Medical App & Medical Advice with Hello Doctor

How to give your kids their best Christmas

Decorations. Carols. The smell of delicious roast in the oven: Christmas is wonderful! But, at the same time, there’s a lot of pressure, making sure everything is in order.

What a heart-warming feeling when you see your five-year old’s little face light up when she opens her present. Not seeing this, is the last thing you want. So, let us help you have a merry, fun-filled, distress-free Christmas.

It’s never easy to find the ‘perfect’ gift. Your children will always want to have the new ‘coolest’ gadget that their classmate boasted Santa was bringing them for Christmas The TV advertisements promoting the new ‘must-have’ toy that will ‘guarantee’ your child will have the ‘best

Christmas ever!’ doesn’t help either. So, here’s what you can do to make sure no one is disappointed over the festive season:

Ask your children to make wishlists: it’s important to teach your children to understand that Santa can’t bring just any present – he needs to know what you want and he’ll choose from the list that they make. So, ask them write out wishlists of the different presents that they would like.

It’s best if they do this at least a month before Christmas so that you have time to work out how much you are able to spend. If they ask why, tell them that Santa is a very busy person and needs time to get them the perfect present.

The most vital point of the exercise, however, is to explain to your kids which type of presents are realistic for Santa to bring, and which ones are not.

It’s better for them to understand this in advance so that they aren’t disappointed when they open their presents.

Remember, it’s not only about the presents: Explain to your kid(s) that the festive season is about spending time with mommy, daddy and the rest of your loving family.

If you have your special loved ones flying down from overseas, tell them that they can come with you to meet their favourite aunt and uncle at the airport. They’ll immediately be thinking of family.

You can also get your kids involved in the various activities that need to be done such as: decorating the Christmas tree and helping to prepare tasty treats. Let them add some of their own ingredients so that they can run to grandpa with a freshly-baked biscuit and tell him they made it themselves!

Create your own traditions: Every family is different and that’s how it should be! So, why not create special family traditions that will give all of you hours of fun. Ask your kid(s) what they would enjoy doing and make a list of family-fun games and activities.

They key is to turn it into a tradition that they will want to do each year and not see it as something that they HAVE to do. It’s a wonderful bonding opportunity, especially as they get older because you’re most-likely not going to see them as often anymore. So, make the time together, count!

Make this a festive season to remember, now…and for years to come. Merry Christmas!