Holiday helpers

Good Morning Swarm Moms

We are just days away from Christmas and this is a high pressure time for us.  As the head of household during this holiday season we are often in a position of completing last minute holiday preps.  There is shopping, cooking, baking, wrapping and decorating to do, but mostly there is merriment to be created and sustained in the midst of all the chaos.

If you have planned according to the SWARM suggestions, your finances will remain intact if you have set yourself up by planning ahead.  Keeping a list of what you need, making purchases ahead of time and remembering to gather your kids for chore assignments.  Assigning chores will allow the kids to really feel as though they had a part in your family's celebrations.  If you know your children's strength, this will also give them the opportunity to shine.

When I was a child of 12 or so, I began to take on the cookie baking for our holidays.  I was a bit quirky and often strayed from using the traditional color for sugar cookies by making purple trees and green stockings.  Nobody was there to interrupt my creativity so I was very empowered to do what I wanted. During the celebration with extended family I proudly brought the cookies out and could not be knocked down by disgruntled comments about my non-traditional colors.  In fact, I was very  proud of my cookies because 1) they tasted great 2) they looked fabulous and 3) there were adults at the celebrations who I knew enjoyed my adventures in baking and they went along happily for the ride.

My mother did not specifically give me this chore of baking.  I took it. My older sisters either removed themselves from the baking because of school work, after school jobs or plain disinterest.  My oldest sister was very handy at wrapping and sewing and made us all new (and larger) Christmas stockings one year.  Another sister liked to clean.  She didn't mind cleaning up to prepare for the Christmas party and she was the first one to pull the plates off the table when she was determined the meal was over.

All children have chores they may gravitate toward, often not even thinking about them as chores.  Watch your children and pay attention to what household 'chores' they gravitate toward and allow them the gift of not interfering.  You may need more help from them then they are willing to offer so write down what needs to be done and, depending on the number of helpers you will have, let them pick the number of tasks that will allow for even distribution.

Using the helpers you have on hand will keep your holiday time less stressful and it will allow for active participation in the holiday season.  This will make your children feel valued . . .  and that is the best gift you can give anyone.  Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!

Love and Peace,

Sharon, Director at Swarm