22/12/2025
✨ Comment CALM KIDS to receive my Free Healing Together guide✨
Over the Christmas holidays, many children are tired, wired, and overstimulated.
Later nights, broken routines, richer food, more screens, louder environments — and we’re often asking far too much of their little nervous systems.
Children don’t self-regulate in isolation.
They borrow calm from the adults around them.
The most powerful nervous system support doesn’t just happen during meltdowns — it happens in small moments of safety throughout the day.
A quick hug and gentle side-to-side rocking.
A butterfly hug or a few minutes of tapping before bed.
Legs up the wall to help busy bodies slow down.
Alongside these tools, regulation also looks like:
• Earlier or consistent bedtimes where possible
• Regular meals to support blood sugar
• Less screen time, especially before sleep
• Time outside and grounding in nature
• A “safe signal” — a word, a look, or holding your arm when they feel overwhelmed
• Knowing they can step away from noise or family intensity without explanation
For neurodivergent children, this must always be child-led.
If your child doesn’t want to be touched or tapped, that’s okay — calm proximity, slower movement, or quiet presence can be just as regulating.
And just as importantly — your nervous system matters too.
When a child is dysregulated, it’s often helpful to gently look at the nervous systems of the adults around them.
If we are overwhelmed, rushed, or dysregulated, their system will feel it.
Regulating ourselves is one of the most powerful ways we support our children.
These small moments of co-regulation shape how a child learns safety in their body — for life.
Happy Christmas
With love
Sarah xx