Episode 79: Managing Sibling Conflict & ADHD with Jacquie Ward

It's Sunday afternoon. Your kids can't walk past each other without it turning into something. Every interaction is a battle. And somewhere in the middle of it, you're thinking — when they grow up, are they ever going to be friends?

If that's your house, stay with us.

Sharon is joined by Jacquie Ward — Registered Psychologist and mum of three, including a child with ADHD — to talk about one of the most common and most misunderstood challenges in ADHD family life. Why sibling conflict is more intense in your home, and what to actually do about it.

👀 In This Episode:

Why sibling conflict is more intense in ADHD families — and why you are not imagining it

The six ADHD factors that create the perfect storm for sibling conflict

Executive function age vs chronological age — and why it changes your expectations

The family nervous system: why the whole house feels it when one child dysregulates

Sharon's Blue Mountains story — and the moment that changed everything

Why prevention beats reaction every time

The Three Cs Framework: Cool Down, Communicate, Collaborate

Why jumping in as referee is making things worse

The one action to take this week that will change your next sibling fight

Quote to Carry With You

"You are not stuffing this up. Your family is not beyond support. This is a very predictable friction point in ADHD families — and it is not beyond help."

— Sharon Collon

⏱️ Episode Timestamps

00:00 – The Sunday afternoon scene — sibling conflict in ADHD homes

01:13 – Introducing Jacquie Ward

02:31 – The six ADHD factors that create the perfect storm

05:01 – Executive function age vs chronological age

06:43 – The family nervous system and emotional contagion

08:14 – Why conflict in public hits differently

11:06 – Sharon's Blue Mountains story

15:44 – The Three Cs Framework: Cool Down, Communicate, Collaborate

16:30 – Why prevention beats reaction

19:15 – Cool Down — the most important first step

21:06 – Communicate — giving kids the language

24:01 – Collaborate — building skills for long-term change

26:28 – The one action to take this week

28:45 – Workshop details — May 11–13

🥊 Want to Go Deeper?

Stop the Fighting. Start Feeling Like a Family Again.

Sharon and Jacquie are running a 3-part live workshop series — the full playbook with scripts, in-the-moment strategies, and prevention tools specifically for ADHD families.

Live sessions: May 11, 12 and 13 at 7:30–8:30pm AEST

Replay available for 6 months

Payment plans via Afterpay and Klarna

JOIN US HERE

🔔 Next Steps & Resources

Subscribe to the ADHD Families Podcast

Join the waitlist for the ADHD Family Quest

Learn more at thefunctionalfamily.com

💛 Work With Sharon

Sharon Collon is a PCC credentialed ADHD family coach and founder of The Functional Family. She works with parents of children with ADHD who are exhausted by the daily battles — the mornings, the meltdowns, the school emails, the emotional dysregulation — and helps them build a family life that actually works.

Sharon's approach is practical, ADHD-informed, and built around real family systems — not generic parenting advice that wasn't designed for your child's brain.

With Sharon's support, families:

Understand what's really driving their child's behaviour — and respond strategically instead of reactively

Build the executive function skills their child needs, in a way that actually sticks

Replace daily conflict and overwhelm with calm, connection, and confidence

Create routines and systems that hold — even on the hard days

Move from survival mode to a family life that feels genuinely functional and joyful

Whether you're brand new to the ADHD diagnosis or years in and still feeling stuck — there is a way through.

You don't have to keep pushing through alone.

👉 Learn more at thefunctionalfamily.com