TPP 440: Dr. Tamara Rosier on the Complexities and Dynamics of an ADHD Family
episode
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
38 min
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed 16 hours ago
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What does it mean to be an “ADHD family” and why is ADHD a relational experience?
If ADHD is highly inheritable, then let's treat it like, hey, buddy, you and I, we've got monkey brains. So let's figure out how to work together. You know what? I have kind of the same thing going on here. Or you could say, you know what? My brain works slightly differently. Can you tell me more about that? And so instead of working against your child, you're joining arms going, you're not alone. Let's work together. Let's problem solve together.
I'm Debbie Rieber and welcome to Tilt Parenting, a podcast featuring interviews and conversations aimed at inspiring, informing, and supporting parents raising differently wired kids. Would you define your family as an ADHD family? Today's guest, Dr. Tamara Rozier. And the author of the book, You, Me, and Our ADHD Family, Practical Steps to Cultivate Healthy Relationships, says that ADHD is not an individual experience. It's a relational one. And ADHD dynamics affect the entire family system. I know many listeners of the show would identify as being in an ADHD family. And so I'm so excited to share this conversation and Tamara's work with you. Tamara is an ADHD coach, a speaker, an educator, and founder of the ADHD Center of West Michigan, where she and her team support individuals and families in better understanding how ADHD shapes their experiences.
In addition to the book we're talking about today, she is also the author of the popular book, Your Brain's Not Broken, Strategies for Navigating Your Emotions and Life with ADHD. In this conversation today, Tamara shared her personal and professional insights on what it really means to live in an ADHD family, from the emotional roller coasters to the quirky dynamics that might feel very familiar to you. We talked about how ADHD deeply affects relationships, communication, and emotional regulation across the whole family system. And Tamara offered creative, relatable metaphors, I love a good metaphor, that help make sense of ADHD behaviors. And she emphasized the importance of self-awareness and revisiting our own childhoods so we can parent with more clarity and empathy.
There are lots of takeaways and ideas in this episode. So here you go. My conversation with Tamara Rozier. Hey, Tamara, welcome to the podcast. Hi, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me. Of course, I'm really looking forward to getting into your work. You are such a strong voice out there in the ADHD space and supporting families and ADHD adults. And Your new book came across my radar, and I just thought I had to bring you on to the show. The book we're talking about today came out last fall. It's called You, Me, and Our ADHD Family, Practical Steps to Cultivate Healthy Relationships. I would love if you could talk to us a little bit about your personal why in this space and how you got into being this leader in the ADHD conversation.
Yeah, well, You, Me, and Our ADHD Family is my second book. And my first book is Your Brain's Not Broken. I had been an ADHD coach for a little bit. I wrote the first book, Your Brain's Not Broken, to all those people who are just so tired and frustrated. They didn't know they had ADHD. And they're just like, sludging through life. I just wanted to give them hope. Your brain's not broken. You're okay. Sure, having ADHD, yeah, that's a handful. It's not great. I'm just going to be really honest. I'm not one of the people who says, it's my superpower. I think you have to be very privileged to be able to say those words. For the rest of us mere mortals, it does cause us to walk with a limp. but I wanted people to know it's okay, you can have hope.
So I wrote that book and then I started working a lot with families and I'm realizing that families are limping along because we don't do ADHD in isolation. There's a whole environment there. So I wrote the second book, trying to give hope to families. And so you, me and our ADHD family isn't a parenting book. It's people who happen to have family and are affected by ADHD, how do you live in a healthy way yourself and have healthy relationships? That's how I positioned the book.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What does it mean to be an “ADHD family” and why is ADHD a relational experience?
0:00–5:18
2
How did Dr. Tamara Rosier’s personal journey lead her to write *You, Me, and Our ADHD Family*?
5:18–10:01
3
Why is emotional processing and dysregulation especially challenging for ADHD households?
10:01–15:46
4
What are the “monkey” metaphors and how can they help families manage ADHD symptoms?
15:46–20:15
5
How does the “pool” metaphor illustrate proximity to emotional overwhelm and safety planning?
20:15–25:36
6
What practical tools (e.g., naming emotions, butterflies, life‑preservers) can families use daily?
25:36–31:20
7
Which common family “quirks” arise from ADHD and how can parents re‑parent themselves to break cycles?
31:20–36:44
8
Where can listeners find Dr. Rosier’s books, coaching resources, and further support?
36:44–38:09
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
TPP 266a: A Conversation with Poet and Advocate LeDerick Horne
TPP 522: A Whole Child Approach to ADHD with Phil Boucher, M.D.
TPP 091a: A Conversation With Steve Silberman About His Book “Neurotribes”
TPP 521: A Conversation with Dr. Peter Gray About Restoring Childhood
TPP 253a: Advocate and Author Jonathan Mooney on Why Normal Sucks
TPP 520: Dr. Özgür Bolat on Why Rewards Backfire and the Real Science of Motivating Kids