{"id":188,"date":"2022-12-09T23:59:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-09T23:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/?p=188"},"modified":"2022-12-09T23:59:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T23:29:00","slug":"the-true-meaning-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/the-true-meaning-of-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"The True Meaning of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Amid the shopping, toys, hustle and bustle of Christmas time, it is easy to forget the<br \/>real meaning behind it all. Children become carried away with the excitement of the<br \/>promise of new toys (and who could blame them?), and parents become fixated with<br \/>preparing for the day itself.<\/p>\n<p>It seems that most of us could benefit from taking some time out from the hype as the<br \/>big day approaches.<\/p>\n<p>So how can we ensure that we, and our children, remember what Christmas is really<br \/>all about?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Giving<\/strong><br \/>The theme of giving runs strong at Christmas. We all know that presents are usually a<br \/>substantial part of Christmas excitement \u2013 whether we are excited to give or receive.<br \/>It\u2019s natural to be excited about receiving gifts, and this shouldn\u2019t be shamed or<br \/>quashed \u2013 however, placing an emphasis on giving is a wonderful thing also. There<br \/>are some really great ways you can do this for children:<br \/>\u2022 Together with the children, choose some old toys to donate to a charity shop,<br \/>refuge or children\u2019s home. This will not only teach the children about the<br \/>value of giving to those less fortunate, but it will make space for the new toys<br \/>they will get at Christmas. However, the toy-donating shouldn\u2019t be forced, as<br \/>it could be very traumatic for a child to unwillingly give away a much loved<br \/>toy. They should be able to give freely, or choose not to, or it defies the point<br \/>of giving in the first place.<br \/>\u2022 Encourage children to choose gifts for their siblings and friends themselves,<br \/>rather than relying on you to do so.<br \/>\u2022 Bake some Christmas-themed biscuits, mince pies or other treats together and<br \/>take them to a local old people\u2019s home to give out to the residents. Some of<br \/>the residents will have few visitors at Christmas time, smiling children bearing<br \/>baked goods is bound to cheer a lonely heart.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Family<\/strong><br \/>Christmas truly is a time for family \u2013 whether they are blood relatives, or our chosen<br \/>family. Today\u2019s world is a big one, and families are often scattered across the globe<br \/>rather than living in close-knit communities. If this is the case for you, encourage the<br \/>children to make Christmas cards for absent friends and family members who cannot<br \/>be with you at this special time of the year. You could even organise a Christmas<br \/>carol sing-along over webcam for family members living abroad.<\/p>\n<p>Christmas can also be an emotional time for families who are, sadly, missing some<br \/>members. Many people traditionally remember their loved ones who are no longer<br \/>with them with small \u2018memorial services\u2019 at home. This can be a great way to help<br \/>children grieve healthily. Grief is a powerful emotion, and children need to know that<br \/>they can express their grief openly with the support of their parents.<\/p>\n<p>So, if you\u2019re feeling the Christmas anxiety creeping in, try to relax and remember<br \/>what it\u2019s all about. And most importantly, enjoy yourself!<\/p>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amid the shopping, toys, hustle and bustle of Christmas time, it is easy to forget thereal meaning behind it all. Children become carried away with the excitement of thepromise of new toys (and who could blame them?), and parents become fixated withpreparing for the day itself. It seems that most of us could benefit from &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/the-true-meaning-of-christmas\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The True Meaning of Christmas&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[103],"class_list":["post-188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parents","tag-christmas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}