Learning Points: Managing your child's expectation will make for a happier Christmas

I often think of the poem Advent by Patrick Kavanagh, this time of year. There is a wonderful line in the poem, ‘Through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder’. 

"We must ask ourselves, whose needs am I meeting when I give my child everything they want? Does it make them happy?"

Now that the dust is beginning to settle on the skeletons and ghouls that terrified us last month, all talk moves towards the big C. While I normally try to avoid all utterances of Christmas until December, this year is unlike any other we have experienced. I have received many emails from parents asking for advice on how to manage their child’s expectations this Christmas. 

There is no doubt about it; we have had to manage so much, as parents, this year. Keeping the family ticking over while we home schooled our children and worked from home was no easy feat. The pressures have been many and now Christmas is rearing its demanding head. Even Santa has found it hard to figure out the logistics of delivering so much to so many during a global health crisis. With everything we have been through as a parents, it is important that we take a breath and give ourselves a break and importantly, cut our measure according to our cloth.