It’s end of term and it's quite possible the kids are experiencing "Madvember".
If they seem a bit unsettled, flying off the handle at the drop of a hat, you may not be alone.
You’re not going crazy, the kids are just going through Madvember.
“Madvember or end-of-term-itis, is the time of year when everyone is beginning to feel like their resources are completely depleted and everyone goes a little bit cuckoo to be quite honest with you,” explains Emma Woodward, a child psychologist.
She says there are ways to put order back into the lives of families so the run-up to Christmas can be a bit calmer.
Emma’s Top Tips for a calmer Christmas season:
1. Make a visual calendar . Manage your energy resources. Put up a visual calendar. What have you got between now and Christmas? Take off everything that's not essential, and then tick the days off so everybody knows how much time they've got left and how much energy they've got to use to get to the end of term.
2 . Early to bed. Put the kids’ pyjamas on early....watch Christmas movies, “just really slow things down.” As a last resort, focus on the kids’ mental health. If they need a mental health day off school, just give it to them. Take a Friday, it shortens the week, rather than interrupts it and put some boundaries around it so it doesn’t become a habit.
3 . Limit screen time. While screen time can be a great tool for busy, working parents it's not the best way to calm them down. Although the kids are physically still their brains are still very active and screen time doesn’t give them the skills to decompress, reduce their stress levels, calm down and manage their energy.
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