Beach Day – 6

Aesthetic- Summertime by Will Smith

It was 95 degrees today in NYC and I would love to go to the beach ! My kids and I love the beach and we haven’t been yet this summer. Today is certainly the perfect beach day however, it’s a Tuesday.

Tuesdays my son has :

• ABA Therapy – 10-12pm
• OT therapy (in home) -12-12:45pm
• Speech – (in center) 3-3pm
• OT therapy ( in center ) – 5-5:30pm

By the time his therapies are over I will be exhausted from driving and it will be dinner time. Not to mention my oldest daughter has camp and my youngest daughter has school.

It is important to keep my children on a schedule. I get daunting negative feelings about negating away from their schedule. Going to the beach on a Tuesday was not in our routine. I questioned was this a good decision to make.

If you ever lived in NYC 90 degree weather isn’t common. It’s what we call a heat wave and these are the best times to go to the beach. However, going off schedule for one day isn’t a good idea…says who ?

ABA cancelled because she had a doctors appointment. I kept the in home OT since we were still home and it was early. After that I rescheduled his therapy sessions for the remainder of the day and headed to the beach.

This meant :

-more sleep for everyone since our day didn’t start so early

-Sun bathing

-ocean wave jumping bliss.

A much needed family day. Also, the sun is a great way to fight inflammation, boost your mood, decrease depression, boost energy, amongst a plethora of positive health benefits. The pros strongly outweighed the cons in this case so I knew I was making the right decision.

The fact that my brain has to process feelings of guilt, neglect, doubt and worry just to take my kids to the beach on a Tuesday is insane.

Don’t feel bad for missing a day of therapy for your child, especially when it isn’t habitual ! Everyone needs a break and in my case our break was a beach day.

Have your beach day with your family in peace. Take photos, get a tan and live life. Life doesn’t stop when you become a parent or a parent of a child/children with special needs. Yes, it becomes harder but you will get through this. While going through, the least you can do is enjoy the sun. It’s free healing after all.

I don’t know how you started this journey, but please remember you aren’t in it alone. That why the sun decided to shine on you. Don’t waste the rays.