Reply to Christmas Stress/Rigidity

Forum Index » Kids With Special Needs and Disabilities

Reply to "Christmas Stress/Rigidity"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]OP I wonder if you eventually get enough space to reread your original post some of what we are saying will hit home. You are mad because you spend a ton of time and effort on the holiday and your daughter becomes overwhelmed by it (because if her recently diagnosed SN, which she doesn’t have adequate support for). A big part of adjusting to my kid’s SN was to try really hard to stop working so hard I resented my kids when things were awful, because their will be meltdowns and bad days no matter what. So you need to be the grown up here and take a step back and simplify because that’s what your daughter needs but also because you are ending up resentful. The best thing for your whole family is to have a peaceful morning with some gifts. They may not agree to that!! I have a sibling with ADHD (and I suspect ASD but he will never get diagnosed) who is VERY INTO TRADITION. Everything has to be the same every year especially for holidays. It has nothing to do with how much he likes each tradition, it’s a rigidity thing. One of my kids is similar but we have been working on flexibility and adaptability since 4 so that helps, but also I just say this is what we are doing and I make sure we do each person’s top thing. Be the grown up and be very strict about what works for your family.

I also see a lot of emphasis on Christmas morning in your post. Kids who are anxious build up those special times and are very easily disappointed. Often my favorite holiday traditions are special holiday events in the weeks ahead of time. We give cookies to the neighbors, go to a lights display things like that. Not everyone likes everything but some how it’s easier to deal when it’s not the one big morning. We also have started seeing a favorite cousin a few days after Christmas so that also helps to know there is something else exciting after the big day.

Obviously your daughter needs therapy the most so keep working on that but those are some practical ideas that have helped us.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics