It is winter. It has been winter for a while now, and will stay winter a while longer. The cold, gray dreariness can certainly take its toll, and kids are not immune to a good old fashioned case of the winter blahs.
With fewer hours of daylight and more time indoors, kids, just like their adult counterparts, can get a bit grumpy. In small children, this might mean increased whining, interrupting, or tantrum throwing. In bigger kids, school work might begin to slip, lethargy can set in, and friendship squabbles can become more frequent. There’s a long list of the ways the winter months can affect kids. So how do we conquer these dark days and help our kids thrive? Here are some tips to get through these last weeks of winter:
Go outside.
As the old quote goes, “Bad weather always looks worse through a window.” As the parent of two young children, I know how challenging it is to incorporate outdoor play time when the temperatures take a nosedive. But kids (and adults, by the way) need physical activity, and they need it even more during the winter months. It can be quite cold but still safe enough to go outdoors, provided everyone is dressed appropriately. Confinement plays a big role in the grumpiness that accompanies the winter months, so head out and explore with your child. Bounce houses and indoor fun parks can be a great outlet for a small child’s energy, but they also carry loads of illness-causing germs. Alternatively, the great outdoors are relatively sanitary, and despite what your grandmother says, one gets sick from germs, not the cold itself. (I’m not knocking bounce houses, just to be clear. I’ve been to plenty in the past few months with my own children.) Your child might resist spending time outside, especially if they are older. Push for it anyway and make it a habit, even if it’s just for a few minutes each day.
Limit screen time.
Screen time for kids is a lot like retail therapy for adults. We do it when we’re feeling down and need a pick-me-up. One more round of games on the iPad or another hour of YouTube videos might provide a happiness boost, but it is likely to be short-lived. What the child is actually experiencing is temporary gratification, as opposed to true happiness. We parents are also winter-weary, and it becomes very tempting to just let the extra screen time slide. When we suddenly decide enough is enough, younger children might throw tantrums and older children can become argumentative. The emotional pendulum begins to swing, and the mood of the family goes quickly downhill. Our children will spend some time in front of screens, and that is okay. Set clear and appropriate limits for your children and don’t bend them just because it’s cold outside.
Be creative.
A big part of the problem with winter is that it comes with too many empty chunks of time. We don’t know what we want to do, don’t really feel like doing anything, and find ourselves in the doldrums. We look at January through March as a section of the calendar that we have to “get through,” as opposed to a time we can possibly enjoy. If we make it a point to embrace the present, we can find the extra motivation to get creative. Try to think from a child’s perspective and find fun ways to engage your kids, despite the limitations of wintertime. Blow up 40 balloons and have a balloon party. Camp out in the living room. Plan a special outing and encourage your child to invite some friends. If it’s dark when you get home, head outside for a quick round of flashlight tag. Whatever you do, make it a point to do something. A purposeful approach to these everlasting winter days will help us enjoy the present, as opposed to longing unproductively for spring.
If it seems like something more than the winter blahs...
For most children and adults, a mood shift in the wintertime is natural and relatively mild in nature. For a small percentage of others, the emotional struggles that accompany the cold and dark season are actually symptoms of a seasonal form of clinical depression. Though more commonly diagnosed in young adults, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) affects about 3% of kids ages 9 to 17, according to author and SAD specialist Norman E. Rosenthal, M.D., in his book Winter Blues: Everything You Need to Know to Beat Seasonal Affective Disorder. The most telling indicator of SAD is that the depressive behaviors follow a seasonal pattern, seemingly appearing and disappearing around the same times each year. Some symptoms can be tricky to distinguish from normal childhood or teen behaviors. If you are concerned that the shift in your child during the winter months is extreme and cyclical, it would be wise to share these concerns with your pediatrician for a thorough evaluation and treatment plan.