Are your stress levels rising?
Festive season incoming... are you ready?1
Please keep reading for news of an online event that I hope might help you have a calmer Christmas if you are already feeling anxious about the inevitable build-up at this time of year….
Our PDAer doesn't believe Christmas should be talked about before the 1st December. I'm sure she's not the only one who thinks that! How do you feel about it all?
I am REALLY struggling this year to know what to buy her for Christmas. There is literally nothing she wants. And I know Mr C's attitude is that we should just get her nothing then, but that doesn't feel very Christmassy to me...
This struggle is nothing new. I have it every year, and for birthdays too, but somehow I've always managed to pull something out of the bag at the last minute. Sometimes the gift has ended up not being a surprise - we’ve managed to talk about it in advance and order the one rare item wanted, that has to come all the way from Japan with super long shipping time.. anyone else been in this situation?!
Have you seen my blog post with 30 ideas for 'unusual' Christmas gifts? I thought I’d share because it might help some of you - let me know if you think any of them would be a hit in your house!
I’ve also published a post with ideas for quirky, fun family card games. Don’t all shout at me; I know for a lot of families games can actually be the cause of a lot of extra stress and overwhelm, but we found a few ‘wacky’ ones that might just help. Some are not high cost so worth a try? I think the key is to keep everything fun and light-hearted, and let PDAers win if their anxiety about losing is too high! See my full post with all the ideas (and what ages they are suitable for) by clicking on the image below:
Supporting PDA families at Christmas Webinar
Today, Wednesday November 27th, I’m joining together with Danielle from PDA Parenting to host a special online event aimed at PDA families during the holiday season. Holidays and events can be triggering for many neurodivergent individuals and whether you're a parent, caregiver, or educator, this webinar is designed to help you create a more enjoyable Christmas. We’ve a fair bit of experience with having PDA autistic children of various ages home for Christmas so we’re hoping to pass on some tips to help you feel less stressed about the upcoming festive period.
Don't miss out on this opportunity to connect with others in the community who can share their own experiences to support your own families - there’s a Q&A session as part of this and we’d love to hear from you. From 7-8pm, register now via Eventbrite: Supporting PDA families at Christmas Webinar.
If you’re not available on this day/at this time, you can still register at that link and we will send you the recording afterwards.
Question Time
I want to know what you’re looking forward to most - if it’s none of these options below, or if it’s something I’ve not included in the list, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email reply. I love to chat!
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, please get in touch via stephstwogirls@gmail.com or reply to this email.
