Dam Parenting

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1. ADHD Parenting Hacks: What Actually Works? Tips for Parents in the Netherlands

   24 oktober 2026 · 36 min

   Afspelen
   ADHD parenting hacks: what actually works when you're already overwhelmed? Lees meer

   If you have ADHD and you're raising kids, you probably don't need another person telling you to wake up at 5 a.m., buy a planner or just be more disciplined.

   You need things that actually work for your brain.

   In this ADHD Awareness Month episode of DAM Parenting, Eva sits down with Liam from Dads do Art, for an honest, funny and very real conversation about parenting with ADHD. Between them, they've tried the planners, timers, routines and productivity tricks. Some help. Others end up in the ADHD hack graveyard.

   So they're putting the popular ADHD hacks to the test, giving them honest scores out of ten and talking about what it's really like to use them while raising young children.

   In this episode, we talk about:

   Why planners, time blocking and endless phone reminders don't always work.

   Preparing for the school morning

   Habit stacking and making boring tasks a little easier to start.

   Visual timers

   Dopamine snacks

   Body doubling:

   Sensory kit

   Sleep, emotional regulation, ADHD paralysis and the pressure to be a more disciplined parent.

   But this conversation is about more than lunchboxes, forgotten appointments and getting everyone out of the door.

   It's also about the shame that comes with feeling as though you should be able to do things that seem easy for everyone else. It's about understanding your own brain, finding the support that works for you, and learning that being kinder to yourself is not the same as giving up.

   Because ADHD is not one-size-fits-all. A hack that transforms one person's morning might become another person's abandoned purchase. The goal isn't to become a perfectly organised parent. It's to build the support and systems that make your own life a little easier.

   Parenting with ADHD in the Netherlands?

   Whether you're raising children in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam, Haarlem or elsewhere in the Netherlands, doing family life far from your original support n…

2. Late ADHD Diagnosis Grief: Why Relief Feels Like Loss

   21 oktober 2026 · 33 min

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   You finally got the ADHD diagnosis. So why do you feel wrecked? Lees meer

   DAM Trauma, episode 4, for ADHD Awareness Month. Trauma therapist Adina Petre, who was diagnosed late herself, on the grief nobody warns you about: rereading old school reports, the anger at the people who missed it, the shame that decades of being called lazy leaves behind, and finding out about yourself because your child was assessed first. Plus the first thing she works on when a newly diagnosed client walks in.

   Guest: Adina Petre, trauma therapist based in Amsterdam working with international clients.

   This episode is not a diagnosis or medical advice. If it brings up more than a podcast can hold, talk to your huisarts or a therapist.

   Get the monthly newsletter: https://damparenting.subscribepage.io

   More on this topic: https://damparenting.nl/

   late ADHD diagnosis · adult ADHD diagnosis · ADHD grief · diagnosed with ADHD as an adult · ADHD in women · ADHD shame · ADHD and trauma · parent with ADHD · child diagnosed first · neurodivergent parent · ADHD in the Netherlands · parenting in the Netherlands

   #ADHD #LateDiagnosis #DAMTrauma

3. Breast Cancer Support in the Netherlands: Help in English

   19 oktober 2026 · 29 min

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   Cancer Support in the Netherlands: Help in English Lees meer

   Where can you find English-speaking cancer support in the Netherlands? A cancer diagnosis is difficult anywhere — but navigating treatment, family life and an unfamiliar healthcare system far from home can make it even harder.

   In this conversation, Katherine, founder of Cancer Support Netherlands, shares her experience as a two-time breast cancer survivor, a mother of two and an international resident who turned her own need for support into a community.

   We talk about receiving a cancer diagnosis abroad, trusting your instincts when something doesn’t feel right, explaining cancer to your children, supporting a partner through illness, and finding people who understand what you’re going through. What began with a Facebook post asking for a cup of tea grew into English-language peer support for people affected by cancer.

   Cancer Support Netherlands is a Dutch nonprofit offering English-language peer support to people living with cancer, survivors, partners, family members and carers.

