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Help for the Holidays - Avoid Overscheduling
By Polly | November 11, 2005
The last two days we talked about starting and planning early for the holidays, so today let’s talk about not overscheduling the family. Nothing leads to more stress and “grumpiness” than overscheduled and over tired parents and kids. So what can you do to avoid it this year? Get out your family calendar and write down (use a pencil) every thing that has been planned so far. Include everything that will require the time of any family member. Doctor appointments, work commitments, school plays and parties, field trips, Christmas tree decorating plans, visits with Santa, office parties, neighborhood parties, cookie baking plans, church obligations, Hanukkah shopping, Christmas shopping. After you get everything penciled in, check to see if there is any time left for just “hanging out”. If your schedule just has you running from event to event, then you need to stop and make some changes. What are the “must do’s” versus the “nice to do’s” on the schedule? If you have too many “must do’s” look for ways to simplify the events (i.e. buying most of the gifts on-line rather than in the stores) or sharing the events with another family or person. For the “nice to do’s”, start asking yourselves how really important is the event and if it can be skipped this year and replaced with something simpler at home. So help your kids remember the little things in life, by making those hard calendar choices now. Your kids will thank you later.
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Topics: Family Life Tips |