3 Tips for Making The Holidays Special for Little Ones This Year
/“How can I make the holidays special for little ones when we’re far away …or feel like we’re far away…from family?” This question came up a lot in a recent survey that I sent out. To answer it, I recruited my friend Annalee. She has 4 kids under the age of 8, moves every 2 to 3 years due to her husband’s work at the State Department and is often very far away from family for the holidays. Here are her 3 tips for how to make the holidays special no matter where you’re celebrating.
“A big lesson I’ve learned is that less is more!
Less Activities. “ Often times, as parents, we think we know what our kids want to do around the holidays and it can turn into way too much. We end up exhausted and the kids end up exhausted. And, everyone might have been happy doing less or simpler activities. One thing I’ve learned is to ask what they want to do (sometimes offer up ideas) and then actually do what they want to do. We’ve been watching holiday shows together and making simple paper chains. It’s been simple and nice. Even a small dance party to holiday tunes has been fun and breaks things up a bit.
Less is more with presents too. One year, we were back in the states with an overseas move ahead of us. We wanted to stock up on some extra toys while stateside. So, we thought “what the hay? Let’s just give it all to them for Christmas.” The presents were great but there were WAY too many, so much so that I could tell my kids were even overwhelmed and didn’t even know what to play with after opening all the presents. I even removed some before they could get to them because I realized it was too much. More doesn’t always mean better and I personally think it’s great to teach that to kids at a young age.
Learn about other traditions. This is great time to teach kids about other religions, traditions, cultures and how people celebrate around the world. Kids can relate because it has to do with something that means a lot to them. A simple way to do this without going anywhere is through children’s books. We celebrated Hanukkah with some friends a couple years ago and I loved watching my boys learn more about the holiday and even see their friends’ mom tear up a little bit while she explained why it was special to them. I think to remember that you can talk and ask questions with friends that share different beliefs is a great way to expose kids to different ways of thinking and viewing the world and even challenging their own views as they get older. This is simple and can make our own celebrations even more special.
So, this season, try not to stress about wanting to do more and what’s not under the tree (if you celebrate Christmas). If 2020 has taught us anything, simple joys are sometimes the best joys. And, if there’s ever a year that we can keep things simple, this is it! “
Special thanks to Annalee for her expertise! You can find more of her tips on Instagram at @herenow.collective