Adapt
Adapt with resilience and creativity
Dear fellow parent,
Welcome back. Whether you’ve been riding a gentle wave or wading through deep waters lately, I’m grateful you’re here. Even opening this email is an act of care—and I don’t take that lightly.
So far, we’ve explored the first two invitations of the Lead Together framework:
Lean In—to your strengths.
Engage—with presence and purpose.
Today, we arrive at the third pillar:
A is for Adapt.
Adapt with resilience and creativity.
So much of parenting a child with developmental differences asks us to adapt—to shift course, to rewrite plans, to find new language for what thriving really looks like.
But not all adaptation is created equal.
The kind I’m speaking to is deeply rooted in resilience—the quiet strength to resist what doesn’t serve you—and creativity—the boldness to imagine something better.
To adapt in this way is to move against the cultural norm that tells us to push harder, move faster, or fix more. It’s to say, gently but firmly: Not for us. Not this way.
It’s refusing the script of fear that says your child’s value depends on how well they keep up.
I have a personal story for this. My child came home from school today and it was their first day back after the Easter break. So, I was expecting some news, some exciting stories about adventures their peers had been on over the break. No, what I got was that the Drumcondra standardized tests were coming up and ‘I am rubbish at them’, ‘I hate them’.
So, I broke a little….. I stopped and knew that I had to adapt and be resilient, to bend without breaking. I rebelled against the story that the system needs to do this, that it gives them information about what our children need support with…….This is the message we are told but it is not my child’s lived reality. Every day there is another reminder for them of the difference, the marginalization, the othering.
Instead, today, I will embrace adaptation as an opening. A spaciousness.
It’s where we can create new rhythms, design our own rituals, and build a life around the real needs of our children and families.
It might look like:
Slowing down your days, even if others don’t understand.
Redefining success in terms of connection, not compliance.
Finding new ways to celebrate progress—on your terms.
Creating sanctuary networks of people who get it, where mutual care flows freely.
This kind of adaptation isn’t about giving up.
It’s about tuning in—with resilience that protects your peace, and creativity that reimagines what’s possible.
If you’re wondering where to begin, try this gentle prompt:
What is one way I can bring some gentleness and self-compassion to my week?
Can I change a routine, let something go, or add a small joy that nourishes us?
Because adaptation, at its best, isn’t about survival.
It’s about creating a way of life that feels like home.
A Glimpse Ahead
In the next newsletter, we’ll explore the last pillar of the L-E-A-D framework:
Discover new insights about ourselves and others.
Discover will offer opportunities to explore resources that build on what we have explored so far. It will invite us to go deeper.
Each step of this journey is an invitation to rewrite the story—not with urgency, but with care.
Not with someone else’s language, but your own.
And
Before you close this email, I invite you to take one breath for yourself, and one for your child.
Not the child who needs to fit in, keep up, or be more—but the child who invites you to slow down, get creative, and build a life that truly fits them.
Let that breath be your quiet act of care.
Let it be enough for now.