mom next door Meet Kim Hernandez
just doing something creative, she has found it to be a beneficial outlet in her line of work.
As a parent, Hernandez says the biggest chal- lenge she has faced recently is her daughter’s and husband’s simultaneous ADHD diagno- ses. Her daughter was around two or three when signs started showing up, but she was diagnosed at age five, which is when they began to see the signs of her husband’s similar patterns. Now, her daughter is nine. “Prior to her diagnosis, we had a lot of very confounding behaviors that we couldn’t fig- ure out,” she says. “There was just a lot of this stuff where I remember telling myself, I don’t know how to handle this. I don’t know what to do with this. I am not equipped for this.” Even with all her clinical training, including ADHD training, Hernandez found herself doing a lot more research on her own. She found that there are so many people who experience ADHD. “I’m looking at my daughter and I’m thinking, okay, here’s this tiny little being who doesn’t know why she can’t control her body, doesn’t know why she can’t control her brain,” Hernandez emphasizes. “And then I as the parent could very easily make that worse.” The ADHD diagnosis gave their family a path- way. And now they all figure out how to live together, how to develop skills on how to work with each other, and what living with ADHD is like, especially after learning that her husband has ADHD also. “What’s been the joy is watching these two very different kids do what they do best,” says Hernandez. “No, it’s not the same line of logic that I would pick. And no, it doesn’t look the same way other kids her age look, but they’re both brilliant and they’re so fun to watch when you just let them be.” Hernandez says her kids have taught her about how to let go and let them be them- selves because they’re beautiful. She says she tells people that she’s done a lot of hard things in her life—run businesses, worked in leadership, started from scratch—but par- enting is by far the hardest thing she’s ever done. And the most rewarding.
“
Here’s this tiny little being who doesn’t know why she can’t control her body, doesn’ tknow why she can’t control her brain. And then I as a parent could very easily make that worse.
M eet Kim Hernandez, a clinical coun- selor, ballroom dancer, and mom of two. Hernandez owned a ballroom dance school for 16 years before she decided to go back to school to get a master’s in clinical counseling. Now, she works in trauma and addiction, helping people understand how trauma can BY AMELIA ROESSLER
develop the bad habits that keep us stuck in life.
Outside of owning and operating her own practice, Hernandez says her family finds themselves traveling to new places a lot.
Hernandez also likes dancing, art, and being creative. Whether it’s sculpting or painting or
One of the things she’s learned from other parents is to vacuum while they’re sleeping.
12 COLORADO PARENT OCTOBER 2026
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker