They say that there are two moments in life in which the "magic" of Christmas is most enjoyed: when we are children and when we become parents. Living the illusion through your little one's eyes is really amazing, right? If you want your child remember Christmas as a very special time There are a few simple things you can do, take note!
Tinsel, Christmas carols (in loop, again and again, again and again), buy gifts, queues in stores, family visits ... The truth is that as adults Christmas is not always a time of "magic" but ... Do you remember your Christmas as a child?
Surely now that you have children, you want them to live Christmas with hope, to be a special moment of the year, isn't it? To think that With a little effort, time and imagination on our part, we can make our kids remember, as adults, these days with love and, why not, a little bit of a morriña, isn't it wonderful?
In Babies and moreThe nine things that have become infinitely better since I have childrenMaybe a priori Think that "doing that magic" is something cumbersome or that requires a lot of time (a time you don't have to be a father doesn't leave much room), but it's not like that, you'll see.
What can we do to make our child's Christmas special?
Anticipation and expectations (good)
The expectations They make things better or very worse (it depends on how we handle them), so to make your kids Christmas epic the best start is to generate excitement.
Question: What makes you want to eat your favorite dish at your favorite restaurant? The anticipation! If you know from two days before that is going to happen ... it will be two days to relax thinking about it! Let's take advantage of this to “warm the environment” to the kids.
All the preparations we will be doing will be like signals that indicate that the moment is approaching.
Advent calendars, for example, are a way to help children orient themselves in time and, visually, get an idea of how much is left. On top of that, as they include a daily surprise, there will be extra excitement every day until Christmas day.
Mind you, if we make expectations huge or if we focus on the purely material (the day of opening gifts) they will no longer be so positive.
- If they are very tall reality will not be able to overcome them, and then your son, instead of hallucinating, will take a chasco.
- If we focus on creating hype by the arrival of Santa Claus and the Magi we will be limiting their illusion to a specific moment and basing his "joy" only on gifts.
In Babies and more No more boys or girls gifts: 37 non-sexist gifts for this ChristmasAnd precisely what we are talking about is to create endearing memories ... So let's try to expand the plane and not just focus on gifts, please.
Traditions
Traditions have something that "comforts us", which gives us peace of mind. There is no ambiguity, we know what will happen, and we like it.
Children respond very well to traditions because it allows them to anticipate what will happen and they love that. As it is something that is repeated, they know what it is and what needs to be done in each phase, so they can be more autonomous and go part of those things, assuming more and more functions, which they love “because they are more older than last year ”…
In Babies and more19 children's stories to talk with Christmas children and their traditionsWe often associate traditions with "beliefs", especially in these times, but it does not necessarily have to be this way: you may not want to assume certain aspects of these dates in your home but you like doing something special ... Or you may not agree With none of this but you want your children to live something "different" on vacation.
In Babies and more Tell your child the truth about Santa Claus and the Magi or keep the fantasy: what experts sayBe that as it may, at any time (these tips are extrapolated to summer vacations, birthdays or any date of the year), those things we repeat, which become family traditions, make those moments special because they involve a break of the monotony, of the day to day, of the cole-casa, casa-cole.
Rupture of monotony
As I said, parties, whatever they are, feel great because they help us break the monotony, the day-to-day loop that ends up trapping us all, right?
Think: if in a couple of weeks you don't do anything special and stay at home on the weekend, when you look back, have they not gone very fast?
Doing special things also serves to make time go a little slower in our head: if we do the same thing every day, the head does like a “pack”, a block, and pulls, to something else.
In Babies and more 11 plans to make at Christmas with childrenHowever, if in the middle of that loop, for example at Christmas, one day we make cookies with the little one and he puts his fingers in the dough (and stains everything) and decorates them together, it will be a different, special day, and will create a special memory Nobody remembers repeated days, right?
The real magic
With all these things, your son is sure to have a great Christmas, but there is an extra, a final touch, the icing, which will make, really good, unforgettable: you.
- Instead of buying the advent calendar, do it at home with your little one. This in addition to involving time together doing a common project, which in itself is more than enough reason, allows you to control what surprises are included in the calendar. Because not everything has to be chocolate or toys, there are a thousand things that can be done to make the surprise of each day wonderful. What comes to your mind?
- The decoration of the house: it is clear that in terms of decoration if we let the children choose our house instead of the catalog of Maisons du Monde it will seem like a post-apocalyptic area, but it is worth making them partakers of the story . Go with the little one to buy some detail every year, one more ball for the tree that they choose (or that they make, which is also cool), a figurine of the nativity scene ... So we also establish another tradition!
- The Christmas tree can be assembled in a moment by daddies, and voila, or it can be an event of it, one that your child remembers with love. Instead of hurrying to solve the ballot, set up the day of “The great Christmas decoration”, it will be an event!
- The letter to Santa Claus and the Magi can be written by taking it from one of the thousand catalogs of toys that populate our mailboxes these days, but also (better) you can do it together. Buy cardboard, glue and glitter ... and have the vacuum cleaner ready for later, or you'll have glitter in the room until August.
- That special gift: the children see things in the ads, in the school they exchange ideas ... come on, that the sources of inspiration to ask the Kings are endless, and they are usually clear about what they want. But in addition to what is in his letter to Santa Claus, there is surely something that you, mom, or that you, dad, know that is going to hallucinate him. Put your ear on a day-to-day basis, listen to your son when he talks about his things, take him to places where his centers of interest are ... That already is THE BEST GIFT, but it will also make under the tree, the day 24 or day 6, something he does not expect, but something that tells him that the Kings, in fact, know him quite well.
The worthwhile effort
Papis, I know that life often overwhelms us, that the day has the hours it has and our list of pending tasks tends to infinity, but ...
- But children do not care if they have all their clothes perfectly placed in the closet and if there are two outstanding washing machines.
- But life goes by and if we don't do anything special, it happens even faster.
- But making life more beautiful, even a few days a year, does not take so long.
- But the illusion on his face, his happiness, is going to be the gasoline that makes you throw in those days ... more regulars of the year.
- But your son will only be a child once... and you don't want to miss it, right?
And you also know what? That when you're doing something nice for others, when you prepare things that make others happy, especially if those others are your children, one feels better. And brown work matters less. And the michelín nougat is not so terrible. Take advantage, time flies.
Happy Holidays.
Photos | Pixabay.com; iStock;
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