Make Christmas Eve fun for the kids and stress-free for the parents with these valuable tips!
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Ask any parent, and they will tell you Christmas Eve with kids is as fun as it is challenging. Parents have to juggle buying and wrapping gifts and preparing for Christmas dinner. They also need to entertain guests and clean the home.
In the meantime, they need to handle rambunctious little fellows. Throw in all the excitement of small children, which comes with the holiday. All these are enough to make even the most level-headed parents anxious and stressed out.
We decided to share a few holiday survival tips to make it a happy Christmas Eve for everyone. These will make the time fun for both yourselves and the kids. Check out some of our ideas below.
1. Set an Example
Kids feed off the emotional state of their parents. If you’re stressed out, they will sense that and become anxious themselves. Learn to relax and be calm. Have a good time. They are more likely to feel the happy vibe as well.
2. Go Easy on the Sugar
It can be convenient to overload kids with sugar during the holidays, especially if Grandma and Grandpa are around. After all, cakes and cookies are a staple of many Christmas Eve traditions.
They, though, can lead to health troubles such as tooth decay. Sickness and children don’t go well since it can make them fussy.
Monitor your kids’ sugar intake and make sure they aren’t getting too much. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends no more than six teaspoons of sugar a day for the children.
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3. Get Help
Any Christmas celebration can be overwhelming, especially when you’re the host. Don’t feel like you have to do it all by yourself.
Ask Grandma to read to the kids while you cook. An older cousin may play a game with them, so the adults can get some peace and quiet.
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4. If Traveling, Keep the Kids Entertained
For many of us, Christmas often means a long road trip to visit family even during Christmas Eve. Kids, on the other hand, tend to become impatient the longer they have to sit.
Ease the stress and restlessness by providing them with plenty of in-car entertainment. These can include DVD players to watch the best Christmas movies or games such as Mad Libs.
What Is Mad Libs? It is a type of word game where participants try to fill in the blanks to complete the story.
5. Capture the Memories
Despite all the stress, spending Christmas Eve with the kids is a special and magical time. Take a moment here and there to stop and appreciate it with your family.
Capture it in pictures or videos. These will be memories you’ll cherish for years to come.
Watch this video from Supernanny and find out more ways to survive Christmas Eve with kids:
Christmas Eve is one of the special times of the year. We can anticipate some delicious food and plenty of beautiful gifts. It’s also an excellent time to reflect on the year that was. Most of all, it’s a perfect excuse to be with family and friends. Celebrating it with children, though, can be challenging. They can whine, throw tantrums, become fussy, or misbehave at any time. If you need to calm them down, consider the tips above. They can make the holidays stress-free and enjoyable for everyone as you all look forward to Christmas Day.
Do you know other ways to stay stress-free this Christmas Eve? Share it with us in the comments below!
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on December 21, 2017, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
There is no such thing as a “sugar high” or hyperactivity due to sugar intake. The science is clear. It is the event or caffeine intake that makes kids hyperactive.
A lot of people say the sugar high isn’t real, and that the actual reason kids are so hyperactive is because they usually consume excess sugar during exciting events like holidays and parties with lots of other kids.