Daily Tips to Thrive Through the Holidays

Every day this month, I will be sharing some top tips to empower families to thrive through the holidays.

Just sharing a summary so far of days 1-8 so you have it all in one place.

Tip 1. Parents regulate their child’s environment

🎄 December is a very busy period with lots of school, workplace and community events.

😏 It can feel busy, stressful and overwhelming with a feeling of pulled in different directions.

⭐ Remember that your children, irrespective of their age, depend on you to regulate their environment and set the tone. If you are frantically rushing around and anxious about everything that needs to be done, your children will feel it.

🤔 How can you set the intention this month, to let go of perfection and focus on family connection above anything else?

Tip 2. Laugh in the face of chaos

🤣 Laughter is a great secret weapon and antidote to stress. It releases the happy hormones dopamine and serotonin and flushes your brain with oxygen.

It may feel like chaos is on the horizon with all that needs to be done and all the places you need to be before children break up from school and the holiday season starts.

Laughing can truly help to nurture an atmosphere of joy and lightness of being.

😆 Who or what really has the power to make you and your family laugh the most?

I seem to have a really childish sense of humour. The sillier the better!

Tip 3. Preparation is the key to success

As a mum of 4 kids, running my own business and tonnes of life admin, the only way I can personally handle having lots on my plate is to start planning well in advance.

Whenever I don’t, I just end up feeling incredibly stressed and don’t work well under pressure.

✅ Make a checklist well in advance of everything you need to prepare for the holiday season. Such as menus and ingredients, gifts, decorations etc.

Don’t be a martyr!! What can you delegate and to which family member?

It may help to hold a family meeting TODAY, discuss your plans for the holidays and be clear about who is responsible for what.

Involving and including all family members in the decision making process, fosters a sense of shared responsibility and invested ownership.

Life with children is so unpredictable, so the earlier you can do things the better.

☃️ Its only 7th December – you still have time.

📃 How do you organise yourself in advance, so that not everything becomes both urgent and important?

Tip 4. Say no to commercialism

🎁 What is the most creative, thoughtful gift you have ever received?

Talk to your kids about their ideas for homemade gifts that they can create for family members.

🍰 Perhaps it is baking, creating a family collage or photo book, a private dance performance, a dictated story about the person, personalising something you already own.

💰Huge savings can be made by buying almost new items in charity shops, which is of course also much better for the environment.

📃 You could ask your child to create a ‘wish list’ of experiences you can do together as a family, rather than writing a list of things you want to acquire.

I know a dad who gifted each child a day to spend with him, doing whatever they chose. Creating cherished memories and connecting is way more meaningful than just receiving an item.

💡 What ideas have you seen that work really well?

Tip 5. Empathy works like magic

🪄 Empathy truly is the magical cure to spread festive cheer.🪄

It works for all ages – family, friends and work colleagues.

You do not need to agree, disagree, ask questions, give advice or even try to make someone feel better.

👂🏻 Just really listen, empathise and try to reflect back in words how they might be feeling.

All anyone really wants from any relationship is to feel heard and understood.

Naming emotions in the moment, truly helps to tame them.

You can validate your child’s feelings without taking their behaviour personally.

🔮 Do you use empathy to de-fuse upset?

Tip 6. Joy list

😃 If you and your family could create a list of what truly brings you joy and happiness, what would you write down on it?

Being realistic, how can you prioritise and carve out time to engage in those activities that bring you joy?

📃 For me personally, top of my list would be:

✅ Quality downtime with my kids, just laughing, singing, dancing and being together

✅ Reading a great book (even better if we sit together as a family all reading at the same time)

✅ Spending time with close family friends who have children the same age as ours

What would go on your family joy list?

Tip 7. Create family traditions

👨👩👧👦 Do you have any special family traditions or rituals?

What are your core family values and how can you use these to create traditions that reflect who you are?

These should be straightforward and easy to implement, so they can be sustained and cherished over time.

Young children in particular really thrive with a sense of continuity and consistency.

It’s a very beautiful way to create a sense of connection, belonging and shared meaning between generations.

🌊 My husband and I, with our 2 youngest children were in Phuket during the tsunami in 2004.

🕯️ Our ritual every year on Boxing Day, is to place an orchid in a floating bowl of water and light a candle to remember all those who died and to appreciate the fact that we are still here.

Do you have any cherished holiday traditions or rituals from your childhood?

Tip 8. Teach conflict resolution

Spending more time with other people, will undoubtedly result in some challenging moments between cousins, siblings and family friends.

💖How do you set your child up with strategies to navigate disputes more peacefully?

With young children, you could role play activities where your simulate what to do and say in times of conflict, for example arguing over sharing toys.

Foster empathy in your older children, so they can learn to see situations from someone else’s perspective, by talking over previous scenarios and times of conflict.

Teach your children to use “I” rather than “You” statements to express their feelings and opinions.  This is much less confrontational and respectful of another person and avoids that person feeling defensive.

How do you help your children learn the art of compromise, find solutions and a middle ground, so both parties can walk away with a win: win situation?