADHD kids How emotional exhaustion affects behavior The difference between being overwhelmed and being "too much" Why rejection and friendship struggles can feel so much bigger with ADHD How parents can see the child beneath the behavior What real confidence looks like for an ADHD brain Whether you're listening with your child or on your own, this episode is an invitation to replace shame with understanding and to remember that our hardest moments never define our worth. Song of the Episode: Brave – Sara Bareilles Because being deeply emotional doesn't make you too much. It makes you human. And you are still worthy.

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About

Backpacking Through ADHD is your guide for navigating the twists and turns of ADHD parenting. Whether you’re just starting out or deep in the journey, this podcast offers practical tools, personal stories, and expert advice to help you and your family thrive. Explore the peaks, valleys, and unexpected paths of ADHD with resilience, support, and camaraderie to make the trek a little easier.

Information

  • Creator
    Tera Greenwood
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    66
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2024 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Backpacking Through ADHD