12 Tips for Winter Break: Week 4 - Forgiveness and Moving On
Winter Break Tip #10 - Let It Go
Hey, parents? You get to choose your battles. Which means that sometimes, you choose not to go to battle. You know what's great about letting something go? You still get to be in charge.
When faced with a problem, we want to teach our kids and teens to evaluate if it's really a big deal. And even if it is a big deal, you still get to decide: do I want to work this out, or do I want to just let it go? Letting it go doesn't mean holding a grudge, or holding it against someone later. It really and truly means that you're moving past it.
Try it out over winter break (we're sure you'll have several opportunities to do so with your kids, your in-laws, or the holiday lines at the grocery store!) See how much more power you feel when you decide to just let something go. It's huge.
Winter Break Tip #11 - Time for Yourself and Taking a Break
The majority of our parents are over-scheduled - and their kids are, too. It’s awesome to have so many things going on! But it’s really, really easy to over-schedule yourself. Over winter break, make sure that you’re managing your time well - and that you’re allowing yourself to have some space to opt out of whatever else is going on.
Winter Break Tip #12 - Making Meaning
Encouraging moments of gratitude is especially important during the holidays. It’s easy to lose sight of all that we’re thankful for when the glitz and glamour of the upcoming holidays are all around us.
This can mean more than just being grateful for physical things, we can also expand this gratitude to acts and emotions as well. A delicious home cooked meal, spending quality time with loved ones and quiet, cozy nights in.
Encourage your children to share what they are grateful for and share your own gratitude list as well! When we take the time to really figure out all that we're grateful for, and to model that gratitude for our children, we get this really great perspective and reminder of all the good things that we actually do have in our lives.
Is Winter Break a challenge for you? Do you feel totally overwhelmed every year? It can be tough to keep things running smoothly when there’s so much time to fill - and especially tough for anxious, stressed out kids and teens (and their stressed out parents). We’re sharing with you our 12 Tips for Winter Break - but we’re available all year round for anxious child counseling, therapy for teens, and stress management for college students. Set up your free phone consult on our website at compassionatecounselingstl.com/consult
We work with kids, teens, and college students through the St. Louis region, including Clayton, Ladue, Webster Groves, Kirkwood, and Creve Coeur.
Thumbnail image provided by: Jeniffer Araújo