How to Keep Calm and Enjoy a Stress-Free Christmas with Kids
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. But it can also be the most stressful time of the year, especially when you have little kids.
Seeing your family enjoying Christmas brings new meaning to the season. But it can also add to the stress of Christmas. From the disrupted routines to the overstimulation, the neverending Christmas events and the endless expectations, managing Christmas stress is a job in itself.
We share simple tips to navigate the festive season with ease, ensuring a stress-free Christmas for you and your little elves.
1. Maintain your routine
Disruptions to your routine during the festive season are inevitable. There’s the late nights, Christmas celebrations and, for toddlers and up, the sheer excitement of the impending arrival of the big guy in the red suit.
While there’s not a lot you can do about the disruptions, you can still try to maintain some semblance of a schedule. That may mean keeping mealtimes consistent. Or sticking to bedtimes on the nights when you’re home. Kids thrive on routine this will help to give some stability.
2. Start a family Christmas tradition
Family traditions are far more beneficial for kids than something for them to look forward to each year. Those fun little rituals can actually help to encourage their sense of identity and belonging. At Christmas time, family traditions can become the anchors of a memorable Christmas.
Your family traditions don’t need to be extravagant. Something as simple as baking and decorating cookies or wearing a silly hat for the photo with Santa. Your traditions can also evolve as your children get older. These are the moments that your kids will look back on with such fondness.
Plus, having something exciting to look forward to can also help with your own stress at Christmas.
3. Imperfectly perfect
Perfection is not the prerequisite for a wonderful family Christmas. Especially when you have little kids. There’s a good chance that they’ll break an ornament or cry when they see Santa. On Christmas Day they’ll be a catastrophic combination of overtired and overexcited. They’ll likely look at the incredible spread on the Christmas table and just want a bread roll with butter.
No amount of stress can change any of this. It’s imperfectly perfect. And these are likely the moments that will make for your most cherished memories. Have realistic expectations and try to go with the flow.
4. Simplify the festivities
If you’re really looking for a stress-free Christmas, keep it simple. Focus on what brings joy to you and your family and do more of that. This might mean fewer decorations or saying no to an invitation but it might be exactly what you need to reduce the frenzy of the season.
Sometimes – for whatever reason – you can’t opt for a simple approach. In this case, it’s all about balance. Prioritise the activities and traditions that matter the most and adjust or let go of less important ones.
This isn’t necessarily about doing less. It’s about doing what’s right for you and your family, focusing on connection, joy and balance.
5. Practise self-care
Amidst the whirlwind of holiday activities, self-care often takes a backseat. But it’s actually at the heart of a stress-free Christmas.
Yes, it’s challenging to find time for self-care when you have a baby or young children. But taking time for yourself isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity. Take time out for your morning coffee. Go for a walk each day. Run a bath once the kids have gone to bed. Do some relaxing Christmas activities, like Christmas craft or baking (without the kids to minimise the stress!). Do whatever works for you to find some space to breathe and recharge.
Even though it’s for the baby, the nursery can also often be your sanctuary. With the right nursery chair, you can lie back and read while the baby naps during the day. Or even recline and have a little nap yourself, away from possible interruptions.
Merry stress-free Christmas from iL Tutto®
At iL Tutto®, we’re on a mission to support parents. Usually that’s with quality, Australian-designed, award-winning.
But we’re also here for the milestones and special events of life with kids.
Merry Christmas from the iL Tutto® family to yours. We hope it’s stress-free and magical.
