July 23, 2025

Surviving the summer holidays | Lisa Galley

1 hour 18 minutes

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.

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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

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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

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🌐 Website: www.neuroshambles.com

📧 Email: [email protected]

📸 Instagram: @neuroshambles

🎵 TikTok: @neuroshamblespod

📘 Facebook: Neuroshambles

🧵 Threads: @neuroshambles

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CREDITS

🎶 Theme music by Skilsel on Pixabay: pixabay.com

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By Mark Allen

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