Holiday Stress-Busters

Holidays are right around the corner, and chances are you are extremely exhausted in dealing with a lot of stress that comes in celebrating festivities. Beat back the dread and have the family holiday of your dreams with these useful tips.

Lower your expectations – Be more realistic about what you can do. This usually involves changing the tradition. It can be equally as good, but it has to be unique to your family.

Reassess and prioritize – Holiday stress sets in when you try to do it all. To cope with stress, take some time out. Rethink what is stressing you out and look for alternatives.

Delegate – Create a job fair. Let each family member become responsible for a room to decorate and clean. Everybody takes a turn choosing what his or her job will be. These jobs can be color-coded according to age. Make your expectations clear to your kids, and you may have to lower your standard a little bit.

Don’t give in to the “gimmes” – The familiar phrase “I want, I want” could wear parents down over the holidays, but giving in to your child’s every request can cause financial difficulty. It’s okay to tell your child that a gift is too expensive.

Fight commercialism – Beef up on the traditions that do not cost any extra money, such as baking cookies, caroling, or providing help to needy families. To get your kids into the spirit of giving, ask them to pick a few of their old toys to donate to the less fortunate.

Be realistic about relatives – When the in-laws visit this season, set some short-term realistic expectations. Do not try to solve past issues with family members over the holidays since it is not the time to bring up every little irritation. And if going to a certain relative’s house every year causes a lot of stress, decide if you really need to do it. Perhaps you can go every other year instead.

Flexibility can buy you time – How can you get anything done when the little one are home on vacation and you only have a few days off? Take turns looking after the kids with neighbors and colleagues. You can even hire a babysitter to take the kids to the movies or to play with them for a few hours while you are working around the house.

Set limits for college kids – A college student coming home for the holidays can wreak havoc on family routines. Your teen has been on his own independence and doing things very differently, like having his girlfriend sleep on his bed. Or perhaps your daughter is now accustomed to sleeping with the radio blaring loudly. Whatever the case, you will need to set some ground rules in advance.

Take it easy – This time of year, people are so concerned by what others might say about them if they do not do everything perfectly. Ask yourself what imperfection really means. After all, you are human—just like everyone else.