Rethink Your Holiday

While many holiday celebrations are meant to bring family and friends together, they often come with great monetary and time obligations. With the holiday season approaching, now is a good time to stop and reflect how you feel about this time of year. If you have felt stress with past seasons to get everything decorated, purchased, cooked and baked, now is a great time to focus on your what experience you would like to have this year. You may decide to make a goal about streamlining your holidays, keeping only those activities that are most meaningful to you and your family.

According to Consumerism and Its Discontents by Tori DeAngelis, being focused on materialism and consuming "can promote unhappiness because it takes time away from things that can nurture happiness, including relationships with family and friends, research shows." According to The Center for the New American Dream and their video clip The High Cost of Materialism, "The more people value materialistic aspirations and goals, the lower their happiness and life satisfaction and the fewer pleasant emotions they experience from day to day." And "Depression, anxiety and substance abuse also tend to be higher among people who value the aims encouraged in the consumer society."

The advertising which accompanies a consumerist society was viewed as a liability to the psychological well being of children prompting the American Psychological Association to create a Task Force on Advertising and Children in 2004. Bringing this around to child development, the more one focuses on materialism, the less one tends to focus on pro-social behaviors like empathy, generosity and cooperation. If you are feeling guilty about depriving your children and family during the holidays by simplifying, focusing on helping keep your loved ones focused on more intrinsic values should help ease your conscience.
Focus on activities that promote generosity, such a purchasing toys, food or clothing for holiday drives or donate time working with a charitable organization.

Plan meaningful family activities that encourage stronger connections and strengthen your child's feelings of belonging.

Be aware that advertising is everywhere, including the internet, radio and free music streaming venues. Limit your child's exposure to advertising by limiting tv, watching movies using a dvd or streaming source to eliminate commercials, and if you must use the tv, mute the commercials.

Toss or stash catalogues and sales flyers rather than leaving them out for children to comb through.

A multitude of great ideas for simplifying the holidays are available free on The Center for The New American Dream with a booklet as well as a calendar to take you through the holiday season, keeping your focus on relationships and connections rather than "stuff".