Christmas Preparations - Involve Your Children

by blackspanielgallery

Find new ways of involving children in Christmas preparations to help offset missing elements of the holiday,

This year it is important when making Christmas preparations to involve your children. Think if Christmas is to be different what this means. How much will be missing? For younger children there might be no visit to Santa Claus this year. Visits by relatives may not be the same, visits to relatives might be different. Not replacing the missing elements of Christmas may well be depressing unless there is other involvement of celebration to take the place of what will be unavailable.

Involve Children in Trimming the Tree

You can involve children in trimming the tree by allowing them to place unbreakable ornaments near the bottom of the tree.  A broken ornament not only eliminates a nice Christmas ornament from your tree, but it becomes a hazard.  Stepping on broken glass can cause injury, especially if the ornament that was broken was glass. 

 

Assign the children a part of the tree they can easily reach, such as the bottom branches of the Christmas tree.  This can save you from bending over, and thus also involving the children with decorating lower branches benefits you.

 

One part of trimming the tree that is best done by children is crawling under the Christmas tree and adding the tree skirt.

 

Outdoor decorations

If you have lights to add to low bushes, consider overseeing the activity to make certain the electrical plug is in a good place and allowing the children to take over.  Better is to use solar lights.  One side of the bush might end up with twice the lights as the other, but you should show appreciation and do not “fix” the problem. 

 

Other ground level decorations such as placing path markers can be assigned to children.

Baking Cookies

Baking Christmas cookies is a tradition in many homes.  Assisting with the cookie making, even if it is as simple as using cookie cutters, can be done by children.  And boys can also be of help with cookie making.

Zazzle Aprons

Finding twists on Zazzle products is possible.  Zazzle allows customizing, so changing wording on a product can better meet your needs.  Below is shown aprons, which come in several sizes, including kid’s size.  Notice using the word “assistant” or “helper” on the smaller apron can make a child feel like really being a part of the baking team.

Be Accepting

If things do not come out perfect, you can do damage by complaining.  And if you think a child will not notice you hid that overused cookie cutter, or moved the decorations placed by a child, well just remember a child thinks.  Those things you perceive as improvements to the decorations the children perceive as rejection to their creativity, and a rejection to what they are expressing to you as what they want.  One simple rule is what they do is perfect.

Let Children Decorate Their Space

When I was a child, I was given a branch cut from the bottom of the family Christmas tree that needed to be removed so the tree could fit into the stand.  Let the children decorate their own small tree in their own space.  With battery operated lights you could consider adding a few lights safely.  Do have a spare battery, since batteries seem to discharge at very bad times, like Christmas morning.

Sing Christmas Carols

Have a sing along or at least play Christmas music while decorating.  Singing always lightens the mood.  The objective is making the children happy.

This article contains links to affiliate programs and Adsense advertising.  These must use cookies to allow for proper crediting. As a Viglink Associate, Zazzle Associate, and Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

Most Zazzle images use art from WPClipart.

 

Updated: 11/21/2020, blackspanielgallery
 
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blackspanielgallery on 05/08/2021

Involvement in activities adds to binding.

WriterArtist on 05/08/2021

Involving children in most of the activities shape them for their future. The excitement shown by kids is incomprehensible compared to adults. It need not be expensive toys and activities. Just involving them does the job.

blackspanielgallery on 11/24/2020

That could also work. I wrote this with the hope others would add ideas. Thanks.

DerdriuMarriner on 11/24/2020

Children most likely find all of your suggestions ways of feeling involved during a time that is supposed to be so interactive but will be far less so because of coronavirus restrictions. They also might relish in particular those Christmas path markers since the Charlie Brown colors and figures are pleasing not only to them but also to adults.
What might one do about stringing popcorn? Older children monitor popping and stringing, younger responsible for trimming the popcorn strings?

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