Surviving The Holidays With Your Kids

The holidays can be a little crazy, especially with children. With all the party planning, gift buying and meal prepping, many parents find that it’s the most stressful time of year. There are some ways that you can remain level headed throughout the holiday season.

Let Your Kids Help Out

Even though it may seem easier to do everything yourself, it will be a lot more fun for your kids if they can help out. Allow them to help you decorate the tree, place stamps on Christmas cards and make cookies to share with your neighbors. These make for great bonding moments and special conversations. Kids generally will be less cranky and more cooperative if they can help out in some small way.

Involve Your Children In Gift Giving

Christmas can be hard if you don’t have a lot of money to buy your kids presents. You can make it a little easier on yourself by getting the kids involved, setting a budget and talking to them about it. Let them know how much “Santa” will be able to spend this year and show them what kind of toys are in that price range. Also, take them with you when you buy your loved ones gifts so that they can see how much things cost.

Let The Small Stuff Go

No matter how much you try, things probably won’t go perfectly. An ornament might get broken, the Christmas lights may not work and your three year old might knock down the cookies. Just remember, it’s not really that big of a deal. In fact, some of the biggest accidents may become the funniest Christmas stories that you have to share with your kids when they get older.

Try To Maintain Your Routines

Even with all the festivities going on it’s important to try to stick to your routines. Kids thrive on schedules and familiarity and if they have a few days in a row where everything is thrown off they are bound to get tired or cranky. Try to stick to the same meal times and bed times if you can. This will lessen the impact that all of the holiday festivities has on your kids.

Take A Step Back

No matter how old your kids are they may need to step back for a little while. Skip the holiday preparations for a bit and take them to the park or out for ice cream. This will allow both of you to have some much needed one on one time and just focus on each other.