The holidays can come on in a roar of activity, leaving little margin to plan parenting tactics.
This holiday magazine (click here to download the pdf) offers a ton of activity ideas, holiday tips, and stories that can help children (particularly neurodivergent children) understand and cope with the holiday hustle .
So our first parenting hack is to print off our holiday magazine and use it during a long car ride, on a day when your household has cabin fever, or as a reward. But we have a few more:
- Stock your pockets or purse with sure-fire snacks. (These help when dinner starts late or different foods seem overwhelming.)
- Tee up a mix of good holiday movies for children so you’re ready when you need a distraction, down time, or a reward.
- Stash comfort items (blanket, lovey, sensory item, noise-canceling headphones, etc.) in the car so you don’t forget them.
- As you’re driving to Grandma’s, use it as an opportunity to practice manners (you can make it a silly game by acting out a ridiculous and a right response and letting your child pick the correct one), talk through the agenda, or prepare your child for potential challenges and responses.
- Don’t over plan, especially if your child tends to get overwhelmed. Instead, keep some optional activities in mind, and have a plan for when your child needs a break.
- Give your child as much advance notice as possible. Transitions can be hard, especially when you’re not following the usual schedule. Discuss the general plan and the things that might be outside your control, and try to give your child a heads-up when a transition is coming.
- Hot glue your gingerbread house. Yes, this may be low on your list of priorities, but if you’re the gingerbread house-decorating type, save yourself the tears and hot glue that house together. Nobody’s going to eat that thing.
Happy Holidays!
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