Parenting on Hard Mode: ADHD, Autism, and the Untold Truth of Family Life

After Bedtime with Big Little Feelings

Dear Media and Big Little Feelings

Big Little Feelings, After Bedtime, Deena Margolin, After Bedtime With Big Little Feelings, Kids & Family, Parenting, 105161, Kristin Gallant

4.7 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Parenting is hard. Parenting with ADHD, autism, and three kids? That’s hard mode. In this raw, unfiltered episode, Kristin (ADHD) and her husband Tyler (autism) share the messy, hilarious, beautiful, and deeply human truth of raising kids in a neurodivergent household. From autistic meltdowns to ADHD crashes, from marriage clashes to parenting a recently diagnosed autistic child, they reveal the stories they’ve never told before.

You’ll learn:

The science behind autistic meltdowns and ADHD crashes (and why they’re so misunderstood)
How to build a family that works for your wiring, not the world’s rules
How celebrating their child’s neurodiversity unlocked compassion and celebration for their own neurodivergent wiring
Why neurodivergent families don’t need to ‘fix’ themselves - they need to design differently
How neurodivergent families aren’t broken, they’re rewriting the rules of parenting

Equal parts funny and vulnerable, this episode will leave you feeling seen, hopeful, and empowered to parent differently, because your wiring isn’t a flaw, it’s your family’s superpower.

This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.

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Produced by Dear Media

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The following podcast is a dear media production.
0:05.0	Okay, the DMs are always asking us, what is it like parenting in a neurodivergent household?
0:12.0	So I want you to imagine ADHD, autism, and three kids walk into a bar.
0:18.2	That is our life, except the bar is our house, nobody's drinking, and somebody's
0:23.1	probably screaming. Unfortunately, it's usually me. It's usually you. It's usually you. It's usually you.
0:29.6	And today, we're pulling back the curtain on what it really looks like when autism, ADHD,
0:37.2	and parenting collide. Not the perfect Instagram version.
0:42.2	The messy, meltdowny, funny, heartbreaking, deeply human, real version that is our lives
0:51.0	every day. Welcome to after bedtime, where the house is finally quiet, but the real noise begins.
0:58.9	The thoughts, the questions, the wondering if you're doing any of this right.
1:02.9	We're Kristen and Dina, child behavior experts, moms, and co-founders of big little feelings.
1:08.8	And we're not here to give you more pressure or perfect parenting
1:11.6	energy. Nope. We're here to tell the truth, the unfiltered, beautiful, brutal truth about what it
1:17.7	means to raise kids and re-raise ourselves in the process. Because parenting isn't just about
1:23.3	sleep schedules and snack hacks. It's about healing. It's about breaking cycles. It's about becoming the
1:29.1	kind of adult you want your kids to grow up to be. This is the place where we say the quiet
1:33.8	parts out loud and we're so glad that you're here. Hi. Hello. Hey. It's weird because we are around
1:41.8	each other every minute of every single day. We're both in this house every single minute of every single day. And then we show up here and Dina's not here. And Dina, we miss you. Dina's on maternity leave. We miss you. I wish you were here with your little baby, Dina. What up, baby? You're listening. So then it's weird because we show show up here and I'm like, hey, I've talked to you literally every single second of every single day, but let's talk some more. Yeah, it's like, let's catch up with the... What have you been up to in the five minutes since I haven't seen you? Let's do the catch up, but I've also seen you all morning. Okay, what happened when I didn't see you? You took the dog for a walk.
2:21.4	It was really nice. Okay. That's nice. It was like a touch chilly, but I get so sweaty that I can't wear a sweatshirt. Uh-huh.
2:28.2	So like I'm a little bit colder than I want to be.
2:30.8	But if I wear a sweatshirt, then I'll get sweaty.
2:34.1	And so just like, I just have to go no sweatshirt.
	...

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