Chaos & Caffeine - ADHD Parenting Podcast

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If asking your ADHD child to turn off screens feels like lighting a match near a gasoline can… you’re not imagining it.
For many neurodivergent kids, screen time isn’t just entertainment. It’s a dopamine firehose, which means stopping can trigger emotional explosions, power struggles, and daily family conflict.
And if you’ve ever wondered…
• Why screens are so hard for ADHD brains to walk away from
 • Why timers, limits, and parental controls often fail
 • Why screen battles can take over your entire household
 • And how to actually reset your family’s relationship with technology
…this episode is for you.
Today on Chaos & Caffeine, Danielle sits down with Stephanie and Peter Kakris, founders of ScreenCoach — a system designed to help families turn screen time from a daily fight into something kids earn through real-world activities like movement, creativity, chores, and learning.
Stephanie brings a background in psychology and behavior change, while Peter is a serial tech entrepreneur who has spent his career building software that solves real-world problems.
But ScreenCoach didn’t start in a lab.
It started in their own home — trying to solve the same screen battles millions of parents are fighting right now.
Connect with Peter & Stephanie 👉 Social Thinking   
This Month's Sponsors:
📱 My Screen Coach
Helping families raise kids who can actually unplug. 
🧠 Social Thinking
Helping kids build the social and emotional skills that don’t always come naturally. 
🎲 Taco Cat Games
Helping ADHD families get off screens without triggering a full-blown meltdown… 
🌱 MaryRuth Organics
If you’ve got a kid who treats vegetables like a personal enemy, MaryRuth Organics might become your new best friend. 
🛒 Insight Family Market
A thoughtfully curated marketplace created by an educator and parent who actually gets neurodivergent families. 
Join Our Patreon and Find All of Our Faves! 
📧 Have questions or ideas for future episodes? Email us at [email protected].
Support the show
Danielle is the host of Chaos & Caffeine, a fast-growing ADHD parenting podcast where she interviews leading psychologists, clinicians, researchers, and neurodivergent advocates about what actually helps ADHD kids thrive in the real world. Through science-backed conversations and very real mom-in-the-trenches storytelling, the show helps parents navigate executive function challenges, emotional regulation struggles, learning differences, and the everyday chaos of raising neurodivergent kids.
Each week, Danielle translates complex ADHD research into practical tools parents can actually use — from building routines that support developing brains to helping kids strengthen focus, flexibility, and self-regulation skills.
Listen to the podcast and explore expert interviews at:
https://linktr.ee/chaosandcaffeinepodcast
Danielle frequently speaks and writes about ADHD parenting strategies, executive function development, emotional regulation, screen use and attention, learning challenges like dyslexia, and building resilient neurodivergent families.

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Screens aren’t the enemy. But they are replacing something our ADHD kids desperately need: real-world skill practice.
In this powerful kickoff episode of the Chaos & Caffeine Screens Campaign, Danielle sits down with internationally recognized social-cognitive specialist Michelle Garcia Winner, founder of Social Thinking and one of the leading experts in how children develop the invisible social skills that shape friendships, emotional regulation, and real-life success.
And when screens take up more and more of childhood, those practice opportunities quietly disappear.
In this conversation we unpack:
• The social thinking skills screens are quietly replacing
• Why ADHD kids struggle with flexible thinking, perspective taking, and reading the room
• How screen-heavy environments impact executive functioning and emotional regulation
• The gap between digital competence and real-world social confidence
• How parents can intentionally rebuild the skills that make friendships and conversations work
• Practical ways to coach social awareness, frustration tolerance, and flexible thinking at home
This conversation launches our Chaos & Caffeine Screens Campaign, where we explore the complex relationship between screens and neurodivergent brains — not from a place of panic, but from a place of strategy.
Because the goal isn’t to eliminate screens.
The goal is to strengthen the skills our kids need to thrive in the real world.
Connect with Michelle 👉 Social Thinking   
This Month's Sponsors:
📱 My Screen Coach
Helping families raise kids who can actually unplug. 
🧠 Social Thinking
Helping kids build the social and emotional skills that don’t always come naturally. 
🎲 Taco Cat Games
Helping ADHD families get off screens without triggering a full-blown meltdown… 
🌱 MaryRuth Organics
If you’ve got a kid who treats vegetables like a personal enemy, MaryRuth Organics might become your new best friend. 
🛒 Insight Family Market
A thoughtfully curated marketplace created by an educator and parent who actually gets neurodivergent families. 

