The single most helpful strategy for parents of children with ADHD and/or “high-functioning” autism is validating your child’s thoughts and feelings by showing interest and empathy. Sometimes, their emotional intensity is fuelled by talk of “overreacting,” “acting like a baby,” or “stretching the truth.” Children are people, too. Their feelings matter, even if they react in a manner out of scale for the situation and/or their age. Minimising or dismissing their thoughts and feelings makes them feel like their ideas and problems don’t matter — like they don’t matter. Validating their thoughts and feelings, in turn, makes them feel understood and loved — isn’t that the goal?