
Parenting with Confidence: ADHD and Anxiety is a three-part program on January 25th, February 1st, and February 8th as an online livestream hosted by JFamily.
In a new class offered by The JFamily of The J-Detroit, we hope to help parents of children with ADHD or anxiety navigate their parent-child relationship using effective tools, skills, and strategies. I’m here.

Parenting with Confidence: ADHD and Anxiety is a three-part program on January 25th, February 1st, and February 8th as an online livestream hosted by JFamily. This class is led by Frankie Baghdade, a therapist who specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy for children, teens and adults with ADHD, anxiety and more.
The programming is based on and inspired by Bagdade’s book. I love my kids, but not always!will be released in 2021 and covers the trials and tribulations of parenting. This includes self-proclaimed “failed mothers” and lessons learned along the way.
JFamily’s new workshop is aimed at parents whose children have been previously diagnosed with ADHD or anxiety, or who appear to be exhibiting symptoms. All registered families will also receive a free copy of Bagdade’s book.
need for support
This class is intended to fill a long-standing and growing void that JFamily staff members have noticed in their local Jewish community, especially in the online Jewish Moms of Metro Detroit swap group on Facebook. JFamily Parent Connector Jamie Kaniarz has seen her all-Detroit mom posting on Metro asking for advice on parenting with her ADHD and anxiety.

“We had about 20 posts in a month from different people,” explains Kaniarz. “People were saying, ‘My kid has her ADHD, but I’m not sure about it.’ It was becoming a very common thread.”
Recognizing the need to support this particular group of parents, Kaniarz, mother of seven-year-old daughter Sammie, who has been diagnosed with ADHD, knew firsthand how important it was to share skills and strategies in parenting techniques. rice field. actually works. Often times, many parents just don’t know where to turn.
“When so many people are working on the same or similar version of the same problem, it seemed like a great opportunity to provide support and programming,” says Kaniarz.

After teaming up with JFamily’s Director of Support and Education, Stephanie Erez, we decided to launch a program at the end of 2022 to address a pressing issue that so many mothers in the greater Detroit area were dealing with. .
“JFamily strives to meet the needs of the Detroit Jewish community,” says Erez. “Jamie and I, as mothers of children with ADHD, and because of the surge in youth mental health support requests regarding ADHD and anxiety in various social media groups, decided to join Parenting to provide a place for parents. We created with Confidence to learn and, more importantly, find a community with other parents facing similar challenges.”
Building blocks for success
In addition to understanding the details of how the ADHD brain works, the class will explain two key concepts and shed some light, says Bagdade. This is because parents and children “speak the same language,” she explains.
The first strategy, according to Bagdade, is to “right-size” expectations. “This really shows who your child is, what their amazing individual strengths are, and where they may have weaknesses or lag behind their peers. to know,” she explains.
This helps parents understand when they need to jump in and respond or plan differently in order to “be proactive rather than react when things go wrong.” It’s helpful.
The next work is a collaboration with children. This includes, but is not limited to, understanding “what’s not set right for their unique style and brains, and how we can work together to really make things better.”
As a longtime partner of J-Detroit, Bagdade has worked with the organization in various capacities for over 20 years. As a result, she is well versed in the Jewish community and the unique needs that Metro She faces as a Jewish parent in Detroit.
find confidence
Still, according to Bagdade, parents are no longer looking for generic parenting strategies (which are almost everywhere these days), but for strategies that address more niche needs, such as parenting with ADHD and anxiety. It is said that there is
“These are areas where parents lack confidence,” she explains. “From behavior, setting boundaries, or [creating] result. They know what they want, but parents don’t always know what the next steps are. “
According to Bagdade, one of the pros and cons of social media is that there is so much content to read, but so much content to sift through, that it becomes difficult to know what is actually working for your child and what is not. It can be difficult to determine if is ineffective. ADHD or anxiety.
“It makes a lot of noise,” she explains. “Instead of going to the computer and googling ‘my child’s girlfriend ADHD help’, what should I actually do first? How can I calm the house today?” mosquito? “
This compelling question, among other things, is why Baghdad gave her book such a title. “When you’re parenting, one day you’ll love your kids so much that in five minutes you’ll want to take a solo trip to Mexico,” she laughs. It can feel even more intense when you have a child with
There is widespread concern that JFamily hopes their new program can mitigate. So far, the class has received a great response and there are only a few spots left to register. The three-part program costs $36 and can be registered on JLive.
“We are grateful that the course has received such a positive response,” says Erez. “We are nearly full, but we plan to offer additional cohorts in the coming months as we continue to understand the needs of our community.”