The holiday season is a very busy time of year for many. Despite the busy-ness it's important to be very mindful of how this effects your children. While scampering abount trying to attend to everything that needs to get done your children may be absorbing your holiday stress without even showing it.
Here is one strategy to keep this from happening in your household.
Tip #2 - Maintain a predictable routine. As much as your child may look forward to the upcoming holiday festivities any ‘unknown’ can trigger anxiety. Children with special needs do best when they know what is happening next. Therefore, it’s very important that you communicate what will be occurring on a daily basis. A visual schedule is a great way to do this.
Depending on your child you can present the entire schedule at once or choose to relay what is happening on a day-to-day or week-by-week approach. When your visual calendar starts before school vacation, you want to create two schedules – one while ‘in’ school and one when ‘out’ of school, unless your child is home schooled.
Being home from school for holiday break is different from going to school everyday yet the days still need to be predictable. Creating a schedule or calendar for each will help prepare your child for the shift in daily activities and minimize meltdowns.
Want more strategies? If so, click here to access Taking the Stress Out and Keeping the HO-HO-HO in the Holidays
