Days are getting shorter and temperatures are dropping—the holiday season has begun. Most Americans spend the entire month of December anticipating and celebrating holidays such as Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. While the festivities of this season are a joyful end to the year, they can cause stress for those planning and participating in them. Buying gifts, cooking meals and keeping the family entertained throughout the holidays can take a toll on hosts and their families, dampening the holiday spirit.

The holidays require a lot of behind-the-scenes planning. The pressure to provide an entire month full of gifts, activities, food and traditions can take all the fun out of the season. Parents take on this responsibility each year to make a memorable holiday experience. It’s a lot to handle and while parenting does come with a certain degree of sacrifice, the holiday season should be fun for everyone, especially the ones bearing the load of creating it.

Not only parents feel this burden; the holidays can be a stressful time for children as well. It’s common for extended families to get together during winter holidays. The pressures and expectations from these family reunions can make for a stressful holiday for young children.

School work is also a major stressor for children as the holidays approach. The weeks leading up to break are chaotic and busy for students. Heading into the second quarter, they endure multiple weeks of a heavy courseload to accommodate for the time lost during the break. Teachers will cover as much content as possible before the holidays, pushing kids to the brink of what they can handle. Quizzes and tests can be scheduled throughout the last few days, so any students leaving early won’t get to finish all the work assigned. Classes move at a especially fast pace during the final weeks, and catching up on missing work is extremely difficult for students who have already left on break. Constantly thinking about grades is tiring for students, so when the holidays come around, they are more than ready to leave the classroom behind. The lead-up to the holidays is rigorous, and without a restful break to look forward to, and a buildup of stress can put a damper on the joy of the holidays.

The holiday season can be tricky to navigate. Luckily the winter break provides a few more days to relax and enjoy the holidays, and get ready for the new year. As the break approaches, it’s important to stay mindful of stressful situations and avoid them as much as possible for an enjoyable holiday season!