Families with special needs children face unique challenges that often make celebrating the holiday season more demanding and more stressful. For example, special needs may find it difficult to accomplish holiday tasks such as Christmas shopping while maintaining the care level required for their child. In addition, the holiday season is a time for family gatherings, which requires balancing the child’s needs against family expectations. Similarly, relatives who do not visit with the child often may have difficulty connecting. And simply the stress of trying to accomplish all the traditional activities of the season such as sending Christmas cards, decorating, and special family meals compound the stress that may already be present.
Fortunately, there are real, concrete ways to help alleviate some of the stress and burden. Learn how you can help all friends and loved ones enjoy the best this season has to offer in this insightful article by Connecting for Kids.
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Families with children who struggle face many of the same challenges that typical families face during the holidays (figuring out how to spend time with relatives, finding the right holiday gift, negotiating family gatherings, and so on), but for many CFK families, there are added demands that can make ordinary challenges exceptionally difficult. While many of our families know how to resolve these problems, many have trouble actually implementing the solutions because our culture reinforces self-reliance and putting family before ourselves. Others simply don’t have time or energy to do more than simply survive the holidays. According to CFK families, the things that make the biggest difference between surviving the holidays and enjoying them are:
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Connecting for Kids provides education and support for families with concerns about their child and serves all areas of childhood, from physical, emotional development and communication to adaptive and cognitive skills.
