Most adults expect late December to be one of the happiest times of the year for kids, but child therapists say the anticipation of holidays plus disrupted routines during winter break can stress kids out.
The more children are excited about a tradition — like counting down to the New Year — the more likely they are to act out, said Patti Napolitano, a therapist at Hope Behavioral Health in Northeast Ohio.
“For kids, we know that their central nervous system is just physically so much smaller, and so it's so easy for their natural curiosity and imagination and wonder to lead to actually worse behavior," she said.
Napolitano said she's noticed more kids who seem easily overwhelmed by emotions, lose control and have tantrums at ages parents wouldn't typically anticipate. She said that can be attributed to lags in social-emotional learning due to staying home during the pandemic.
"You've got all these kids who experience this pandemic and this shutdown in the context of a few caregivers, when typically they might be seeing preschool classmates, kids at the playground, kids at the mall playground and ... work through some of these peer interactions," she said. "Now, the first time they're leaving home is going into preschool, going into kindergarten [and they haven't] had those designed step ups ... [of] small failures and then a quick reset and reassurance from a parent."
Fewer snow days to look forward to and more standardized testing also can cause stress for kids around this time of year, Napolitano said. Add to that the reality that during the break some children may be grieving a family member or end up spending too much time playing video games, which can affect their mental well-being.
"Some of the things that we look forward to in wonder as adults are maybe not as wonderful for children," she said.
One way of supporting children in your life is to take them volunteering, suggested Napolitano. The practice builds on most kids’ desires to be helpful, and it helps with stress, she said.
“If you've got a kid that you have in your life [try] really engaging them this holiday season to think about 'how can I be a light to others? How can I be a light in this dark time?' Napolitano said. It "can be really inspiring for them and give them a sense of control over what's happening.”
