Half term is meant to be a break. A chance to sleep in, potter about in pyjamas, and actually do something fun instead of the usual homework and bedtime battles.

But when your child needs daily physio, that week off can feel complicated. Do we skip the soft play to get home for physio? Do we set an alarm on the one week they could actually have a lie-in? Do we just... not do it for a few days and hope that's fine? (we don’t suggest this!).

Physio during half term doesn't need to be the same as school weeks. Half term is actually a good time to work out that routines can bend a bit. Here's what's worked for us.

Just bring the PEP device! Honestly, it's portable for a reason. Going to your mum's? Visiting friends? Chuck it in the bag. You can duck into a spare room for twenty minutes while everyone's watching telly, or do it in the car before you head home. We used to let our daughter get into pyjamas before we left so that bedtime is half done before we're even back. Small wins but we took it!

Car journeys are underrated. If you've got an e-flow with batteries, use the car ride. We stick the nebs on during the drive to wherever we're going, and then when we get back later it's just the PEP device left to do. Keeps things ticking along without it being a whole production.

Move the time around. It's half term. There's no 7am alarm, no uniform, no packed lunches. If you normally do physio first thing, shift it. Let them wake up naturally, have breakfast in their pyjamas, watch cartoons. Physio still happens, just later. 9am, 10am, whatever works that day.

Don't let it be the thing that stops them joining in. Kids with health stuff already feel different enough. The last thing any of us want is for physio to be why they can't go to the trampoline park or have to leave the party early. If we can make it fit around them instead of making them fit around it, it doesn't feel like such a big deal.

And honestly? That helps. For them and for you.

Half term's only a week, but it matters. They get to see that their routine can flex, that physio doesn't mean missing out, and that having a break from school doesn't mean taking a break from looking after themselves.

Keep the routine, just loosen your grip on how it has to look. Half term is for them too.