Enjoying Christmas with Toddlers

The holiday season can be stressful if we try to do too much, but
throw in a couple of toddlers and things can become very
overwhelming quickly, not to mention stressful for your kids!

Here are some toddler tips to help make your holiday season more
enjoyable for the entire family:

Try as much as possible to include your toddlers in holiday
activities. At this age they like to "help", and if you include
them in what you are doing it often reduces the possibility of
temper tantrums.

My boys enjoyed helping me decorate our Christmas tree. We
debated whether or not to let them touch the tree, but we found
that they really just wanted to play with the ornaments. We put
all breakable ornaments up out of their reach and hung
non-breakable ornaments where they could touch them and play with
them. Every morning they pull the bottom ornaments off the tree
and throw them on the floor. For the most part they leave the
tree alone the rest of the day. At night I hang the ornaments
back up, and the next morning we start over again. The boys
think this is really fun.

I turn our outside Chrismas lights off and on at the same times
every day. The boys look forward to when I turn all the lights
on and remind me if I forget. They love looking at our lighted
"reindeer" out the front window. You could also take the family
on a drive around the neighborhood to look at holiday lights.

When you're visiting friends and family during the holidays, try
to minimize any disruption to your toddler's schedule as much as
possible. If your toddler continues to eat and sleep at the same
times as normal, he or she will be much better able to cope with
holiday festivities.

Try to resist the urge to give your toddler too many holiday
sweets. At Thanksgiving I made the mistake of giving our boys a
tiny taste of homemade fudge, and then they wouldn't leave me
alone. It's amazing how boys who can't remember not to bite
each other can remember where mom hid the candy.

The holidays are a great time to introduce new DVD's and CD's to
your toddlers. Yes, Elmo has a decent Christmas DVD. It's a
nice change to the other two Elmo movies we watch every day.

I did a lot of my Christmas shopping online this year to avoid
dragging the boys to the mall. I'm too tired to go out after
they go to bed at night. It's nice having things delivered to
your front door! Many web sites offer free shipping this time of
year.

Don't feel like you have to buy your toddlers tons of presents
for Christmas. At this age they're more interested in how much
they like a toy, not how many they have. Now if I can just
convince the rest of our family of that. If your toddler
receives too many presents for Christmas, put some away for a
rainy day or for when the toys he or she is playing with lose
their appeal.

Toddlers love books. Don't forget the "reason for the season".
Read the nativity story to your toddlers and introduce them to
the baby Jesus.

That's about it! I love this time of year and these simple tips
have made our family's holiday season fun and nearly stress free!

Article by:

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of What's for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For more recipes, organizing tips, home decorating, crafts, holiday hints, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at www.creativehomemaking.com.

This article is available for reprint with author's resource box intact and all links live and clickable. Copyright is reserved by author.

Click the XML Icon to Receive Holidays Articles Via RSS!