I’ve decided to merge the section “Parenting Puddles” with a different existing project called “Neurosparkly Nest.” (Both had seemed great to me in theory, but in practice I wasn’t using either very often, for reasons that I think will be solved by merging them. We’ll see!)
Original intro to Neurosparkly Nest
On the outside, my kids, my husband, and I look like normal people, functioning just fine, with extra helpings of creativity and intelligence.
But on the inside, we’re a bit weird, and we struggle with things that “normal” people don’t struggle with.
Take a random morning at our house, and you will likely see:
my husband singing very loud and jumping around with the “zoomies”
me wearing noise-cancelling headphones and sunglasses, speaking as little as possible
one of my kids (who can talk perfectly well) grunting like an angry goose
another kid dancing around like a butterfly instead of brushing her teeth
another kid having a meltdown because her shirt seam is too itchy
Until last year, I didn’t know that these sorts of things were all signs of neurodiversity and sensory needs.
But then I started learning—first about ADHD, then about autism, then about combinations and “neurodiversity” in general—and the pieces started clicking into place.
Diagnoses
We began going through the diagnostic process, and so far the three of us who have gone through the process have been given diagnoses of either ADHD, autism, or both. (I’m diagnosed with autism level 1 plus ADHD.)
On one hand, getting the diagnoses has been wonderfully validating, illuminating, and liberating. In so many contexts, with my own life and my experience of parenting my kids, I learn about neurodiverse traits and think, “Ohhhh, so that’s why this has always been such a struggle—it’s not that I’m just a freak and a failure!”
But on the other hand, claiming the labels has also come with some pushback from people who don’t yet really understand what ADHD and (especially) autism are. They think I’m being some kind of hypochondriac-like weirdo who apparently wants to give myself and my kids labels associated (in their minds) with extreme mental disability. They don’t understand at all yet.
This Blog
So, I’m creating this blog partly to help further raise awareness about what neurodiversity is and can look like.
But mostly, I’m creating it to give myself a space to write about my discoveries and struggles on this journey of understanding and working with, rather than against, our neurodiversity.
“Neurosparkly”
My kids are all girls, and they love all things sparkly. So when I heard the term “neurosparkly” as a creative alternative for “neurodiverse,” I thought, “Yep—that’s us!”
Welcome
So welcome to the Neurosparkly Nest! We’ll see what comes next. Thanks for being here!
And above all, please be the sparkliest version of your own special self!