**Content note:**
This episode includes discussions around ADHD, anxiety, mental health, and emetophobia. Please listen with care.
This episode is deeply personal — and one of the most meaningful conversations I’ve ever recorded.
In Through My Eyes, Through Yours, I sit down with my daughter for an honest mother–daughter conversation about growing up with ADHD, anxiety, and feeling different in a world that doesn’t always understand neurodivergent kids.
We talk openly about the parts of childhood and adolescence that often go unseen:
- Being labelled “the easy child” and the pressure that comes with it
- Staying back in pre-primary and how that shaped confidence
- Growing up neurodivergent and learning to mask to fit in
- ADHD, anxiety, emetophobia, and mental health
- High school, friendships, exclusion, and identity
- Medication, self-advocacy, and removing shame
- What helped, what hurt, and what we wish we’d known sooner
⏱️ Chapter Stamps
00:00 – Why this mother–daughter conversation matters
02:05 – Growing up “the easy child” and what went unseen
05:10 – Staying back in pre-primary and early feelings of being different
08:45 – When ADHD and anxiety started to show up
12:30 – Masking, fitting in, and learning how to cope
16:40 – School, friendships, and the pain of exclusion
21:15 – Emetophobia and anxiety explained
25:50 – Mental health, medication, and removing the shame
30:40 – What helped the most during the hardest years
35:20 – What we wish we had known sooner
39:10 – A message to parents in the thick of it
42:30 – A message to kids and teens who feel different
45:00 – Final reflections: love, resilience, and hope
This isn’t a conversation about perfect parenting.
It’s about listening, learning, repairing, and loving our kids exactly as they are.
If you’re parenting a child who feels different…
If you’re navigating ADHD or anxiety with your child or teen…
Or if you’re a young person who needs to know they’re not broken —
You are not alone. And neither is your child.
💛 There is another side — and this episode speaks to it honestly.
🎙️ Subscribe to the Parenting Collective Podcast for more conversations on conscious parenting, emotional regulation, sleep, and wellbeing.
I would appreciate it greatly if you could please LIKE and FOLLOW this podcast and if you are not following me over on instagram, head over there for all of my top tips and advice around sleep and parenting @parentingcollective.au. I also offer a free 15 minute phone chat to run through all your questions CLICK here to book your FREE 15 minute chat
Much Love 💞
Donna Moala
Parenting Collective
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