Your guide to a calmer joy-filled festive season

Each year the Christmas holiday season seems to become more frantic.

Does it have to be? Is a calmer festive season possible?

I believe it is, though it does take planning, focus and effort!

Less really is more

For young children and their parents, less is definitely more.

Simple pleasures, centred around the family, create the strongest and best lasting memories.

Memories

Do you have some happy memories from your growing-up years, experiences you’d like to pass on to your children?

The reverse may also be true, there may be family traditions you want to change or avoid at all costs.

Either way is fine, as an adult you decide what traditions you want for your family.

Simple things like, are you going to have an advent calendar?
What type?
One for each child or one for the family?

What will your traditions be?

Perhaps special books you read in the weeks leading up to the celebration?

Create lasting memories

Children love spending time with their parents and grandparents.

Sitting together reading special books creates warm, lasting memories and it’s so simple.

If you don’t already own and can’t afford the special books your local library will have some you can borrow.

Op shops (Goodwill, Thrift) are great places to find all sorts of festive bargains, so keep your eye out.

Old photos of family Christmases are a great way to to tell family stories and relive past joys together with your children.

Decorations

Decorations are a source of wonder and joy for children.

There’s the beauty of special ornaments and there’s the fun of making some yourself. 

Special ornaments often have stories attached to them.
Create a special time look at a few together, tell the stories of why they are special.

Making decorations

• Depending on the age of your children these can be very simple, such as pasting coloured paper onto pre-prepared shapes. 

• Threading popcorn to make garlands.

• Paper chains are so easy toddlers can make them (with a bit of help!). 

• Making a pomander is fun for all ages. https://www.instructables.com/id/Pomander-ball-Christmas-gift/

• Decorating a glass jar for a tea light candle.

• Homemade sewing cards, small and simple, make lovely decorations and great gifts for grandparents.

  • You’ll need a simple outline of a tree, a star or a heart on seasonal coloured card, metallic thread and a tapestry needle and you’re good to go.

• Family members, grandparents for example, may like to help the little ones make some of these these.

One of my happiest childhood Christmas memories is of decorating our house with decorations we made ourselves.
Older children can create many designs with crepe paper streamers.
We once wove a false ceiling in our lounge room

Not Christmas?

When your festival is not based on Christmas, apply the same suggestions, substituting with your traditional ceremonies, stories, food, shapes and colours.

Home

It’s a great idea to base yourself, as much as possible, at home focusing on simple pleasures.

Choose a few special highlighted activities to enjoy outside the home.

Prepare the children in advance, talking through what you’re going to see and do.
Their anticipation will be part of the delight.

You can make an outing even more special by taking along some simple seasonal food to enjoy. Homemade or shop bought, it doesn’t matter.

Avoid the busyness trap

Life will be calmer and the experiences more enjoyable if you keep outings to a few, highly anticipated, occasions.

Pick and choose what’s right for your family.

It is so easy to fall into the trap of busyness.
You may consider scheduling some visits for after the hectic period, when everyone will probably enjoy it more.

Whatever your festival and however you choose to celebrate, I wish you and your family a calm and happy festive season.

Sometimes we forget, the richest resources are all around us

Montessori parenting, it all seems so straightforward in theory and everyone else is doing so well according to the picture-perfect families on social media.

The reality is that most people find everyday parenting is far more complex and challenging than they ever imagined.

When this happens parents can become stressed and anxious.Even disappointed in themselves and their parenting, unsure about where to turn or what else to do.

If that describes you, does it mean you’re a bad parent?

No it does not, quite the opposite.

You don’t have everything you need

What it means is you don’t yet have all the knowledge, skills or the support you need to parent your child in the way you would like to.

Here’s something to help.

Throughout my website, I talk about how important it is to meet the developmental needs of your child

“What are my child’s key developmental needs?”

They are:

• Sensory exploration

• Language

• Order

• Movement (fine and gross)

• Social skills

• Independence

Misunderstandings and mismatched expectations lead to frustration and unhappiness, for both parent and child.

How would you like to to get started right now on reaching more of your parenting goals?

You can when you select a time for your free Montessori Parenting Discovery call.

Montessori coaching via video or audio

Want to know more about realistic expectations and how to meet the key developmental needs of your little one?

Marie Kondo and Maria Montessori have a lot in common

The day I read this Domain article I was immediately struck by the similarities between the KonMari method and Montessori.

Montessori advocated for children to be surrounded by beauty.
The beauty of good, simple design in an attractive, ordered environment.

That doesn’t mean expensive.

Most of what you need is easily available in Op shops (Thrift, Goodwill) or on second-hand sites.

Dr. Montessori believed such an environment important for young children to fully experience inner peace and engagement.

We also know through an increasing body of research that children do better with fewer rather than more toys.

"Help me to do it myself"

My favourite Montessori slogan is "Help me to do it myself" and as adults that's precisely our job, to help the child in their quest for independence. 

We do this through the creation of an environment which supports their developing needs.

Sounds simple but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

If you don’t want to do it alone, help is here, just click the button

A supportive coach can transform your life

Testing times

The toddler years can be very testing parents.

Children are driven by their strong desire for independence to do things for themselves, by themselves and at their own pace.
A pace which is not always practical or convenient for parents.

When a toddler can’t satisfy these inner drives they become frustrated and distressed and the whole world will hear about it!

So what can be done and what does this have to do with decluttering?

Supporting the development of independence:

We support the child’s drive for independence through an ordered play-area and through organised age-appropriate tools and toys.

Let’s say, your child has (for example) a desire to do some drawing.

If your little one

• knows where to find the crayons

• and they’ve been taught how to use them (a whole other article. One one I cover in my Montessori Parenting - raising calm contented kids course)

• knows where to find the paper, and

• they have a place to work

they are freed from dependence on an adult and can do this themselves even when adults are busy with other tasks.

When a child is overwhelmed by clutter and are frustrated in their quest is it any wonder they can become cranky?

Life so much calmer and more enjoyable when the parents and children are partners on the child's journey to independence.

Physical changes really make a huge difference

Creating order in your child's play-area/bedroom is a great place to start,
It’s an investment which will pay dividends.

I can only agree with the final paragraph in the Domain article:

• "There’s a real sense of calm in an ordered home and it transmits to everyone living there (sounds woo-woo, but it’s true.)

• Getting a professional in is always worth it!"

I'm a professional, an early childhood Montessori specialist, with decades of experience creating beautiful, practical spaces for pre-school children.

If you'd like some guidance and support to create calm beautiful order in your home contact me here, I'd love to help you.

The results will be truly remarkable.