Christmas Let Down A.K.A Christmas Blues
Hello everybody! You’re going to find, possibly, that your sweet little one is getting ready to go into a crazy stage. We call this the Christmas Blues. Regulating feelings after the huge build up and expectation of Christmas can be hard for kids and as well as adults. They’ve been celebrating family coming into town, no bedtime and staying up late, eating junk food. All of a sudden the celebration comes to a screeching halt! The decorations are packed away. Bedtime curfews are reinstated, and everybody seems to be upset. Parents are upset they spent too much money, that they ate too much and now everyone’s schedule is messed up.
Couple that with the fact that it’s been so cold and no one’s really been out to play. Days we could just go for a run or play in the sun and breathe in the fresh air feel far behind us. The children have been cooped up in front of the TV watching hours upon hours and not really doing much of anything. This is a difficult time for everyone to get back on schedule, to love each other. It’s not “Let’s clean up the holiday mess, pack up the wrapping paper and look forward to the new year ahead!”
How do we help our children understand the cycles of life?
Friends for life
How do we do that as well as help them set goals of their own and get back on their schedules? I have a couple of ideas that work for my family and work for the school as well.
Number one- Validate the children’s feelings because they’re right. Our families have gone home, we’re back to life as usual after a huge buildup of celebration and it does feel awful. Allow them to mourn the loss of feeling such great things; seeing their family and friends and not having to go to bed on time. Let’s let our little people know that we feel the the same way too.
Number two- Sitting down as a family and talking about our goals for the year. We can talk about the things we want to learn and achieve. So, let’s get excited and make a plan! If we get the kids on board they will be so excited to achieve it and also keep us accountable to what we said we are going to do.
Number three- Create some outings; some places we’d like to go. Let’s go out and do those things. It doesn’t have to be outside. We can certainly visit a museum. Let’s go do something that we’ve not done for a while. Or, let’s do something we’ve never done before! That could be exciting for our family. A learning environment when we’re not in front of the TV.
Number four- What if we sat around and talked? Put away our phones and all of our electronics? Therefore, we could create a space in our day that we weren’t allowed to be on our electronics and just talked to each other. Create lasting memories the kids would love through Chutes and Ladders or card games. These are just a few ways my family fights the Christmas blues.
Beginning New Subjects
At preschool, we start new subjects after the holidays like “How I Grow and Change.” The kids bring baby pictures of themselves and we take new pictures of them. We talk about how they’ve grown and about their accomplishments. We look at where they came from and boy they’ve come so far! The children get so excited to see their achievements and are excited to set new goals at preschool. It’s a very special time and the new year has so many opportunities for us.
I heard a person say that the children who need the most love ask for it in the most unloving way. You know what, I think we’re all like that. Sometimes we just need a hug and to be told it’s going to be okay. Let’s talk about some great things we can do together. At the end of the day, it really isn’t about Christmas. It’s about the time we got to spend together.
I hope you guys have a great rest of your winter. Keep warm and bundle up. You’ll hear from me soon.
-Heather