It’s no coincidence that “presence” and “presents” sound so similar. What do you remember most from your childhood vacations? Gifts? Or was it time spent in the presence of friends and family, doing things together to celebrate the season?
Radio, TV, billboards, and yes, even the Internet, will have you believe that Christmas is all about gifts. Your value and success as a parent is determined by the number of packages under the tree on Christmas morning. Seems a bit silly and sad, doesn’t it?
There are many ways to reduce the commercialism of the holidays and get back to what really matters: making memories and spending time together as a family. Here are some ideas for a less commercial holiday season.
Plan ahead:
The easiest way to have a memorable holiday season is to figure out what you want. What is important to your family? Do some research and plan ahead and find out the important stuff. Are you going somewhere for Christmas? Do you have commitments or traditions that you need to plan for? Do you have family downtime built into your schedule? What activities and events are happening that your family would like to experience?
Next, host a family brainstorming session and include your whole family—even the little ones can give you input! Discuss different options for family activities and be sure to include something for everyone. Create a calendar together and post it prominently. This will allow you to see what will happen next and provide a reminder that you have things that are important to your family’s agenda and make it easier to say no to things that don’t fit into your family’s vacation plan.
Embrace commercialism:
There is no escaping the commercialism of the holidays. I saw my first commercial for Christmas colored cereal on TV around 10:40 pm on October 31st; That’s one thousand two hundred and ninety-seven hours and twenty minutes before Christmas, or seven hundred and twenty-one hours and twenty minutes before December. Your family would need to go on a complete media fast to avoid excessive exposure to holiday commercialism, and while it’s not a bad idea, you can also turn commercialism into a learning tool.
Even very young children can distinguish holiday announcements. It’s never too early to talk about the media and its messages with children.
When you see or hear an advertisement, review it with your child. What product are you selling? What words do they use to make it sound really cool? What makes this product or product version different from the norm? How much use or fun would you get from a product like this? How much allowance would you have to say to get this product? Would having this product make you happy?
Children may not be aware of many of the marketing messages they are exposed to, but these messages can still influence them. Why not control HOW it influences them instead of leaving it to chance?
Every time your child sees or hears an ad, ask him to point to it and keep score. This number will increase terrifyingly fast. She decides to cut the commercialism by turning her back. For every ad your child gets to see and discuss with you, donate 10 cents (or any amount you’d like) to the charity of your family’s choice, or save 10 cents to help buy supplies for creative activities. This exercise allows for a lot of education and the opportunity to bond with your children about the very ads that promote consumerism and commercialism.
Advent Activity Time:
Many families have an advent calendar for Christmas. Most of these are commercially made cardboard calendars that contain some pretty bad chocolate. It does not have to be this way! You can start an Advent Calendar tradition that will create great memories very easily.
One way to do this is to create advent calendar coupons, one for each child for each day of the month of December. These should include quality time coupons. Some may need to be redeemed that day, or others can be saved and redeemed whenever the child wants. These could be for things like playing a family game together, a day trip to volunteer at a local charity or museum visit or other worthy ways to spend the day, an extra bedtime story, a special night “date” with each parent, make a favorite gift together, etc. You can give these coupons each day on their own or with a single wrapped candy or piece of chocolate. You can mix lists of things you love about your child or admire with the coupons. Every child is unique and it’s important to let them know that you see that!
By having a plan and identifying what is important to your family, you have the opportunity to create many memories and new traditions while giving your children the best gift possible: being in the moment and enjoying the holidays together.
What activities are you planning to do together as a family this season? Please share by leaving a comment below!