Support the show
Danielle is the host of Chaos & Caffeine, a fast-growing ADHD parenting podcast where she interviews leading psychologists, clinicians, researchers, and neurodivergent advocates about what actually helps ADHD kids thrive in the real world. Through science-backed conversations and very real mom-in-the-trenches storytelling, the show helps parents navigate executive function challenges, emotional regulation struggles, learning differences, and the everyday chaos of raising neurodivergent kids.
Each week, Danielle translates complex ADHD research into practical tools parents can actually use — from building routines that support developing brains to helping kids strengthen focus, flexibility, and self-regulation skills.
Listen to the podcast and explore expert interviews at:
https://linktr.ee/chaosandcaffeinepodcast
Danielle frequently speaks and writes about ADHD parenting strategies, executive function development, emotional regulation, screen use and attention, learning challenges like dyslexia, and building resilient neurodivergent families.

Join Our Patreon and Find All of Our Faves! 
After 12 weeks of expert interviews, real-life experiments, and “oh wow… I’ve been doing that wrong” moments, this is the episode where it all comes together.
In this raw, unfiltered finale of the New Year, Less Chaos series, I’m breaking down the most powerful ADHD parenting lessons that actually stuck — the ones that changed how I show up for my kid and for myself. From food and behavior to school advocacy, emotional regulation, co-parenting alignment, and mom rage… we’re talking about the real shifts that make a difference in everyday life with ADHD kids.
You’ll hear takeaways inspired by conversations with experts like Dr. Michael Elice, Tracy Otsuka, Dr. Mary Hulseman, and more — including honest reflections on what worked, what didn’t, and what I’m still figuring out.
If you’re raising a child with ADHD and feel overwhelmed, burned out, or stuck in the same cycles, this episode will help you reset your approach with practical, compassionate strategies that actually work in real homes.
Because less chaos isn’t about perfection — it’s about understanding your child’s brain, regulating your own, and making small shifts that add up over time.
This Month's Sponsors:
📱 Talkspace 
Therapy that fits real life. With Talkspace, you can message or chat with a licensed therapist right from your phone, no face-to-face required. 
🛒 Insight Family Market
A thoughtfully curated marketplace created by an educator and parent who actually gets neurodivergent families. 
Join Our Patreon and Find All of Our Faves! 
📧 Have questions or ideas for future episodes? Email us at [email protected].
Support the show
Danielle is the host of Chaos & Caffeine, a fast-growing ADHD parenting podcast where she interviews leading psychologists, clinicians, researchers, and neurodivergent advocates about what actually helps ADHD kids thrive in the real world. Through science-backed conversations and very real mom-in-the-trenches storytelling, the show helps parents navigate executive function challenges, emotional regulation struggles, learning differences, and the everyday chaos of raising neurodivergent kids.
Each week, Danielle translates complex ADHD research into practical tools parents can actually use — from building routines that support developing brains to helping kids strengthen focus, flexibility, and self-regulation skills.
Listen to the podcast and explore expert interviews at:
https://linktr.ee/chaosandcaffeinepodcast
Danielle frequently speaks and writes about ADHD parenting strategies, executive function development, emotional regulation, screen use and attention, learning challenges like dyslexia, and building resilient neurodivergent families.

