Surviving the summer holidays | Lisa Galley

The Summer holidays. Six weeks of unstructured time. No routine. No school. Mark and Lisa Galley explore why the this can be such a challenging experience for parents of autistic, ADHD or PDA kids and why the concept of a “relaxing summer” is more often myth than reality. Touching on the common parental feelings of boredom, guilt and the ever-present FOMO, this is a candid, humorous and insightful look at what parents experience over the summer when it seems like we're under house arrest with our neurodivergent kids. Lisa shares strategies for low-demand structure and building in recovery time. Mark opens up about the fantasy of “the perfect summer” and how letting go of that can actually make things more enjoyable. Essential listening for anyone trying to survive the school holidays and come out of it with their sanity (mostly) intact. ⸻ CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS (Estimated): 00:00 - Intro & Meet the Guest: Lisa Galley 04:00 - Introducing the topic of the week 06:30 - The burden of boredom 10:00 - Dealing with guilt of not providing the "perfect" summer 17:00 - The loss of spontaneity and the rampant FOMO 26:30 - The unspoken impact on working parents 30:00 - Attempting to go on holiday 34:00 - The importance of summer holidays for our kids 38:00 - Q&A: Answering listeners' summer holiday questions 41:00 - Testing out home education in the summer 45:00 - How to help yourself as a parent 47:30 - The challenges of co-parenting in the summer holidays 58:00 - Advice from listeners 1:03:00 - The positives of the summer holidays 1:05:00 - Neurodiversity Champions 1:08:30 - Tiny Epic Wins 1:11:30 - "What the Flip?" moments 1:16:30 - Outro and Season Wrap-Up ⸻ LINKS TO STUFF WE MENTION IN THIS EPISODE: Lisa Galley Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/school_run_mum_autism/ Parent Carer Cheerleeding Squad Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/parentcarercheerleadingsquad Special Assistance at airports - https://www.caa.co.uk/passengers-and-public/special-assistance/accessing-special-assistance/ We're Not Your Typical Podcast - https://were-not-your-typical-podcast-258bbca3.simplecast.com/ Let’s Talk Neurodivergent Kids Podcast - https://pod.link/1442067009 Legoland Windsor Accessibility Pass - https://www.legoland.co.uk/plan-your-day/before-you-visit/accessibility/ "Holidays" episode of Neuroshambles - https://pod.link/1710455546/episode/2b5dc7973b418c9d6069ced370c409b9 "Hobbies" episode of Neuroshambles - https://pod.link/1710455546/episode/19a31193017cd7413d681ff3b36119eb Lisa Galley's Summer Survival Guide - https://lisagalley.myflodesk.com/survival ⸻ CONTACT US 🌐 Website: www.neuroshambles.com 📧 Email: [email protected] 📸 Instagram: @neuroshambles 🎵 TikTok: @neuroshamblespod 📘 Facebook: Neuroshambles 🧵 Threads: @neuroshambles ⸻ CREDITS 🎶 Theme music by Skilsel on Pixabay: pixabay.com