The holidays can be stressful if you try to do too much, but
throw in a couple of small children and things can get very
rapidly overwhelming, not to mention stress for your children!
Here are some tips to help their young children over the holiday season
enjoyable for the whole family:
Make every effort to include children in your holiday
the activities. At this age like to "help", and if included
what they are doing often reduces the possibility of
tantrums.
My kids enjoyed helping me decorate our Christmas tree. We
debated whether or not to let them touch the tree, but we realized
really only wanted to play with the ornaments. We
all fragile ornaments out of reach and hung
unbreakable ornaments that could touch and play with
them. Every morning you pull the bottom of the tree ornaments
and throw them into the ground. For the most part out of the
tree alone all day. At night I stay ornaments
a backup, and the next morning we started again. The boys
I think this is fun.
I turn Christmas lights off once in a while at the same time
every day. The boys waiting for me to turn all the lights
and remind me if I forget. They love to look at our enlightened
"Reno" out the window. It may also lead to family
a drive through the neighborhood to see Christmas lights.
When you are visiting friends and family during the holidays, try to
to minimize any interruption in the programming of your child as much as
possible. If your child continues to eat and sleep in the same
normal times, he or she will be more able to deal with
festivities.
Try to resist the temptation to give your child on holiday too
sweets. On Thanksgiving, I made the mistake of giving our children a
taste of homemade chocolate, and then not let me
alone. It's amazing how no children who can not remember to bite
I remember that Mom hid the candy.
The holidays are a good time to introduce new DVD and CD
their young children. Yes, Elmo DVD has a decent Christmas. It is a
nice change to the other two films Elmo see every day.
I did a lot of my Christmas shopping this year to avoid
dragging the kids to the mall. I'm too tired to go out after
go to bed at night. It's good to have things delivered to
your door! Many websites offer free shipping this time of
year.
Do not feel like I have to buy tons of their children has
for Christmas. At this age they are more interested in the amount of
than a toy, do not. Now, if I can just
convince the rest of our family about it. If your child
also receives many gifts for Christmas, put some away for a
rainy day or when the toys he or she is playing with losing
its appeal.
Young children love books. Do not forget the "reason for the season."
Read the story of the Nativity to your children and introduce them
the baby Jesus.
That's it! I love this time of year and these simple tips
our family made fun of the holiday season and almost stress free.