24/08/2026
Today’s carefully planned summer holiday activity was… diabolical. 😂
No family holiday this year + a very busy summer of work + social media repeatedly informing me I only get 18 summers with my children = me trying VERY hard to manufacture some core memories.
So today I took my 5 and 6 year old to London by myself.
Excellent idea, Sophia. No notes. 🙃
We’re a neurodivergent family and sometimes days out are HARD.
The noise. Crowds. Transitions. Waiting. Change in routine. And when your children are overwhelmed at exactly the same time as your own brain is screaming TOO MUCH, being the calm, regulated adult can feel almost impossible.
By lunchtime I was questioning every parenting decision that had led me to Waterloo that morning. 😂
Meanwhile, other families seem to take the same day in their stride.
Today I felt overwhelmed, even a bit embarrassed. And in the wake of Channel 4’s recent programme about ADHD, I think I felt more sensitive about that than I ordinarily would.
Because whatever debate there is around diagnosis or symptoms, it’s difficult to watch people’s lived experiences reduced or dismissed when days like today remind me how profoundly neurodivergence can affect very ordinary parts of family life.
BUT. There was some light amongst the chaos.
We’d gone to London to see Frida Kahlo and follow the mural trail along Bankside, and my six-year-old had her camera.
While I wrestled with the logistics (and her sister), she started photographing.
She searched for the murals and photography gave her somewhere to direct all that attention.
Tonight I looked through her photographs and honestly… 🥹
She’d documented the murals, captured little details from our day and somehow even beautifully framed Big Ben.
SHE HAS BEEN LISTENING TO ME.
Little Lens Club is working! 😂📸
But it reminded me of something much more important than whether a six-year-old understands composition.
Photography gives children a reason to really LOOK.
It can turn a walk into a scavenger hunt. An unfamiliar place into something to explore. A busy environment into smaller things they get to choose to focus on.
And for children who sometimes find the world a little overwhelming, I think there’s something really lovely about that.
You don’t have to take in everything.
You can look through your little rectangle and decide what deserves your attention.
Our magical London day wasn’t particularly magical. There were meltdowns. I had a few myself. 😂
But one little photographer came home proud of the story she’d captured.
And her mum came home with an even bigger belief in what we’re building at Little Lens Club. 💛📸
All photos by Tanith (6)
