This is going to be a tough, raw and very real personal share...

If I was articulate as Kristy Forbes - Autism & ND Support I could have almost written this article myself. You can read it here.

"Nothing in this world is more painful than knowing the harm and potential trauma we cause our children when we, ourselves, are traumatised people raising children..." and then the truth bombs keep landing from there.

A much younger Rob with his oldest son.

I had my first child at age 19 - not a boy and yet not yet a man - not yet identified autistic, and told that I had 'grown out of my ADHD'... and then over the years realisation after realisation came of how I got it wrong for my son and then my daughter that came soon after - both neurodivergent. We knew no better back then, and in a lot of ways, we failed them.

A much younger Rob with his daughter.

It took my own late autistic and ADHD identification and the healing process that needs to come with that to get to where I am now... and I ask myself often, "Why now?" Why when 2 of my 3 children are grown and no doubt resent the fact that I help clients in ways that I never knew how to raise them? It hurts more than most things in my life hurt.

All I can do is continue to heal my own trauma, continue to support my clients in the way I know how to now (and of course my kids in the ways that they want from me at their age), and hope that my kids know that even if I didn't have all of the knowledge back then that I do now, that I always loved them and always wanted the best for them... and if I could turn back time I absolutely would as I would do anything to have them every day in my life again and do it all differently with how I know now.

- Rob x