TPP 492: Laura Key on ADHD Aha Moments, Parenting, and Burnout

Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children

Debbie Reber

Education, Kids & Family, Parenting

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2026

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today’s conversation is a candid, honest look at what it’s really like to parent while navigating ADHD yourself. My guest is Laura Key, Vice President of Content Strategy at Understood.org and the host of the award-winning ADHD Aha! podcast. Laura was diagnosed with ADHD at 30, and she brings both professional insight and lived experience to this conversation as a mom raising two neurodivergent kids. Laura and I talk about the emotional labor so many mothers carry, the unique challenges parents with ADHD face, and why self-compassion is not optional—it’s essential. We dig into shame, burnout (both the quiet, everyday kind and the big, overwhelming kind), communication with partners, and the pressure that can come with framing ADHD as a “superpower.” This episode is an honest exploration of the joys and struggles of parenting with ADHD, and a reminder that you’re not alone in any of it. About Laura Key Laura Key is Vice President of Content Strategy at Understood.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering the 70 million people with ADHD, dyslexia, and other learning and thinking differences in the United States. She's also the host of the award-winning ADHD Aha! podcast. Things you'll learn from this episode How adult ADHD is often misread as anxiety at first, and why addressing one can illuminate the other Why late identification can bring both grief and relief after years of self-blame for brain-based differences How shame and invisible executive function demands can quietly dominate family life, especially for moms Why being great in a crisis but overwhelmed by daily details is a common—and misunderstood—ADHD pattern How burnout can show up as both “micro” and “macro” exhaustion, including frenetic busyness that masks collapse Why recovery often starts with basic regulation and more realistic self-expectations, not grand productivity plans Resources mentioned Understood.org Understood on Instagram Understood on LinkedIn ADHD Aha (podcast) Imposter Syndrome After a Lifetime of Hacking Her ADHD (Debbie with Laura on ADHD Aha) Understood’s podcast study on women, podcasts, and ADHD Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:32.1	I'm Debbie Reber and this is full-tilt parenting. Today's show is a candid, honest look at what it's really like to
0:39.0	parent while navigating ADHD yourself. My guest is Laura Key, the vice president of content
0:44.8	strategy at understood.org, and the host of the award-winning ADHD AHA podcast. Laura was
0:51.3	diagnosed with ADHD at 30, and she brings both professional insight and lived
0:55.5	experience to this conversation as a mom raising two neurodivergent kids. So Laura and I are
1:01.4	going to talk about the emotional labor that so many mothers carry, the unique challenges parents
1:06.9	with ADHD face, and why practicing self-compassion is absolutely essential. We'll dig into
1:12.9	shame, burnout, both the quiet everyday kind of burnout, which she calls microburnouts,
1:18.6	and the big overwhelming kind. We'll also look at communication with partners and the pressure
1:24.1	that can come with framing ADHD as a quote unquote superpower.
1:33.1	So this episode is a real, just honest exploration of the joys and the struggles of parenting with ADHD.
1:34.3	It's also a great reminder that if you are parenting with ADHD, you are not alone in any of it.
1:40.6	So here's my conversation with Laura Key.
1:48.9	Hey, Laura, welcome to the podcast. Hi, Debbie. Thanks for having me. It's great to see you again. It's great to see you too. I was on your wonderful show,
1:54.9	ADHD, AHA, maybe a few weeks ago as we're recording this, and we had such a good conversation.
2:01.4	It was very vulnerable on my side. I'm like, oh my gosh, I really, really went there. You are so easy to talk to.
	...

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