A Sports Day Win: For the Parents Who Get It

Sports day. For many, it’s just another date in the school calendar — a chance to cheer from the sidelines, take photos, and maybe complain about the sun or the rain. But for parents of neurodivergent children, it’s so much more than that.

For the last three years, my son hasn’t taken part in sports day. The noise, the overwhelming crowds, the unspoken expectations — it’s all too much. And that’s okay. We’ve never pushed him. We’ve always followed his lead.

But today, something changed. Today, he wanted to do it.

He stood on that field, lined up with his peers, and ran his race. And I cried. Not because he won — I couldn't tell you where he placed — but because he ran. He chose to be there. He chose to try. And in that moment, it didn’t matter what the world thought. What mattered was that he did something huge for himself.

To other parents, it might have seemed like nothing. But to us, it was everything.

So here’s to the parents who get it. The ones who know what it means when your child simply shows up. The ones who celebrate the “small” wins that are actually monumental. The ones who cheer the loudest for courage, not competition.

Today, we had a victory — and it was beautiful.