By Kimberley EB Fasano
“So maybe it’s time to ask:
What does a perfect summer actually feel like?
And what if, instead of chasing magic, we simply gave ourselves permission to find small, honest moments of ease — even just one a day?”
Wise words from the blog, “Our Little House in the Country” in an entry entitled, ‘Maybe This Summer Isn’t Meant to Be Magical’. In this blog article the author, Ciara, talks about how we, as parents, need to give ourselves a little grace and understanding in our approach to making the summers with our children as magical as possible.
It is drummed into us from well-meaning older generations “You only have 18 summers with your kids, make the most of it!” That’s all well and good, but when you are parenting neurodivergent children, children with health complexities, or disabilities, just thinking about planning, maneuvering and, frankly mentally surviving those types of excursions is exhausting.
I have, personally, felt this pressure throughout my almost 16-year motherhood journey. When my children were young, I would enter the month of June with so much hope and promise of beach and lake filled days, nights watching baseball and fireworks, or family day trips to amusement parks and zoos, playdates in the yard filled with friends and activities. While yes, those things did occur, they were sporadic at best. There was a few years ago when we reached September and I realized that we had not gone to the beach, just 45 minutes from our home, once. I felt like a failure as a parent.
As my children entered school, I felt guilty for dreading the last day of school, unlike my peers that were excited to be home with their children. With three neurodivergent children, it would be incumbent upon me to manage the sensory meltdowns, the over-stimulation, the food refusals and the Rock Brain against trying new things for 14 hours a day, seven days a week. Then there was the exhaustion that comes at the end of the school year when you have special ed children. The battles that you are constantly fighting throughout the year about homework, accommodations, disciplines and whether milestones were reached, are finally over and you just want to take a breath, to be free of that battle before it began all over again in August.
That is why this blog spoke so much to me when I read it. Ciara gives us allowance as parents to not try so hard to make every moment with our children magical. Not every second of every day must be planned to perfection, we can revel in the pleasure of the unplanned. The magic of finding the special in the mundane. To point your face to the sun and take in the bliss of feeling the heat of the light on your face, even for just a minute. If life is heavy for you during this season, for whatever reason, giving yourself, and your kids the grace to allow your summer to happen organically is okay.
“…if this summer isn’t big or bold or beautiful in the way you imagined, let it be what it is.
Let it be gentle.
Let it be slow.
Let it be healing.
Let it be yours.” Read the Blog for yourself at: https://ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com/2026/04/10/maybe-this-summer-isnt-meant-to-be-magical/#google_vignette