   Find support: https://cancersupportnetherlands.nl
   Instagram: @cancer_netherlands

   📩 Get the DAM Parenting monthly newsletter: https://damparenting.subscribepage.io
   🌍 Explore more resources for international families in the Netherlands: https://damparenting.nl

   You are seen. You are not alone.

4. Miscarriage in the Netherlands: Pregnancy Loss, Grief & What Actually Helps

   15 oktober 2026 · 25 min

   Afspelen
   TW: this episode talks about miscarriage and pregnancy loss. Skip it if today isn't the day. It will be here. Lees meer

   Released on Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day 15 October 2026, this episode is for anyone who has lost a pregnancy or a baby while living in the Netherlands, and for anyone supporting someone who has.

   Melissa, an American living in Rotterdam, went through three pregnancy losses in the Dutch system before having her two children. She talks honestly about a missed miscarriage at her first midwife (verloskundige) appointment, deciding between medical management and a D&C (curettage), a second loss alone during Covid, a termination for medical reasons, and a near-sepsis emergency at Erasmus MC.

   We cover:

   Going through miscarriage as an expat, in a second language and an unfamiliar healthcare system

   Why grief after early pregnancy loss is normal, and why it can last months

   What to say (and not say) to a friend after a miscarriage

   Sibyl, the app Melissa built for pregnancy loss support

   Sibyl is a private companion app for pregnancy loss, built from lived experience with gynaecologists, fertility specialists and a reproductive mental health psychologist. It's for any kind of loss, from failed fertility treatment to stillbirth, whether it happened yesterday or months ago.

   OFFER: One month free with code DAM2026

   Website: https://www.sibyl.care

   App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6787125952

   Instagram: @sibyl_app

   Support in the Netherlands: your huisarts (GP) or verloskundige can refer you to a psychologist, including English-speaking ones.

   If you're here for someone else, send this to them, or just message them that you're thinking of them.

   Get DAM Parenting in your inbox once a month: SUBSCRIBE HERE

   Follow: @damparentingpodcast · damparenting.nl

   DAM Parenting is an English-language podcast for international and expat parents in the Netherlands. We arrived without a village, but we built one anyway. The village is for the hard days too.

5. Is It ADHD or Just Adjusting? Spotting ADHD in our Third Culture Kids

   14 oktober 2026 · 40 min

   Afspelen
   Is it ADHD, or is your child just exhausted from a new school, a new language and a new country? Lees meer

   It's #ADHDAwarenessMonth. Child psychologist Kate Berger from the Expat Kids Club on why some kids hold it together all day and fall apart at the front door, what a Dutch teacher really means by "druk", and how to get from a first worry to an assessment. Plus the one thing she says parents nearly always know first.

   Guest: Kate Berger, child psychologist and founder of The Expat Kids Club, supporting families in the Netherlands for over 18 years.

   Mentioned on the episode: -https://www.amsterdam.nl/en/health-care-support/personal-budget/

   - Tilt Parenting

   -The Expat Kids Club provides psychoeducational assessments and screenings for many neurodevelopment conditions, including ADHD and ASD. We do not formally diagnose, but use standardised assessment measures that yield information to provide reports that include diagnostic indication (if relevant), as well as tailored recommendations for access to academic accommodations (aligned with IB-standards), and additional (mental) health services in supports in NL and abroad. We also, of course, offer therapeutic intervention. For more information about our services please see expatkidsclub.com

   Get the monthly newsletter: HERE

   More on this topic: https://damparenting.nl/

6. ADHD and Sex: Why 'Not Tonight' Feels Like Rejection

   7 oktober 2026 · 28 min

   Afspelen
   Does ADHD affect your sex life? If you or your partner has ADHD, "not tonight" can land like a door slamming, and nobody has told either of you why. Lees meer

   It's ADHD Awareness Month, and DAM ex goes there. Sex and intimacy counsellor Debby Poort explains why the intense early spark shifts, what rejection sensitivity does in the bedroom, and why so many couples end up feeling more like parent and child than partners. Plus the medication conversation almost nobody has with their doctor.

   For the partner with ADHD and the one who loves them. Neither of you is the problem.

   Guest: Debby Poort, sex and intimacy counsellor at Yellow Wood.

