Apples Don't Fall Far From the Tree.....

Apples 🍎 don’t fall far from the tree 🌳

Or so the saying goes?

Many of us have realised on reflection 🤔 that other family members past and present have had the same challenges as our little ones.

‘Quirky’, ‘eccentric’ or ‘difficult’ were descriptions often used for those in previous generations.

We certainly have a few of those individuals in our family tree 🌲 ♥️- do you?

Many of us shy away from the label. Believing it unnecessary. Wondering why it is necessary. Especially as it wasn’t necessary in previous generations. Therein lies the rub…..

Maybe it WAS necessary just not forthcoming or available 🤔 but other labels were, as (unfortunately) they are now, lazy, rude, weird, strange, mean, blunt, annoying, dramatic, selfish, self obsessed, freak, loser, snob, etc, etc

Gaining a neurodiverse label such as ADHD, autistic, etc can actually lead to a lot of relief, understanding and perhaps even joy.

Do you think not giving your child a reason for why they feel different will stop them feeling different?

I have unfortunately seen this play out tragically on more than one occasion….. where a child doesn’t understand why they are different yet they know they are and are having this pointed out repeatedly by their peers but their parent doesn’t want to give them a label (on occasion despite the diagnosis). These children really struggle. They just can’t understand what is going on. Some parents postpone telling their child they have a neurodiverse label with the best of intentions only to have their child who has struggled with not knowing why they are different feels betrayed by their parents.

Sometimes parents struggle with the label because if it applies to their child it applies to them (or other family members) and that then opens up other questions like

⁃ do you believe it is undesirable to be neurodivergent?

⁃ Do you have an accurate and true idea of what being neurodiverse means?

⁃ Do you think people don’t already give them labels?

Here at Hatch Programmes, we try not to label, but instead grouped attributes together as colours to help kids identify with our Hatch characters - perhaps you've met our Red Hatch Character? They are a bit angry and frustrated with the world and this manifests itself in many ways, which our movement programmes are designed to address.