avoiding holiday overload

Wow.  What a year it’s been.  New job, new house, new friends, new business  . . . Needless to say, lots of new seeds have been sown throughout the past year, which I am so unbelievably excited to watch grow.  I feel so fortunate to be able to say that I live where I do and that this is my life.  I love my life.   I learned to say that this past year too.  

Now, for the sensory stuff in my head . . .

I don’t even celebrate Christmas, and constantly experience sensory overload around the holidays.  Especially over the course of the next week there is a lot more.  More: LIGHTS, SOUNDS, PEOPLE, FOOD, SMELL, TOUCHES.  For the sensory sensitive among us - its ALOT to process.  

Heres an analogy for you - If you think of your child’s brain as a system of files, with compartments for different sensations, I imagine that their files are out of order and sometimes misfiled in the wrong drawer. Therefore when their nervous system attempts to process certain sensations, they get misfiled and misinterpreted, or sometimes not interpreted at all.  Your child’s nervous system is also sometimes in a very big, anxiety ridden hurry to file things away, and may misfile sensations because of this also. Imagine that during the holidays your child suddenly has stacks of papers to file away, instead of single sheets.  You get the idea - ultimately there’s a big mess leftover that desperately needs to be organized.  

Don’t forget to give your child several moments of organization throughout each day.  That could mean anything that resembles hard work, routine/structure, calmness, where you let them go to their happy place.  For some kids that looks like playing with play doh alone for an hour.  Taking a bubble bath and playing with shaving cream in the bath.  Watching their favorite movie in a quiet room somewhere.  Going for a long walk or hike, playing on the playground outside (lots of swinging and hanging from stuff).  Receiving a hand or full body massage with yummy scented lotion.  Whatever it is, you probably know what calms your kid down the best and has the longest lasting effect.  Make sure to make time for them to do this at least once, if not several times throughout the day to keep them from experiencing a total sensory overload.  

And of course, if you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to email me at [email protected].  

Wishing you all Happy Holidays and a very happy New Year to come!!