In December, how to keep children waiting until Christmas ?

In December, how to keep children waiting until Christmas ?

While outside, the lights twinkle and the shop windows shine brightly, in homes, a particularly palpable excitement among the youngest sets in. The time until Christmas is going to be long. How to transform this sometimes interminable wait into an enchanted interlude ?

While adults juggle between shopping lists and Christmas purchases, children are starting to get impatient. Impatience that will peak when the holidays arrive.

The secret to making them wait lies in the active involvement of children. While the Advent calendar remains a classic to punctuate the first days of December, the approach of the big night requires a more elaborate strategy. The solution ? Make them real actors in the preparations.

Prepare shortbread cookies

Making shortbread cookies with the children is an excellent way to combine business with pleasure.

Starting with an educational aspect. Learning measurements and proportions, discovering ingredients, creative development… This will allow them to be entertained in a fun way… without them realizing it.

It is also an excellent way to perpetuate traditions and spend time with family.

For the recipe: in a large salad bowl, mix 200 g of flour, 75 g of sugar, 75 g of butter and a teaspoon of cinnamon for those who like it). Once the mixture has taken on a sand texture, add 1 egg. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to 0.5 to 1 cm thick before cutting it with cookie cutters. Place the cookies on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake for about 10 minutes at 180°.

Sort and give toys

Anticipating the abundance of gifts he will receive at Christmas and taking the toys he no longer uses in his absence to give them to a charity is tempting. But it is better to avoid doing this behind a child's back. Even if this provokes some protests at first, invite him to sort through them with you. By taking care not to make him feel guilty, you make him aware of the fact that Santa Claus will be able to share them with other children who are less fortunate than him. He only manages to give away two or three trinkets ? It's better than nothing. And there is a good chance that he will spend a few hours playing with games forgotten at the back of a cupboard.

Decorate the house

Between the last gift purchases and the finalization of the menu, the preparations for Christmas Eve are particularly busy. Your child will be proud to be able to help you by contributing to the decoration of the house. Salt dough characters to hang on the tree, paper garlands, stencils on the windows… There’s no shortage of things to do.

A little movie from time to time

Finally, the end-of-year holidays are also an opportunity to break some of the rules that apply the rest of the year. Introducing him to the movies that marked you during your childhood will help him pass the time more quickly and strengthen the bonds even more…