An Insider's Guide to Education for Parents

Helping Your Child Avoid A Stressful Holiday Season

While the holiday season is a time of great joy, it goes without saying that it can also be a time of stress for families and children. There is much guidance that can be offered as to how to minimize your child’s stress including keeping routines such as bedtimes intact and avoiding too many sugary snacks. Most importantly, recognize your own stress and to remember that children, even very young children, take their cues from you.

It is certainly easy to get caught up in shopping or planning for the holidays, to reacting to the heavy traffic around shopping centers and seemingly everywhere, or to the hurried pace that seems to take over even our everyday routines.

Children are not immune to these stressors, but fortunately the way you react to them will make all the difference in the world. Take time this holiday season to remember the simple joy of being with your children.

As much as you can, don’t let the frantic pace cut into the quality time you spend with them—in fact, make that time your highest priority. Their enduring memories of the holidays should be of time spent with you–reading, going for walks, talking, and enjoying mealtimes together.

The gifts of your time, love, and patience are the most precious of all, and the ones that will endure long after the presents are unwrapped and the rest of the holiday season fades into a distant memory.