Children can be tiresome—no matter their age. But oh, they are charming! The wit, the spontaneity, the unadulterated joy—it’s enough to make you crack up, but also drive you mad, isn’t it? Especially when you can’t get them to sit still, follow directions, wait their turn, or listen carefully! And for a child with ADHD, these types of requests or expectations are even harder to meet.

All children will be inattentive, impulsive, or hyperactive sometimes. That’s just part of being a kid. Preschoolers in particular struggle to stay focused on one activity for a sustained amount of time. It’s not unusual for preschoolers to have short attention spans. Plus, isn’t it cute when they get sidetracked by a bug or a pile of rocks with no particularly interesting quality except that they exist?

In school-aged children and teens, it’s not uncommon for their attention spans to depend on their interest in what’s at hand.(1) Pursuing their passion for basketball, reading, or collecting sneakers trumps doing boring stuff like homework any day.

When you hear the phrase “mental illness” what comes to mind? If you think about managing your own mental health or the psychological issues other adults in your life are navigating, you’re not alone.

Often mental health—and on the flipside, mental illness—are seen as things only adults have to manage. But the truth is, one in six children will experience a mental health disorder in any given year.1

The number of children and teens battling mental health issues without proper treatment is staggering.

The teenage years are hard enough as it is—on both teens and parents. What with the raging hormones, the increased importance of friends over family, and the pressures to perform well in school—it’s easy to chalk up mood swings or changes in behavior to growing up.