Being a grandparent can be one of the greatest joys in life – providing love, wisdom, and encouragement to multiple generations, watching your adult children build families of their own, witnessing grandkids grow and thrive. However, the holiday season can also be a complicated time for families, including scheduling multiple family members, heightened expectations, and at times, disappointment, and tension. We want to make it easier to avoid potential pitfalls, so we’ve pulled together some tips for lowering the stress and increasing the happiness, putting you on the path to creating memories that last a lifetime.

Tip #1: COMMUNICATE

Open the lines of communication between yourself and your children and discuss in advance how you will all approach the time you have together. What are their schedules and commitments? What are their hopes for the holidays? How do they feel about gift giving and activity planning? All these answers will help in planning and managing expectations.

Tip #2: COMPROMISE

This is the time to practice being flexible. Family schedules may not exactly align with your calendar as there are in-laws and co-grandparents to consider. Being empathetic to the push-pull your children might be experiencing is the way to go. As well, it’s important to remember that with this flexibility can come the opportunity to build your own new traditions with the grandkids, be it a special sleepover weekend or post-holiday outing. Beyond holiday timing, it’s also important to remember that “new” family members come with their own sets of traditions – this may be an opportunity for all to be exposed to these new traditions and find ways to weave them into your own.

Tip #3: GET CREATIVE

If holiday schedules don’t line up and you can’t be with your grandchildren, find other ways to be a part of their holiday – whether it’s video chats and texts or visits before the holidays (early Christmas at Thanksgiving) or after (belated January celebrations), there are countless ways to make the most of the time you get together.

As well, this is a great time to make new traditions and get your grandchildren involved; if they’re old enough, they can help plan how you’ll celebrate together, which is a great way to connect and tap into their ever-changing interests.

Tip #4: BE THOUGHTFUL

There are a few ways to head off unwanted tension. Each family has their own traditions and rules, such as bedtimes and sugar consumption. The holidays aren’t the time to interfere with this – the role of a grandparent is a supportive one, one that honours the boundaries adult children have set for their kids. As for gift giving, remember that more isn’t always better – try to be intentional, include a handwritten note telling them how much you love them, and make the recipients feel seen and celebrated. This isn’t a competition, and the grandkids likely won’t remember how much you gave them, but rather how you made them feel.

Tip #5: LEAD BY EXAMPLE

Family togetherness is the goal and as a role model, you can set the positive tone for all. Ideally, check the tension and stress at the door because this can most definitely be a time of celebration and fun, a time to make memories as a family.

Would you rather spend your time with the kids, and not in the kitchen? Heart To Home Meals can help by catering to you with a wide variety of delicious meals to satisfy you all season (and year) long. Click here to discover what we’re cooking up!

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