Tips For A Successful Holiday Season As A Loved One Of A Child With Mental Illness

There are several holidays this season and children including those with mental health conditions are challenged by the excitement and life interruption that the holidays offer. The holidays bring about changes in structure with school breaks and holiday preparations including meals, social gatherings, and gift-giving. The holidays also bring parental pressure to create a fantasy for the child and the desire for the perfect family experience. Maintaining a spirit of hope during the holidays is possible when tempered by realism, planning, and self-preservation. 

It is important to communicate with caregivers and your children. Managing expectations for the day and upcoming events can only benefit those who love and struggle with behavioral illness. As well, this communication should elucidate anxiety or depression triggers to avoid or minimize symptoms or relapse. Flexibility and fun aid in teaching adaptability to change and the need for joy in life. Smaller gatherings, shorter stays, and the presence of familiar people welcoming sensory tools or support items can ease the stress of holiday engagement.  

Knowing your resources is another important element to holiday navigation success. These resources are those who acknowledge with love your child’s humanness and do so without stigma when those symptoms arise or come to aid in crisis. Resources include healthcare providers who can offer extra time or medication modifications during this challenging season. As well, as a number of the holidays are faith-based, it is important to seek out the hope and life-affirming message of faith leaders. Participation in faith-based traditions to this end is also helpful in framing the child’s psyche and perspective for the season.   

Just as care of the spirit is a necessity to endure the holiday season, self-care of the mind and body must be ongoing. Families and their children need to continue following a healthy diet, exercise, and be in the community. Avoid negative behaviors. Remember not to overcommit, overexert, overspend. Maintain balance and remember it is ok to decline invitations but do not isolate or disengage. Network and learn from other caregivers and families who manage their holiday experience well.  

The season will pass, and you will have highs and lows. A perfect holiday cannot be manufactured and for all the good that is done, you are creating memories.  

Childverse, Inc. published these recommendations, wishing you a blessed holiday season with good health and good fortune.