Season’s Greetings

The festive season is about to begin and there is an excitement in the air. Your household is a mess as children scurry around revelling in the freedom from the chore of going to school. You could help your child enjoy his holidays better:

Stick to focussed activities

Instead of racking your brains about all the things your children would want to do, concentrate on what they are doing. Rushing through too many activities prevents us from really appreciating any of them. Try reading together or solving a puzzle.

The upshot

Tell your children about the significance of festivals celebrated during the vacation, help them see festivals as a mirror of lifestyles at various times. Share memories and ideas about what makes the festival special to you. Do as much intergenerational celebrating as possible. If it is not possible to be with your extended family, how about neighbours? This helps you and your children get a bearing of life beyond the ‘now’ of commercialised holidays.

Share everything

Include your children in house work. Even small children can help keep the house tidy for unexpected guests. Consider assigning each child a room (in addition to his or her bedroom) to tidy.

That would give them a sense of responsibility and pride in their work. It would also make them feel wanted and help them learn to cooperate and share. You can actually make it sound like a game — let’s see room whose is the tidiest.

Focus on others

Encourage opportunities for your children to be charitable. For instance, they could give their old clothes away to less fortunate children around. You will have to help them avoid the what’s-in-it-for-me trap. And make them understand that it is extremely satisfying to give rather than to take. Involve your children in deciding how and what to give. Tell them about organisations that do a lot of charitable work. That should help them decide.

Communicate

Always have communication lines with your child open. That is the only way you can solve any problem. Your child may want all those toys he sees on television. Help him to be realistic in his expectations.

Flexible routine

It’s absolutely healthy to go easy on the eating and sleeping patterns during the holidays. But make sure that things don’t get anarchaic. It is a good idea to strike a happy balance between being flexible and sticking to some basic routine.

Go easy on yourself, too. Don’t expect to be the perfect parent during the holiday season. And, anyway, the perfect parent does not exist.