   Her free welcome course: sexandintimacycounseling.nl.

   Get the monthly newsletter HERE

   More on this topic on DAMParenting.nl

7. ADHD Awareness Month: (Recorded Nine Hours Before It Airing)

   1 oktober 2026 · 10 min

   Afspelen
   Kicking off ADHD Awareness Month with the least polished episode I've ever made. Recorded nine hours before it went out, at my kitchen table, in one take. The deadline is the only thing that has ever made me do anything. Lees meer

   I was diagnosed in my forties — the same month this podcast launched. Three medications in three months, none of which worked, and then I was told I'd maxed out my dose. And what I felt wasn't "the system failed me." It was "I've failed. Again."

   In this one:

   – What a late ADHD diagnosis actually feels like as a parent
   – Why ADHD medication not working can feel like a personal failure
   – New University of Warwick research linking ADHD to gut problems, IBS and constipation
   – Why calling it a deficit of attention was always a con — it's regulation, not concentration
   – Why neurodivergent mothers burn out more than everyone else
   – And why "just rest" is the most useless advice ever given to a working parent

   All of October is ADHD on DAM Parenting — for you, your partner, your kids. Debby on sex and intimacy when your brain won't settle. Adina on the grief nobody warns you about after a late diagnosis. Kate on raising neurodivergent children here. Mimi on languages. And Liam and me on a Saturday, going through everything we've tried that didn't work.

   New here? There are 200+ episodes, all sorted by theme at damparenting.nl

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   🎧 Last month's episode on regulation with Adina Petre

8. My Child Understands My Language but Only Answers in Dutch

   30 september 2026 · 29 min

   Afspelen
   Your child understands every word of your home language, and answers you in Dutch. Every time. If it started when school or daycare went back, you're not imagining it. Lees meer

   Why does my bilingual child only answer in Dutch? Mimi from Growing Up Multilingual explains why the school language takes over so fast, whether you should insist on a reply in your language, and why she'd retire one very popular piece of bilingual parenting advice.

   We also get into the child who seems embarrassed by the home language, one easy thing to try this week, and what to do if you feel you've already lost ground.

   For international parents raising bilingual and multilingual children in the Netherlands, where Dutch at school can quickly become Dutch at home too.

   Get the free Multilingual Cheat Sheet when you join the DAM Parenting newsletter

   Check out our website: damparenting.nl

9. Taalparade: A Free Multilingual Family Event in Amstelveen on 7 November

   28 september 2026 · 17 min

   Afspelen
   The Dutch and English langauges are everywhere. The language your child speaks with their grandmother? Almost nowhere outside your front door. And kids notice. Lees meer

   Mimi joins me for a short one about Taalparade, a free multilingual family day for children aged 0–12. We talk about why seeing your home language out in the world matters more than any lesson about diversity, and why asking a bilingual child to "say something" in their language can backfire.

   For international families raising multilingual children in the Netherlands.

   Taalparade:

   Saturday 7 November,

   11:00–16:00,

   Library Amstelveen (next to the shopping centre).

   It's Free.

   Whether your family speaks one language or five, you're invited.

10. The Shame of Asking: From the Boardroom to Food Delivery Driver

    26 september 2026 · 32 min

    Afspelen
    Camila moved here for love straight out of university, spent sixteen years climbing at a big media company, and quickly built Joy In Organizing a business with 77,000 followers and a book deal. Then came burnout, a divorce that ate €45,000 in legal fees, and nine months of job applications that went nowhere. Lees meer

    This summer she got on a bike with an Uber Eats bag. The reel she made about it has over a million views now.

    This episode is about shame. The kind that makes you go quiet instead of asking for help — and what happened the day she messaged every single person she knew, including a man she once rented a bike from.

    We talk about carrying a household financially for years, what divorce costs when you have no family in the country, why supermarket and restaurant shifts don't work if you're the only adult in the house, and why she says you should never confuse needing help with failing.

    For anyone raising children in a country they didn't grow up in, working a system nobody explained to them, and wondering how they'd survive doing it alone.

    Newsletter, once a month: Sign up here

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