Thursday, 24 September 2009

Fun Kid Traditions for Holidays

By Edie Mindell

Let me take you back a few years. It is Christmas Eve. You are running about the house pausing every few moments to strain your ears for any sound resembling sleigh bells, flight or a boisterous 'ho, ho, ho'. What you do hear is mom calling that it is time to open a gift.

The first gift

You race as fast as you can to the tree. You hardly dare believe your ears: open a gift, now, tonight? Older siblings greet the news with less enthusiasm, and rather knowing expressions. Missing these subtle clues you tear into your box expecting to find the toy of your dreams. What you get are PJ's.

Your childish heart is only momentarily dampened, older siblings dive into new jammies with familiarity and gratitude. This scene repeats every year. You can mark holidays in photos by what jammies you are wearing, not the gift you open.

A New Night Dress

Flash forward; you are the parent creating and contemplating holiday traditions. As you and your spouse begin a family the need for holiday traditions becomes more personal and warm. Your baby may not remember opening a red pair of footie PJ's, but the photos will tell the story.

Christmas pajamas are a great way to curb, control or reward your toddler's Christmas enthusiasm. Knowing there is a special gift under the tree that they get to open on Christmas Eve will occupy their attention and relieve pestering questions of, "When can I open my presents?"...or "Can't I open just one?"

The practical side

As a toddler or child, it may not have occurred to you that your yearly gift of pajamas was not only fun, but practical. Christmas is in winter, and kids grow so fast. Often there is a need for warm pajamas that fit, which perfectly coincides with the advent of the holiday season. Making the necessary item into a fun tradition is a great way to meet two needs with one solution.

Toddler appeal

New parents might worry that their toddler will be less than pleased with this gift and feel cheated on Christmas Eve. This feeling of being slighted may lead their precious toddler to spoil the holiday spirit with a full-blown tantrum! Well, this is not usually the case. Toddlers just love to open gifts. They might show a preference for one toy over another once they are all opened, but if there is only one gift opened this is not an issue.

Toddlers also love to be included with what their parents or older siblings are doing. If mom, dad as well as brothers and sisters all get jammies, then your two year old is not going to be disappointed.

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