Children & Post-Holiday Behavior Problems
Re-Focus on Healthy Eating, Bedtime & Quality Time
Dec 27, 2008
When Christmas ends, children are sometimes dealing with leftover behavioral issues brought on by the excitement, the late nights, the extra candy in the diet and a lack of quality connection time with their parents. It can take a few days to get the kids back on track so that behavior will return to a normal level.
Return to Healthy Eating
Help children be more in control of their emotions and behavior by feeding them a very healthy diet as the excitement of the holiday wanes. If they have been enjoying candy and other treats over the past month, switch back to exclusively healthy foods.
Stay away from processed foods, especially those with artificial colors and flavors. According to the Feingold Association, artificial colors and flavors contribute to behavior problems. These types of foods are abundant during the holidays and contribute to many tantrums and outbursts.
Instead of processed foods, serve eggs or oatmeal for breakfast, homemade soup for lunch and simple, home cooked foods for dinner.
Make Bedtime a Priority
Holiday celebrations often mean that children are staying up past their usual bedtime. Added to that is the anxiety and excitement that may lead to difficulty sleeping for some children as they wait for Santa to arrive. A few days or more of being outside the regular bedtime routine results in cranky, over-tired kids.
Refocus nightly efforts on maintaining a firm bedtime routine. Many children find the regular evening routine comforting and soothing. To help make bedtime more relaxing, offer a cup of chamomile tea or another caffeine-free warm drink. After several nights of improved sleep, behavior should improve.
Spend Quality Time with the Children
Christmas is often focused on the children, but the adults are generally so busy making sure everything is decorated and wrapped and everyone is feed, that there is not much time leftover for quality connection time with the children.
This is easily remedied by spending the days after Christmas playing with the children. Play the new board games that Santa brought, read the new books and go for walks around the neighborhood to look at all the holiday decorations that are still up.
Post-holiday behavior problems usually stick around until things are back to normal in a child’s home. Speed the return of good behavior by getting back to a healthy diet, making bedtime a priority and by spending daily, quality, connection time with your children.
Source:
Feingold Association of the United States (FAUS), 554 East Main Street, Riverhead, NY 11901, or phone (631) 369-9340
