This time of year can become chaotic and stressful. The holidays are often thought of as a happy and magical time and it can be, but there are often many activities and other responsibilities that occur. How can you make sure that you are taking time for yourself and your family to slow down and relax as well?
When you think about the holidays, do you think about all of the additional activities, events, and parties that happen? How can you find a balance with these? When you receive an invitation for an event, it is important to think about what is good for your family. Is this event something that the family would enjoy? Is it something that you feel you need to attend? When you feel that you need to attend an event, why do you feel this way and do you really need to attend? There may be some that are more important to attend, but it is important to weigh your options for all events. Think about how the whole family will do and what makes sense for your family. If you choose to not attend an event, make sure to respond to the invitation and remember that you need to make the choices that your family needs. For some events, you can just say that you cannot attend and for others you may need to provide some explanation, but remaining firm if you feel it will not work for your family.
During this time of year, it is important to make sure to have time to slow down and relax in your schedule for both you and your family. This time of year is happy and magical for many, but with the extra responsibilities, self-care is going to be important. For your children, the change in routines and the usually exciting extra events having some down time will be important. What does this look like for your family? How can you take time to slow down and spend some relaxing family time? This could be done with family movie nights, family game times, or family time reading or going for a walk. If your children still want to have activities related to the holidays, you could make reading time or movie time related to the holidays. For Christmas, there are many shows and movies on tv that can be used for movie nights and this would keep with the holiday theme.
Remember to talk with your children about this need for self-care and relaxation. Depending on the age of your child, they may not recognize this need and may want to attend all of the events and parties, but this may not be beneficial for them. Talk to them about the need for our bodies to have time to slow down and relax so that they can remain healthy and continue to develop. If they do too many activities, they may end up sick and need to miss even more. If they still want to continue to participate in holiday activities, you can talk to them about watching a movie, reading a holiday book, or making holiday arts and crafts. These may help them to accept this need to slow down as well.
This time of year can be exciting and magical, but it is important to remember to take time to slow down and enjoy the moments. It can be easy to get caught up in the excitement, but with some planning, you can have both which allows for self-care for all family members. If you are looking for ideas of how to talk to your children about this or what to do, feel free to reach out to me or check out LinkedIn for more ideas.