The holidays are just around the corner, bringing with them opportunities for creating memories your family will cherish. However, many kids find the season challenging. Disrupted routines and the various sights, sounds, smells, and extra people present can easily lead to overstimulation, meltdowns, and a tough time for everyone involved.

The good news? You’re not alone and there’s plenty you can do. Our team has lots of practical tips to help you navigate the season. It all comes down to preparing kids for what to expect, preparing yourself to anticipate their needs, and offering plenty of patience and understanding during festivities.

Set the stage for success

When kids know what to expect, it’s easier for them to handle the season’s excitement and enjoy what makes it special.

• Holiday-themed books and videos are a great way to introduce your child to the activities and tasks they may encounter. Look for ones that include step-by-step activities, such as lighting a menorah or decorating a tree. Then try making visual sequence boards or comic-strip stories to help your child practice.
• Get ready for gatherings by looking through family photos together and pointing out the people your child is likely to see. Putting names with faces will help kids feel like they’re not surrounded by strangers. It’s also a good idea to practice social strategies like greetings, farewells, showing thanks, and receiving and giving compliments.
• If you’re planning to travel, spend some time taking virtual tours of the places you’ll be visiting. If you’ve been there before, a reminder is still helpful. Talk with your child about how things may be different from other times they’ve visited to help them feel more comfortable when changes present themselves in the moment.
• Prepare some of your child’s favorite toys and activities for long rides or flights. While it’s fun to give your child new items to play with, sometimes they just want what makes them feel most “at home” when they’re not at home.

Aim for slow and steady with the schedule

The holiday season can feel like a race sometimes, going from place to place without much space to just be. Try not to overload your day with too many activities and keep your child’s schedule as close to normal as possible.

• Creating a visual schedule of events is a way to reduce anxiety and manage transitions during the holiday season, especially when it includes things that are not part of the child’s daily routine. You can let them know how long they will be at certain places, and which skills will be needed, building in time to just decompress.
• When you arrive at a gathering, scout out quiet spaces where your child can go to take a break. A bedroom or other empty space would be great for this, but you can also ask for guidance from the host, who may have somewhere in mind for you.
• Remember that it’s okay to say no to gatherings and events during the holidays. You know your child best, and if the day is turning into one where natural breaks aren’t going to happen, it’s okay to skip it and do your own thing.

Navigate gift exchanges

With everything else going on during the season, we also expect kids to be thankful for what they receive. This can often be tricky for young kids, so practice is important.

• Start by having your child help choose gifts for others. This has so many benefits as it teaches skills of compare/contrast, desirable/non-desirable, and focusing on self/others. You might even talk about the expression, “It’s better to give than to receive” and how fun it can be to give gifts that make others happy.
• Try wrapping up some objects you know your child likes as well as some they don’t so they can try receiving both. Model socially appropriate responses, including saying or signing “thank you,” even when the present isn’t exactly what they were hoping for. Talk about responses that might hurt the feelings of the gift giver and work together to think of positive things to say instead.

Make holiday food fun!

• A little patience and planning can make any mealtime easier, but it’s particularly important on special days when there’s a lot more going on for kids to contend with. Keeping them on their normal eating schedule will help decrease the chances of them becoming cranky, upset, or frustrated.
• Minimize change as much as possible and include at least one food your child enjoys eating. When meals take place at family or friends’ homes, bring one of your child’s favorites as your dish to share. Use as many familiar utensils, plates, cups, and placemats as possible to help decrease anxiety.
• A great way to encourage kids to try new holiday foods is to appoint them your assistant chef! They’re much more likely to try the foods they help to make, and cooking and baking are great ways for the two of you to make fantastic holiday memories together.

Go easy on everyone

• For all children, this time of year can be a chance to teach empathy, kindness, charity, gratitude, and the importance of family and friends. But it’s important to be realistic about your child’s willingness or ability to do it all. Setting boundaries and being able to say no are forms of self-care.
• The season is full of fun, but if your child wants nothing to do with an activity in the moment, don’t force it. You know your child best, and it’s perfectly okay to let some things go.

We hope that these ideas will aid you and your family in having a season filled with wonderful memories for years to come!