The holidays are filled with excitement, but changes in routine, loud gatherings, busy schedules, and high anticipation can bring out some big emotions in children. At daycare and at home, supporting children’s emotional well-being during the holiday season helps them feel safe and understood. Here are some practical tips for steadying your child’s emotions during the holidays.
Recognize the Impact
Even joyful events can stir up strong emotions. The holidays can be difficult because of disrupted sleep and meal times, separation from familiar environments, overstimulation from big events, excitement mixed with frustration or disappointment, and the pressure to behave “perfectly” in front of others. Recognizing that these may have an outsized impact on your child is the first way to help your child regulate.
Start with a Good Breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and this is especially true for children. The first things we feed our bodies in the morning has a huge impact on our blood sugar regulation for the entire day. Eating a meal with lots of protein and healthy fats is one of the best ways for children–and adults–to have good energy and stability throughout the day. When you eat only carbs for breakfast–like pancakes with syrup, or cereal with skim milk, French toast, a muffin–the your body rapidly breaks them into glucose, causing a high blood sugar spike because there’s no fat, protein, or fiber to slow digestion. This looks like a spike in energy–which is why children are hyperactive after a sugary breakfast–but high blood sugar is dangerous for the body. In response, the pancreas releases lots of insulin to bring the blood sugar down quickly, and this results in a quick energy crash (sometimes called a “sugar crash”), leaving you feeling tired and craving carbs soon after. You crave another sugary snack that is broken down into glucose and the cycle continues.
When you eat fat and protein first thing in the morning, however, blood sugar rises at a steady rate and is maintained throughout the day. No hyperactivity spike from sugar, no crash, and no complaining about being hungry in 45 minutes. Here are some breakfast ideas ideal for steady blood sugar and energy:
- Eggs prepared any way — scrambled, fried, hard-boiled, soft-boiled
- Bacon — try chopped bacon cooked into scrambled eggs
- Sausages links or patties — pair beautifully with eggs
- Avocado on whole grain 0r sourdough toast
- Full-fat yogurt with berries
- Fruit smoothie made with protein powder and full-fat milk or yogurt
- Breakfast sandwich with egg, bacon, and cheese
If these don’t sound like your typical holiday breakfasts, simply aim to serve your child something savory containing fat and protein alongside the cinnamon rolls or whatever other special holiday breakfast is served.
Try to Avoid Sugar-Only Snacks
Although breakfast is the most important meal for avoiding a blood sugar spike, snacks make an impact too. An afternoon Christmas cookie has the potential to cause a blood sugar spike and subsequent crash. If your child is having a rice crispy treat as a snack, try to pair it with a meat stick, some cheese, or some carrots and hummus alongside. If nothing else, give your child some full-fat milk alongside and this will help slow the sugar absorption. Cookies and milk pair well together for a reason!
Keep Routines as Normal as Possible
While schedules may shift during the holidays, children thrive when they know what to expect. Try to maintain regular bedtimes and nap times when possible. Keep familiar mealtime routines and try not to feed your child right before putting them to sleep. Continue daily rituals like reading before bed or quiet play after nap time. Even small consistencies help children to feel grounded.
Help Children Know What to Expect
Talking about holiday plans ahead of time can help reduce anxiety. Explain who they will see and where they will go. Let them know what will stay the same, like coming back to daycare, or bedtime routines. Consider showing your child a visual schedule so they can preview what is to come. When children know what to expect they can avoid worrying about unknowns and also be excited about upcoming events.
Create Quiet Moment
Balance excitement with regular periods of rest and quiet. Build a time of quiet into each day with calming activities like puzzles,coloring, or reading. Encourage deep breaths, stretching, or a cozy corner to help reset overwhelmed nervous systems. A regular time of reading aloud to your children can help everyone slow down and enjoy the connection the holidays should bring.
Give Children Choices
Offering small choices to children helps them feel like their opinions and preferences are important. Let children choose between multiple options, all of which would be acceptable with you as the parent or caregiver. Instead of letting them choose their entire outfit — which may or may not be appropriate for the Christmas concert — let them choose between the green sweater or the red sweater, or what color bow you put in your little girl’s hair. Let your child choose how they would like to eat their eggs (“scrambled or fried?”), or what wrapping paper to buy for their cousin’s gifts, or what Christmas carols to sing when you go caroling at the nursing home. Taking your child’s preferences into consideration is a way to make them feel valued.
Model Healthy Emotional Expression
Children learn by watching adults. Show them that big emotions are manageable by talking about your own feelings in simple ways. Demonstrate calming strategies like taking deep breaths, or politely requesting to have a moment to yourself. Model staying patient during stressful moments, and being thankful even in circumstances that are not ideal.
Let’s Work Together
At Intrinsic Scholars Academy, our priority is to help children feel safe and assured through routine and connection. We recognize that when children express big emotions, it doesn’t mean they are misbehaving, it means they are communicating. We all need to slow down and pay attention to what children are telling us they need, and work to support their emotional well-being. With patience, empathy, and consistency, the holiday season can be a time of emotional growth and joyful connection. And when families and caregivers work together, children feel secure across all environments, even during busy seasons. If you have questions about our care, please reach out to our daycare team.