Parenting
Tips for Happier Holidays with Kids
Guest Blogger: Amy Lawson
Holidays are a time for togetherness and family fun. During holidays, children can be a little restless. Meeting the new aunties and uncles, all new cousins, kissed by everyone and gaining unwanted attention, it can be daunting on them. Here are a few tips, to keep your children happy and stress free on a vacation.
- Children can get stressed out when they suddenly meet a large family and are hugged and kissed by everyone. They are not very comfortable with the sudden attention and hence tend to act irritated and cranky. To put an end to their distress, try preparing them before leaving on a vacation. Let your child know what and whom to expect to see. To make them more comfortable, try showing images of your extended family and the people they are about to meet.
- Travelling during a vacation can be boring and long, children tend to get restless on such long journeys. To keep them happy, carry their favourite games and toys along, this will help them deal with boredom. For your young children, you can carry puzzles and board games; and for the elder ones, you can carry video games and music to keep them calm.
- Children love your attention, to keep them happy try playing with them for at least an hour each day. Involve yourself with your children while playing, play games like scrabble, chess, word building etc. This will improve your child’s memory and entertain them as well.
- Instead of letting your child sit idle throughout the vacation, make them participate in physical games like football, basketball and other games. By letting them play every day, you will make them physically and mentally active.
- Children don’t like prominent changes to their daily schedule. Try to maintain a routine, even on a holiday. See to it that your children get their food on time and sleep on time; this will keep them content and active at all times. Avoid changing your child’s menu too much. Try to keep it as normal as possible.
- You may want to visit several places on a short vacation, but don’t schedule a lot of roaming on a single day. You may have an extended family, but avoid going to all the places in a single visit. Schedule meeting up with your immediate family and give your child the time to gel with them, rather than constantly moving from one place to the other.
- Throughout the holiday, stay with your child and help him/ her when in need. Encourage them to learn new things and be around new people. On vacations, children can have many doubts and questions, don’t leave your child’s question unanswered, answer all their doubts and educate them in the process.
- Most children love the attention of their parents; several children out there suffer greatly and are not as lucky as your child. Parents with low income and financial difficulties cannot provide for the basic needs of their child. If you know any such parent, you can help them by asking them to contact child tax credits for assistance.
About the Author
Amy Lawson is a mother of two; she has a daughter and a son. Amy says handling her children the first few times during a vacation was difficult. Now she uses the above steps to keep her kids happy.
