When the Season Looks Different: A Note to Parents

This time of year can stir up a lot.

The school year is winding down. Social media is full of prom photos and graduation caps tossed into the air. Family vacations are being planned. For many, it’s a season of celebration, transition, and shared moments.

But if your child is in residential treatment, this season might feel like something else entirely.

While others are preparing for milestone events, you may be sitting with the absence of those moments — the graduation that isn’t happening, the family trip that won’t include everyone, the traditions you thought you’d share this year but can’t.

If you find yourself looking at photos of someone else’s milestone and feeling the ache of what’s not happening for your family, you’re not alone.

It may be painful. And it’s also so understandable.

There’s no easy way to describe what it feels like to watch the world move forward while your family’s path takes a different turn. You might feel sadness, guilt, relief, longing, often all at once. These emotions don’t need fixing. They don’t need to be rushed through. They deserve space and compassion.

This is a time when self-care might not mean doing more, but simply letting yourself be.

You’re doing something incredibly hard: caring for your child by stepping away from what’s expected or traditional in service of something deeper. That takes strength, even if it doesn’t feel that way right now.

If you find yourself looking at photos of someone else’s milestone and feeling the ache of what’s not happening for your family, you’re not alone. So many parents in your shoes carry these invisible heartbreaks. And while others may not understand the weight of that, there is a quiet community that does.

This season may not look like you once imagined, but that doesn’t mean it’s without meaning. The courage it takes to support your child’s healing and to care for yourself along the way deserves recognition, too.

Your story might look different this year. That doesn’t make it any less meaningful.