Intense Children and The Holidays: A Parent’s Guide
For intense children, the holidays can be a difficult season. Find out how to help your intense kids during the holidays, and get some much needed tips for navigating the chaos and overstimulation that comes with the season.
The holidays are upon us and our intense kids can make that quite a challenge. You may find that your already intense child actually increases in intensity and anxiety as the holiday season progresses. This can make an already busy season feel totally overwhelming for us as parents.
Intense Kids And Intense Holidays
First, I want to say that you are not alone and your child is not the only one.
This conversation comes up this time of year in every group I am a part of for parents of neurodiverse children. Truth be told, it makes sense, if we think about it from our kiddo’s perspective:
- The schedule is different
- The food is different
- School is different
- The people around us are different (and there’s usually more of them)
These changes in routine and expectation can be extremely difficult for a neurodiverse child to navigate.
How Do I Help My Intense Child During The Holiday Season?
Truth be told, I look at the time period between Thanksgiving and the first week of January as a kind of survival time for my family.
This means I prioritize the things that are absolutely necessary and important to me, and let everything else go. My focus is on relationships, connection and fun. This means we do little formal school work as a baseline, then on good days, we add more if possible.
Here’s the thing – I have learned NOT to feel guilty about this.
School will be there for us after the holidays. My children will not suffer academic failure because we didn’t do math regularly in December.
In fact, when I worked in the school system, the same was essentially true for this timeframe in our classrooms. The kids were a little bonkers, we had holiday crafts and performances, and as teachers, we did what we had to do to get through the season. We knew we would get back on track after the first of the year.
Why should homeschooling be any different?
The Raising Lifelong Learners Podcast Episode #178 – Tips For Helping Your Intense Children Throughout The Holidays
For intense children, the holidays can be a difficult season. In today’s episode, Colleen shares how to help your intense kids during the holidays, including tips for navigating the chaos and overstimulation that comes with the holiday season, so that your kids can actually have fun.
Links And Resources From Today’s Show:
- SPONSOR: CTC Math
- The Learner’s Lab, a Raising Lifelong Learners community created just for your quirky family!
- Managing Your Child’s Intensity During the Holidays
- Autism and the Holidays | Julie’s School Performance Story
- RLL 33: The Holidays and Your Differently-Wired Child
- Anxiety Toolkit Resources
- Respecting Your Child’s Sensory Needs: When You Have to Say NO
- Raising Twice-Exceptional Children
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