28/08/2026
Have you ever noticed that your child seems to "fall apart" more during the school holidays?
Maybe you've thought:
💛"But they were fine at school."*
💛"They're fine for everyone else."*
💛"Why are they behaving like this at home?"*
Here's something important to remember.
🛖Home is often where the mask comes off.
A child can spend hours, days or even weeks holding themselves together.
💚Following instructions.
💚Managing noise.
💚Watching what everyone else is doing.
💚Remembering routines.
💚Trying to regulate their emotions.
💚Suppressing sensory discomfort.
💚Using every ounce of energy to appear okay.
And then they get home.
Or the holidays arrive.
And suddenly...
💔The meltdowns are bigger.
💔The emotions are closer to the surface.
💔The tolerance for noise disappears.
💔Clothing becomes unbearable.
💔Food becomes harder.
💔Sleep changes.
💔Small things become HUGE things.
It can look like things are getting worse.
But sometimes, it's actually a sign that your child finally feels safe enough to stop holding it all in.
That doesn't mean every behaviour should simply be ignored.
It means we need to ask a different question.
Instead of:
⁉"What's wrong with them?"
Try:
⁉"What have they been holding in?"
And instead of:
⁉"Why can they manage it at school?"
Try:
⁉"What is school costing them?"
The child who explodes at home may not have had an easy day.
They may have had a day where they were incredibly brave.
So if the holidays have brought more dysregulation, more exhaustion and more big feelings...
Take a breath.
You aren't necessarily going backwards.
You may simply be seeing the version of your child that doesn't have to mask anymore.
And that version deserves understanding too. 💛
