My Child Came With No Instructions

Brain Science for Raising Humans Who Think Differently:
Parenting Guide to Neuroscience, Behaviour, and Building Your Child's Strengths

One in seven people are neurodivergent. If that includes your family, you have probably realised that most parenting advice was written for children who eat broccoli for fun, go to bed without arguing, and remember every instruction the first time.

Your child does not come with a factory setting and they are definitely not here to make your life easy. They think, move, and react in ways that make perfect sense to them, even if it looks like chaos to everyone else.

An eight-year-old’s brain is still under construction until around 25. That construction site is busy juggling more stimulation than generations before ever experienced. So yes, they can remember every Pokémon but forget shoes. That is not your failing. It is modern life meeting a brain that is still figuring itself out.

Most parenting advice bounces off like glitter on a toddler: it spreads everywhere and makes everything more complicated. Gentle parenting promised calm, emotionally intelligent children. Instead, yours just had a meltdown because you dared to blink. Rigid routines? Great in theory, but your child thrives on unpredictability and considers repetition a personal affront.

Traditional parenting advice bounces off neurodivergent children like glitter off a toddle, it just spreads everywhere and makes everything more chaotic. The internet promised that gentle parenting would raise emotionally intelligent humans. Your child just had a meltdown because you breathed too loudly. Your colleague swears by rigid routines, but your kid thrives on chaos and falls apart when Tuesday looks too much like Monday. Every parenting guru has apparently cracked the code, yet somehow none of them have met your actual child who treats sleep like it's optional and vegetables like they're personally offensive.

If your child is autistic, has ADHD, is twice-exceptional, or processes the world differently in any way, you'll find strength-based approaches that celebrate uniqueness whilst providing practical support for challenges. No more trying to fit square pegs into round holes or feeling guilty about your child being “too much” of anything.

Single parent? Blended family? Co-parenting across two households? Join the club of families who don't look like 1950s sitcoms but somehow manage to create love, laughter, and only occasional chaos. There is no perfect family structure, only families figuring out what works for their particular collection of humans.

This book won't give you magic formulas because they don't exist. Instead, you'll get frameworks that bend without breaking, strategies tested by real families dealing with real life, and permission to trust your instincts whilst still learning new tricks. You'll discover why your child's meltdowns aren't manipulation but communication, how to have difficult conversations without everything falling apart, and practical ways to prepare kids for an uncertain future whilst keeping your own sanity intact.

Children don't need perfect parents who never lose their temper. They need parents who show up consistently, repair when things go wrong and remain genuinely curious about who their children are becoming rather than who they think they should be.

Your child came without instructions, but you're learning to read them anyway. That's exactly what good parenting looks like.