The Secret to Surviving Winter Break
Dec 16, 2025Dear Parents,
Winter break isn’t for the faint of heart.
If you’re parenting a child from difficult beginnings, this stretch of the year can feel like a slow-motion sprint through sensory overload, disrupted routines, holiday expectations, and kids whose nervous systems are already living somewhere between “finals-week panic” and “holiday hypervigilance.”
This is the season when your child’s excitement and dysregulation merge into one buzzing, bouncing, sweet-fueled tornado of emotion. And the good news?
You’re not doing anything wrong.
Their brain is doing exactly what their brain does when routine melts away—sets off the fire alarm.
The video above walks you through this in real time, but let’s drill down a little.
Why This Time of Year Sends Our Kids In to Orbit
As you heard in the video, transitions, even exciting ones, punch the gas pedal on the nervous system .
Finals week is its own special roller coaster, and then suddenly: Break.
Add holidays, sugar, gifts, relatives, the unfamiliar, the over-familiar, and the dreaded combo of “too much happening” + “not enough predictability,” and our kids start sputtering like exposed wires.
Most parents of children with trauma histories feel the shift before it even happens:
The buzzing.
The impulsivity.
The sprinting around.
The sneaking candy.
The opening presents early.
The climbing furniture like it's a cross-fit competition.
And here’s the part we often forget:
It’s not defiance or disrespect.
It is…
dysregulation
anticipation anxiety
impulse control deficits
neurodivergence
trauma-honed survival strategies
…all dressed up as “holiday chaos.”
This is not bad behavior.
This is amped-up child nervous system behavior.
The Trap We Fall Into
When things get loud or wild or impulsive, our first instinct is to quiet it down:
“Calm down.”
“Use your breathing.”
“Sit still.”
“Read a book.”
But when a child’s internal dial has spun to 110, these strategies feel like being told to slow dance during a fire drill.
When our kids are amped up, their way back to calm often begins with more movement, not less. They need to UP-regulate before they can DOWN-regulate.
They need:
walking
running
skipping
hopscotching
jumping
jump-roping
pushing
pull-ups
push-ups
sit-ups
hauling
singing
drumming on the table
races to the fence and back
hand-clapping games
chewing gum
deep muscle work
tug of war
Not because you need more chaos, but because their nervous system needs a way out, and escape hatch.
This is your winter break lifesaver.
Instead of waiting until your child is bouncing from room to room like a pinball, build a daily regulation routine--a rhythm of movement and sensory input that keeps their nervous system from boiling over in the first place.
Why It Works
Because your child’s body is speaking louder than their words.
Movement is how the brain balances, which means fewer meltdowns, decreased battles, less sugar-sneaking and zero 2am disasters.
This is prevention parenting. It’s Love+ Parenting™ in motion.
Your Love Matters,
Ce
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Creator of the Love+ Parenting Model found only in the Love Matters Parenting Society Therapeutic Parent Program.
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