19/06/2026
I’ve loved seeing all the Sports Day photos this week.
Seeing the proud posts, the race winners, the children who threw themselves into every event and loved every second of it has been lovely.
But our Sports Day looked very different.
My son was so overwhelmed by it that we got to school over an hour late. In the end, he didn’t take part and watched from a distance instead.
And whilst other parents were cheering their children on, I found myself feeling proud of something completely different.
I was proud that he went.
Because he really didn’t want to.
The thought of Sports Day was just too much for him. We had tears, refusals and an incredibly difficult morning. It was one of those mornings that leaves everyone exhausted before the day has even started.
It would’ve been much easier for him to stay at home.
But he still put on his green t-shirt.
He still came to school.
And he still faced something that felt really hard for him.
What people don’t always see with neurodivergent children is the amount of effort that goes into things that seem simple to everyone else.
They don’t see the anxiety beforehand.
And they don’t always see the fallout afterwards either.
By the time he got home, he was completely overwhelmed. The meltdowns started almost straight away. There was shouting, anger, throwing things, hitting out and a child who simply had nothing left to give.
He’d spent the day holding it together.
In reality, he only watched the last part of Sports Day. But the anxiety beforehand and the overwhelm afterwards lasted much longer than the event itself.
To some people, watching from a distance for a few minutes probably doesn’t sound like much.
But I’m still incredibly proud of him.
Because he showed up when everything in him was telling him not to.
And that’s what I’ll remember about Sports Day.
💚
