Christmas meltdowns: why they happen and how to handle them

Paint Pots

Our Founder & Principal, Georgina Hood, recently spoke with Mother & Baby about how to handle the parental challenges of Christmas meltdowns.

Christmas is a time for celebration, for many of us this means; changes to our homes as we decorate, have visitors, changes to our routine as we go to visit family and friends, new foods to try and all sorts of unspoken social expectations on parents and children as we celebrate on Christmas day.

All this change to your child's usual routine and environment can be unsettling, add in a dash of excitement, a sprinkle of tiredness and we have the perfect recipe for a Christmas meltdown.

Georgina explains that from a child's perspective 'Either staying away from home with friends and family or having family staying in your home can be overwhelming. Equally so, noise and excitement, a lack of routine, topped by an overwhelming amount of gifts to open and too much enforced fun! This combination can lead to sensory overload and a melt down.'

So how can we prepare our plans to best avoid overload for our children and ourselves? 

Georgina's top tips include:

  • keeping to a loose routine where possible eg bedtimes and mealtimes
  • keep sugary foods to a minimum
  • gently introducing the topic of Christmas through stories that reflect your celebration plans, so maybe presents, family meals and decorations
  • keep your plans simple and flexible
  • stagger gift opening over a longer period of time, even if it takes hours or days

What about once a Christmas melt down happens while out and about, maybe visiting some else's home, how do we handle it?

Georgina suggests 'being more on the lenient side, there is a lot going on and even ourselves as adults, we will have moments where things all feel a bit much. Consider if a nap, snack or short break will be enough to change state and if not, perhaps it is time to bring your visit to an end.

If is is time to bring your visit to a close, explain to your child ... what you see them feeling, that you understand how they are feeling and how we are going to look after their feelings. So some simple words could be ... “I can see you are feeling overwhelmed, I am feeling tired too - lets go home now!"

You can read the full article here.