With the excitement of the holidays approaching, comes excitement in our children, and usually a large amount of increased stress in parents. This is especially true for parents who have challenging sensory-based behaviors to handle on top of thinking about packing and traveling, or just cleaning the house for company, cooking or shopping for meals to entertain family & friends, entertaining other children who may escalate your own child’s behaviors, or who may have conflicts with your child (like cousins or neighborhood kids).

So I came up with a list of key points to remember around the holidays, as if I was talking to a parent in my office:

Tips to Make the Holidays Smoother:

  • Plan ahead for changes in the schedule
  • Try to keep your child’s sleeping and eating schedule the same
  • Plan for sensory breaks built in throughout the day (to prevent over-stimulation or over-tiredness)
  • Plan to incorporate sensory and self-regulation activities into your daily routines (have opportunities for movement, quiet time, a change of clothes, chewing objects, etc…to prevent meltdowns based on what makes your child’s nervous system stressed)
  • Set aside quiet time opportunities (away from other siblings, away from large family gatherings, etc…)
  • Setup a schedule for your child to refer to throughout the trip or for each day, if your vacation is packed with a lot of activities in one day. This schedule can be a group of pictures on a dry erase board or poster board, or a written outline for those who are good readers
  • Sleeping arrangements (try not to change too much if your child is sensitive to his/her bedtime routine).
  • Make your own list of survival tips if you are concerned about your child acting out or being overly stressed.
  • Shop early for food/presents so you are not rushed and more stressed.
  • Think about the foods your child will be around and what type of foods may affect your child’s behavior in a negative way, and plan to have your own food accommodations in advance

Foods Recommended:

  • A high protein diet
  • Low sugar foods
  • Organic when possible, especially for meat, milk (if any at all), grains and porous fruits that can easily absorb pesticides when they are growing

There are some great pies and desserts that can be found in health food stores more commonly now, to address food sensitivities, such as gluten, wheat, dairy, soy & other ingredients that can affect our children as well as the rest of the family, such as sugar or dyes & preservatives.

It’s also easy to find recipes online now to accommodate your child’s food sensitivities. Try to do your best to incorporate foods and routines into your daily schedule that can be helpful to others as well as your child. You don’t want to make your child look any more different that necessary, so you may find fun things to do with family in town or some great recipes that are yummy for everyone.

Here’s a sample plan to help you come up with your own plan, specific to your child:

  • Have chewy foods available (snacks in the car) or chewy objects (chew tubes, teethers, soft pencil grips on a shoelace, etc…)
  • Plan where the local parks are if the weather is nice, or know where the indoor kid places are, to provide your child with a good physical outlet
  • Plan physical activities into your vacation, based around your child’s sensory needs and dislikes (skiing could be a great choice or it could be disastrous for a child who is hypersensitive to touch).
  • Balance out your plan for sedentary or adult-based activities with some sensory calmers.
  • Know what you are going to tell your relatives or friends that you don’t see often, when you may need to make some accommodations for your child. This includes thinking about how comfortable you are with discussing your child’s sensory difficulties with the rest of the family, and what you want to share with them, if you choose to be selective.)

Another very important tip to keep in mind is that you need to be calm and organized in order to be an effective parent for your sensory sensitive child, so you have to take some time to plan for yourself.

Next week we will have Suzette Boyette from the Parents Everywhere network on the show to talk about ways to distress the body and stay sane for the holidays!

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