Join Our Patreon and Find All of Our Faves!
What does it really mean to parent the child you have — especially when that child has ADHD, big emotions, intense behaviors, or doesn’t fit the traditional parenting playbook?
In this powerful and honest conversation, I sit down with Dr. Kristen Cook, physician, psychiatrist, author, and mental health expert, to talk about what ADHD parents actually need to understand about their child’s brain, behavior, and emotional development.
If you are parenting a neurodivergent child, a strong-willed child, a highly sensitive child, or a child who feels “too much” for the systems around them — this episode is for you.
We dive into:
What “parenting the child you have” truly means (and why it can feel confronting at first)
ADHD parenting strategies that work with your child’s brain — not against it
Emotional regulation in kids with ADHD
The difference between behavior problems and nervous system overload
Why traditional discipline often backfires for neurodivergent kids
How to separate your child’s identity from their behavior
Parenting mindset shifts that reduce shame and increase connection
Dr. Cook breaks down the neuroscience behind behavior in a way that is compassionate, grounded, and practical. We discuss how biology, temperament, trauma, and environment all shape a child’s development — and how ADHD parents can respond with clarity instead of chaos.
This conversation is packed with actionable ADHD parenting tips, mental health insights, and permission to stop trying to force your child into a mold they were never meant to fit.
If you’re raising an ADHD child and feeling exhausted, misunderstood, or stuck in behavior battles — this episode will help you recalibrate your parenting approach and strengthen connection.
🎧 Listen now and start parenting the child you have — not the one the world expected.
Connect with Dr. Cook 👉 Mom Doc Talk   Parenting Redefined Book
This Month's Sponsors:
📱 Talkspace 
Therapy that fits real life. With Talkspace, you can message or chat with a licensed therapist right from your phone, no face-to-face required. Perfect if you’re shy, anxious, overwhelmed, or just communicate better in writing. 
🎒 Miacademy 
An online learning platform that makes school feel less like a daily power struggl
Support the show
Danielle is the host of Chaos & Caffeine, a fast-growing ADHD parenting podcast where she interviews leading psychologists, clinicians, researchers, and neurodivergent advocates about what actually helps ADHD kids thrive in the real world. Through science-backed conversations and very real mom-in-the-trenches storytelling, the show helps parents navigate executive function challenges, emotional regulation struggles, learning differences, and the everyday chaos of raising neurodivergent kids.
Each week, Danielle translates complex ADHD research into practical tools parents can actually use — from building routines that support developing brains to helping kids strengthen focus, flexibility, and self-regulation skills.
Listen to the podcast and explore expert interviews at:
https://linktr.ee/chaosandcaffeinepodcast
Danielle frequently speaks and writes about ADHD parenting strategies, executive function development, emotional regulation, screen use and attention, learning challenges like dyslexia, and building resilient neurodivergent families.

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Motherhood changed you. ADHD amplified it.
In this powerful episode of Chaos & Caffeine, I sit down with Sami Garrett, founder of Good Enough Matrescence, to unpack the identity shift no one prepared us for: matrescence.
If you’re an ADHD mom who feels overwhelmed, overstimulated, emotionally reactive, burned out, or quietly grieving who you used to be — this conversation will hit deep.
We talk about:
What matrescence actually is (and why it matters for ADHD mothers)
Postpartum rage, perfectionism, and nervous system burnout
Why ADHD moms feel like they’re failing before 9 a.m.
The mental load, executive dysfunction, and emotional regulation struggles of motherhood
How to move from shame to self-compassion
What “good enough motherhood” really means in a neurodivergent household
Sami shares her personal story of postpartum trauma and how she turned her healing journey into a powerful community supporting mothers navigating identity loss, resentment, overstimulation, and the invisible labor of parenting.
If you’ve ever Googled:
 “Why am I so angry as a mom?”
 “Is ADHD making motherhood harder?”
 “Why do I feel lost after having kids?”
 “ADHD mom burnout help”
This episode is for you.
This is part of our New Year, Less Chaos series — where we stop pretending we’re fine and start building sustainable support systems for neurodivergent families.
🎧 Listen now and send this to another ADHD mom who needs to hear: you are not broken — you are becoming.
Connect with Sami 👉 GEM
This Month's Sponsors:
📱 Talkspace 
Therapy that fits real life. With Talkspace, you can message or chat with a licensed therapist right from your phone, no face-to-face required. Perfect if you’re shy, anxious, overwhelmed, or just communicate better in writing. 
🎒 Miacademy 
An online learning platform that makes school feel less like a daily power struggle. With engaging videos, games, quizzes, and built-in rewards, Miacademy helps K-8 kids stay motivated while giving parents tools to track progress without hovering. 
🛒 Insight Family Market
A thoughtfully curated marketplace created by an educator and parent who actually gets neurodivergent families. Insight Family Market b
Support the show
Danielle is the host of Chaos & Caffeine, a fast-growing ADHD parenting podcast where she interviews leading psychologists, clinicians, researchers, and neurodivergent advocates about what actually helps ADHD kids thrive in the real world. Through science-backed conversations and very real mom-in-the-trenches storytelling, the show helps parents navigate executive function challenges, emotional regulation struggles, learning differences, and the everyday chaos of raising neurodivergent kids.
Each week, Danielle translates complex ADHD research into practical tools parents can actually use — from building routines that support developing brains to helping kids strengthen focus, flexibility, and self-regulation skills.
Listen to the podcast and explore expert interviews at:
https://linktr.ee/chaosandcaffeinepodcast
Danielle frequently speaks and writes about ADHD parenting strategies, executive function development, emotional regulation, screen use and attention, learning challenges like dyslexia, and building resilient neurodivergent families.