By Jenny Amerin Ms. Amerin is a therapist at Rejuvenate in Lees Summit who sees children from ages 2 and up, teens, adults, couples, and families.
4 things to help your children during the holidays
- Create a routine
- One of the most disruptful things during the holiday season is the inconsistent schedules a child has. Their sleep schedule is completely out of whack. They are traveling more than normal. They are out of their home environment. It makes sense that they might feel overwhelmed and anxious about what they are doing next. Communicate with your children about your holiday schedule and what events they can look out for. There are a lot of emotions during the holidays. Be sure to remember to use empathy when communicating with your child that might feel overwhelmed. Creating a schedule during the holidays can help the transition back to school easier.
- Communicate your holiday traditions to your children
- The holiday season is what you make it. As a parent, you might feel pressure to overexert yourself on holiday traditions. It is key to remember what is important to your family’s values. Do what is meaningful to your family and find chances to include your children in the process. If you like to bake and decorate cookies with your family on the 10th of December every year, make sure your children have a role in that tradition. Or if you like to go and see Christmas lights on a certain day, make it a special way to connect with your child. If you do not participate in any holiday traditions, be sure to communicate that with your child as well. Help them to understand in an age-appropriate way.
- Be creative in reducing screen time
- Between the travel time, weather, and your capacity to keep your child entertained during their days off it can be easy to turn your child to a screen to keep them occupied with their downtime. However, there are other alternatives parents can introduce to keep their children entertained. During your child’s down time, you can introduce new games they may have not played before. This is also a good time for children to read independently or to read with them. Usually thrift stores are a great resource to find books, puzzles, and board games!
- While reducing screen time, you can encourage your children to do age-appropriate tasks to help around the house as well. If it is time to make dinner, ask your children to help you as you provide guidance along the way. For example, if you need to make mashed potatoes, ask them to wash them before you peel them!
- As you are working towards reducing screen time, make designated times where they have access to screens. You may introduce a special movie night tradition once a week with your family where your family watches one movie together. This can help to limit other times they are exposed to screens. If your children are using any screens, be sure to monitor their activity and create a screentime plan. Please refer to this article by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry about age-appropriate screen time.
- Encourage Learning
- While your children have a break from school, this is a great time to introduce othering learning opportunities. You can get as creative as you would like with this one. This could be a time the whole family learns a new skill or takes time out of their day to go to a museum or library. If your family plans on traveling, you can research stops to take along the way to create educational memories. Whether it is stopping at the largest ball of twine or taking a pit stop at a famous person’s birthplace you can encourage learning anywhere! Be on the lookout for stops as you travel to make the trip entertaining.
- Opportunities to learn can also happen at home. You can research new science experiments to do at home with your children. Try to use what you have first to make it more cost effective. Be sure to support and supervise your children throughout the process! Make sure the science experiment is also developmentally appropriate for your child’s needs. Walk your children through the process and encourage them to do as many of the steps themselves as possible. Some families have made playdough at home or watched the chemical reaction when they mixed vinegar and baking soda as science experiments!
- I wish you safe travels and happy holidays!!
- While your children have a break from school, this is a great time to introduce othering learning opportunities. You can get as creative as you would like with this one. This could be a time the whole family learns a new skill or takes time out of their day to go to a museum or library. If your family plans on traveling, you can research stops to take along the way to create educational memories. Whether it is stopping at the largest ball of twine or taking a pit stop at a famous person’s birthplace you can encourage learning anywhere! Be on the lookout for stops as you travel to make the trip entertaining.
If you are interested in learning more about filial therapy or child-centered play therapy, please contact Jenny Amerin at Rejuvenate to set up a free 15-minute consultation. We can devise a plan to best meet your needs!
Contact today to make an appointment with Jenny Amerin: Call / Text: 816-761-3944 or email info@rejuvenatekc.com
