Post Holiday Blues in Children
It started with Halloween and all the candy and doesn’t stop until after New Year’s. Children are caught in a flurry of parties, late nights, holiday sweets, and lack of schedules. Preparing for the post-holiday return to life can become a struggle and cause children to slip into a blue cycle. Their moods can become melancholy and be filled with disappointment and sadness. Here are a few tips to help kids cope with post-holiday blues and even perhaps avoid them all together.
READ the Signs
Children often do not vocalize how they are feeling. Reading the signs of how they are acting to know what they are really feeling. Common signals such as lack of appetite, sleeping changes, apathy, and moodiness are the beginning signs of the blues. When they begin to through tantrums, refuse to do activities they love to do, or have an inability to control their impulses it may be time to talk to your pediatrician. Kids often go through phases but knowing the signs of early depression can better prepare you to address concerns before they become more serious.
Listen to What They Say
When your children talk, listen. Really listen. Validate how they are feeling, don’t try to fix them. Empathize with how they are feeling and show that you understand their disappointment or sadness. You are teaching them they can trust how they feel inside and to vocalize it.
Play with Your Children
During the holiday season we tend to spend more time with our children creating a close connection with them. Post holiday as everyone gets back into a routine, your children may long for that one on one time they had with you. Create some fun activities to do with your children after the holidays to foster that connection you had during the holidays. Getting outside with your children can also be a great booster. during the winter season many are missing the Vitamin D from the sunshine. Getting outside for a walk can boost everyone’s mood.
Structure
Sleep is the main routine that gets lost during the holiday season for both your children and as adults. We tend to have a “relax and free flow” attitude during the holidays. While as adults we can adapt, many children cannot adapt to the shift in sleep schedules especially. Attempt to keep some type of normal schedule during the holidays. Even a decrease of 20 minutes per sleep every night over time can make a huge impact on a child’s behavior and mood.
One tip is to create a schedule on your fridge of what is coming each day during the holiday break. Plan out what activities are coming and when there is going to be down time. Children thrive, especially those who have high-energy, with schedules.
Eat Healthy
Halloween candy to the pies of Thanksgiving and the sweets of Christmas can leave a perpetual sugar high. What goes up must come down. The sugar high crash can cause a variety of problems – especially after months of consuming sweets.
Get your children involved in creating some healthy snacks and meals. Creating unique healthy snacks will not only boost moods but allow you to keep that connection created during the play time of the holiday vacation. Include hydration with water and plenty of movement. Getting up and dancing or having a snowball fight will help the endorphins in the body to be released and elevate the mood. Getting back to healthy eating, exercise and hydration can ward off those frustration outbursts.
Hypnosis Can Help
Hypnosis for children can help with relaxation and a natural release of endorphins. Active communication and play during a child’s hypnosis session can also allow for communication that is being held back as a child is relaxed and feels safe and secure during the session.
Have questions on how hypnosis can help with your child’s post-holiday blues? Call me today to have a free consultation at 510 253-3549.