Christmas holidays, for many families are fun and exciting. But for some children, holidays might make them feel stressful especially for those who have to leave their “intact” family member they used to have for whatever reason.

David Fassler, M.D., APA trustee-at large and a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Vermont says,

“The holidays often remind children of what’s changed and what’s now different,”  For example, he explains, “a child from a divorced family may feel sad on some level because he misses the ‘intact’ family he used to have. A child whose parent is on active military duty may feel it’s particularly unfair that her daddy or mommy needs to be away over the holidays.”

Here are some tips posted by medem.com for parents to help children cope with holiday stress:

1. Discuss holiday plans well in advance.
2. Make sure kids get plenty of rest.
3. Limit the amount of time kids spend alone watching TV or playing video games.
4. Don’t promise things you can’t produce. 
5. Don’t try to compensate for an absent family member with lots of gifts.
6. Uphold and maintain family traditions even if a parent is absent. 
7. As the adult, take care of yourself.

Read more…..

American Psychiatric Association  [medem.com]

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This entry was posted on Saturday, December 24th, 2005 at 9:53 am and is filed under Health & Safety, Holidays, How-to Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.