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As the holiday season gets underway, we encourage you to take charge of what you CAN do to have more joy and fewer problems!
This starts with deciding for yourself what you most want out of the season – and then speaking up, reaching out, setting boundaries, and using your emotional safety strategies in ways that help make those things happen.
Would you like to enjoy being with loved ones without dreading another heated argument around the dinner table? Practicing some emotional safety skills and some redirection strategies can prepare you to head to your gatherings with more confidence.
Would you like to worry less about money or overspending? Maybe this is the year to make a new plan to simplify giving with those you love.
Would you like a break from the long series of illnesses affecting your family through the current ‘tripledemic’? Maybe going out in groups less than usual and creating more at-home traditions is the recipe for more joy in your family this season.
These five free resources offer helpful advice and tips on ways to set boundaries, navigate time with family members, and make safety plans so you and those you love can have more fun and fewer problems throughout the season – and into the new year!
Each of these articles is available in English and in Spanish:
- How to Make Family Gatherings Great Instead of Awful
- Holiday Power Strategies: Take Charge of Emotional Safety!
- Holiday Boundaries: How Adults Can Help Kids Be Safe & Have More Fun!
- Holiday Outings with Kids: Safety Plans for Having More Fun and Fewer Problems in Public
- No Forced Kisses: A Holiday Safety Tip for Safer, More Joyful Gatherings
People throughout the Kidpower community are reviewing these skills, too – myself included! It’s always helpful to think through our own plans, consider how we want to spend our time, who we’ll be with, and what new plans will create more joy – and more safety! – for ourselves and for our friends and loved ones.
Published: December 13, 2022 | Last Updated: December 14, 2022
Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Founder and Executive Director
Kidpower Founder and Executive Irene van der Zande is a master at teaching safety through stories and practices and at inspiring others to do the same. Her child protection and personal safety expertise has been featured by USA Today, CNN, Today Moms, the LA Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Publications include: cartoon-illustrated Kidpower Safety Comics and Kidpower Teaching Books curriculum; Bullying: What Adults Need to Know and Do to Keep Kids Safe; the Relationship Safety Skills Handbook for Teens and Adults; Earliest Teachable Moment: Personal Safety for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers; The Kidpower Book for Caring Adults: Personal Safety, Self-Protection, Confidence, and Advocacy for Young People, and the Amazon Best Seller Doing Right by Our Kids: Protecting Child Safety at All Levels.