Why Granny Suz exists, and who keeps it going

This page is about the people and the principles behind the site: a South African household, a long habit of writing things down on the fridge, and a stubborn belief that ADHD support should be plain, affordable and kind. No productivity theatre, no miracle claims. Just the values that decide what gets published here and what gets left out.

How Granny Suz grew, one kitchen table at a time

The project did not start with a plan. It started with a laminated morning card stuck to a fridge in a rented flat, and a handful of parents asking whether they could have a copy too.

  1. 2019

    One fridge card, photocopied at the library

    Suz wrote out a five-step morning routine for her grandson after a term of shouting matches over school shoes. It was plain, laminated and ugly. Six families in the neighbourhood asked for a copy within a month, which was the first sign that the problem was not hers alone.

  2. 2021

    The homework table rule

    A decision that shaped everything after it: no supervising from the doorway. Instead, an adult sits nearby doing their own quiet task while the child works. Body doubling, though nobody called it that yet. Homework sessions at the kitchen table dropped from ninety minutes of standoff to roughly thirty-five, and the printable pack grew out of that shift.

  3. 2022

    Adults started writing in

    The audience widened faster than expected. Parents recognised themselves in the routines, then asked for versions that did not assume a child in the house. Evening wind-down checklists, a single audible dinner cue, and short audio clips for rough afternoons came directly from those letters and from a few long phone calls.

  4. 2024

    Conversation starters for teachers and partners

    The hardest part was never the routine itself, it was explaining the routine to someone else. We drafted short scripts for parent-teacher meetings and for the person sharing the house, including a written reduced-load request for when homework volume genuinely exceeds what a child can hold.

  5. Today

    Still one habit at a time

    The library is bigger, the kitchen table is the same. We still refuse to frame ADHD as a productivity system, and we still tell people to pick one habit for the week and take it slowly. Fewer meltdowns, gentler mornings, small wins that hold.

How Granny Suz grew, one kitchen table at a time

Nothing here was planned in a boardroom. It started with notes on the back of a shopping list and grew into a place families could actually use. These are the moments that shaped what we do and how we do it.

  1. 2016

    A grandmother's notebook

    Suz started writing down the small things that worked at her own table in the Eastern Cape: laying out school clothes the night before, one instruction at a time, a timer the kids could see. Friends asked for copies. The notebook became a folder, then a habit.

  2. 2018

    The first printable routine cards

    Hand-drawn morning and evening cards, photocopied at a local shop and stuck to fridges across three schools. Parents told us the pictures mattered more than the words, especially for younger kids who could not yet read a checklist.

  3. 2020

    Rough afternoons, short audio

    Lockdown made it clear that some days need a voice, not a page. We recorded a handful of short clips for the 4pm slump, the homework standoff and the wind-down hour. No scripts, no music, just someone steady talking you through the next ten minutes.

  4. 2022

    Talking to teachers and partners

    We added conversation starters for the meetings that go badly: reduced homework load, seating near the front, a quiet signal for overwhelm. Written in plain language so a parent can read it out loud without feeling like they are making excuses.

  5. 2024

    Body doubling, timers, sensory tools

    Adults kept writing in about their own evenings, not just their kids. So we widened the shelf: focus timers, body-doubling ideas for working from a kitchen table, fidget and sensory options that do not cost much, and a wind-down checklist short enough to finish.

  6. Today

    Still one habit at a time

    The site is bigger, but the advice has not changed shape. Pick one habit for the week, keep the routine cards where you can see them, and expect some mornings to fall apart anyway. Fewer meltdowns is the win, not a perfect schedule.

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