KID-FRIENDLY CELEBRATIONS WITH SO MANY GROWN-UP pres-
sures and stresses that come with the holiday season, it’s easy to overlook how the change in routine, family overload and general holiday hubbub affects children. Kids are generally stereotyped as loving everything about the holidays, but the truth can be very different. According to a 2019 study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, about 1.9 million children between the ages of 3 and 17 have been diagnosed with depression and 4.4 million have been diagnosed with anxiety disorder. Plus, nearly 6.1 million kids between the ages of 2 and 17 have been diagnosed with ADHD, per a 2018 study published in the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology. Now, add to these conditions the changes in routine, abundant sugary foods, crowds of relatives and lack of personal space that come along during holiday season and it’s little wonder many kids struggle under the weight of it all. Not to mention, kids feed off the people around them, so if Mom and Dad are stressed out (and who isn’t
at some point during the holidays) that’s going to rub off on them, too. Wesley Morgan, a counselor with Methodist Family Health in Little Rock, said planning makes holiday life considerably easier and is generally more mindful when done well in advance. “Planning ahead can minimize the stress of the season,” she said. “Use a calendar to schedule your holiday events and make a list of what needs to be handled; the earlier we can get our minds wrapped around doing that, the better we’re going to feel. Having a plan in place reduces the fear of the unknown of what’s going to come up. “There are people who want to start listening to Christmas music right now. That’s not necessarily me, but I have noticed with my own family that whenever I start earlier, I don’t feel as stressed out two weeks before the holiday. Taking some things off your plate such as starting decorating or shopping earlier can help reduce the household stress of the holiday season itself.” Advanced planning not only helps keep
things on schedule and calmer — like shopping in the off-season to avoid holiday crowds — it also shows parents pretty quickly how overloaded the calendar can get. Chances are you can trim some things back, thereby reducing the fatigue factor on everyone and allowing you to pay closer attention to how your kids are feeling. “One of the things that makes the holidays difficult is everything being so crammed together,” Morgan said. “We have basically a month and maybe a week to go from Thanksgiving right through New Year’s Day. We say yes to a lot of extra things in that time and we lose the joy and peace of the holiday season because we are overextended. “And because we are overextended, we sometimes miss what others are feeling. The holidays can be a really happy time for families and kids, but it can also remind us of sad times of people who are no longer with us and have passed away.” Your holiday plan should also pay specific attention to the kids in your home needing something to do. This will not only keep
“As a family, we have to take steps to remind ourselves what we love about the holiday to capitalize on that as a whole.”
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season and try
