Book Review: The Essential Guide to Raising Complex Kids with ADHD, Anxiety, and More By Elaine Taylor Klaus

As a child that was told she's too hyper and was always with intense high energy I can relate to much of what this wonderful author illustrates as effective parenting and skills.

As a young girl my parents were told to put me on medication and thankfully my mother never did as for me it's not so much ADHD as sugar was the culprit and food intake.

As with any kid if you give them sugar they will climb the walls and couple that with a metabolism that never slows and you'll get the same result.

In this case, the author discusses ways to calm the issues before they become uncontrollable and destructive.

Using strategic and compassionate ways means being able to first listen and understand the emotional, physical, and mental needs of that complicated child.
Providing a confident backdrop for future success isn't something that you're born with so it must be cultivated and enabled to function and excell with the right path forward.

Find compassion, ask don't just tell, let go of some control and coach as you'd want to be coached were just some of the means and ways available to parents and supportive systems.

Saying NO to perfectionism is something that I've known all too well unfortunately all my life. It wasn't until my later years in my 40's and beyond that I realized I can't control every outcome and that's ok too. In fact, to be brutally honest it arrived in the form of patience when the family court systems drug their feet in my civil battles such as divorce and child support.

What's also not discussed but I wish was is the lack of the supportive structure, the ignorance of facts, and the lack of the ability to parent effectively as was my case with two narcissistic parents who controlled via force and discipline rather than love and guidance.

Guidance in a structured positive environment makes all the difference to a child coming up in the world.

Having the right teacher that makes learning fun, welcoming, and productive also carries its weight in gold.

I was unlucky to have parents that understand the complexities but did have several teachers later in college that made learning fun, interesting, and challenging all at the same time.

This propelled me to conquer the challenge with high honors, dean's list, and introductions into several national honor societies and beyond but more importantly gave me the confidence to know I'm not to blame or to shame but rather I'm like everyone else looking for acceptance, love, and unconditional support that I've never received.

For those struggling do not let doctors, therapist, or the like tell you that you have an issue and allow them the ability to mask that with medication.
Medication these days along with therapy and the like is being used and abused and we need people who can simply listen, understand, comprehend and assist in a supportive manner rather than condemn, blame, and shame away the problem.

Thank you to Elaine Taylor-Klaus, the pub, NetGalley, and Amazon Kindle for this ARC in exchange for this honest review.