Three tips for parenting through holiday stress

Holidays are not holidaying and for many of us entrepreneurs and business owners, this is a stressful time of year. But today I will give you effective and useful tips on how to deal with your holiday stress.

We are wrapping up our ventures, managing our people, and trying desperately to find the time to be with our family.

We make a big effort to understand our children and I personally can relate to their strong desire for learning and relentless energy. Lucy and I have developed boundaries and rules so that we can maintain some balance and harmony.

Here are our three big tips to help you with the holiday stress

1. Make space for big emotions

It’s important to have your children name what they are feeling about the holidays.

In some cases, it may be sadness because they are not able to go to Nonna’s house and have a sleepover. This may forge the feeling of longing and worry.

By naming their feeling, you create awareness and get support them. This empowers you to make better more informed decisions.

2. Practice Reframing

This is a great exercise, and it takes some practice especially for me. With your children, practice finding better-feeling thoughts.

Instead of: you can’t go to Nonna’s this holidays.

Say: We are going to zoom Nonna each week and hang out with her remotely.

3. Focus on Gratitude

Start a morning gratitude ritual. At breakfast, eat together and ask each other to share one thing you are grateful for today

Examples:
I am grateful the four of us get to hang out together for the holidays
I am grateful that we share Christmas together and exchange gifts
I am grateful that we zoom our loved ones and spend time with them

We find these three tips for holiday stress incredibly useful with our children and it keeps them engaged and aware.

If you have any tips, please share them in the comments below as I am always looking for better ways to managing the holiday stress.

Until next time live with purpose.