doomhamster:

God how I wish more people would TALK to children about mental illness and neurodivergence.

A customer mentioned having a serious talk with her 10-year-old granddaughter today because the kid had been upset about a classmate. Apparently he’s very disruptive and sometimes mean to the other children and all their teacher would say was “he has ADHD”. Nothing about what it MEANS. The customer, though, has ADHD herself, so she was able to explain some things about impulse control and executive dysfunction and all that fun stuff.

So the kid went from “why does he get away with things all the time because of some stupid letter combo thing?!” to saying she’d have to tell her other classmates the things her granny told her, “so they’ll understand that he can’t help it and won’t be so mad at him”. 

Kids are a lot more compassionate than adults tend to give them credit for! Not to mention there’s an inherent value TO the kid in being told about this sort of thing, because they’ll be better able to recognize it in themselves and less ashamed if they have to seek help.