I have been at the Christmas Countdown since the beginning of December; I have the Spiderman advent calendar, I have the chalkboards to update each morning – I am on it.
However, my four-year-old son is only just ‘on it’ with me now and I’ll tell you why.
It’s simple; announcing that there are ‘seventeen more sleeps ’til Christmas’ does NOT compute with small kids. It’s so, so far away, you may as well be trying to explain to them the difference between a fixed and a variable mortgage.
But when I told Jacob this morning that Christmas is only five more sleeps away, well, the smile on his face was just priceless and worth all the behind-the-scenes prep that us parents have been doing to make this Christmas really special for him.
‘Five’ is just a much more manageable number for a young child – they have that many fingers on one hand, they may even BE it on the last or next birthday.
So let’s make these ‘Five More Sleeps’ the most exciting and memorable that we can for our little Christmas elves.
Here’s what to do tonight to begin the Kiddie Christmas Countdown:
1. Make a game out of finding five of different things around the house: five things that are the same colour; five things that are the same shape; five particular toys or five of their favourite things.
2. Have five kisses and hugs (any excuse!)
3. Set up an area where you will write or draw the number for the countdown over the next five days – you can decorate it with tinsel or fairy lights and learn how to make the number 5 together.
4. Take time to really talk to your kid about Christmas; who they are looking forward to seeing and what they are most excited about. See if they can pick five things!
5. Pick a favourite Christmas song and get the whole family to sing it together – come on parents, if Bublé can do it once a year, then so can you!
Watch out for our ‘Kiddie Christmas Countdown’ every day this week – we are so excited!
