From Chaos to Calm: Helping Kids Handle Holiday Stress
The holiday season is full of magic — school performances, class parties, family gatherings, travel, special events, and more time off school.
But for many children, especially those who already struggle with emotional regulation, sensory processing, anxiety, attention challenges, or sleep struggles, this season can feel overwhelming instead of joyful.
If your child becomes more emotional, restless, irritable, or shut down this time of year —
it’s not misbehavior.
It’s the nervous system doing the best it can under increased stress.
Why Holidays Feel “Too Big” for Kids
During November and December, kids experience:
More people
More noise
More sugar
Less routine
Less sleep
More demands on social skills
More transitions
More expectations to “be on”
Even fun things can overload the nervous system when it isn’t regulated.
Think of it this way: joy isn’t stressful.
Too much, too fast, too loud, too unpredictable is.
The Nervous System Governs Behavior — Not Willpower
A child’s ability to:
Share
Listen
Sit still
Transition
Handle disappointment
Communicate needs
is directly tied to whether their nervous system is in a regulated state.
When the nervous system shifts into sympathetic mode (fight-or-flight):
The emotional brain (limbic system) takes over
The reasoning brain (prefrontal cortex) goes offline
So your child cannot use skills they normally have.
Not won’t.
Can’t.
This is physiology — not defiance.
Where Subluxation Fits In
Stress — whether physical, emotional, immune, or sensory — gets stored in the nervous system as tension patterns called subluxations.
A subluxation is not a bone “out of place.”
It’s miscommunication between the brain and body.
When the brain receives unclear, distorted, or “loud” input, it interprets the world as unsafe — even when nothing is wrong.
This leads to:
Reactivity
Irritability
Low tolerance to frustration
Meltdowns
Trouble sleeping
Difficulty transitioning
Sensory sensitivity
Neurological chiropractic care helps the brain and body reconnect, improving regulation at the source.
When the nervous system feels safe, the child feels safe.
How to Support the Nervous System This Season
1. Protect Predictable Routines
Keep consistent times for:
Bedtime
Waking
Meals
The nervous system regulates best with rhythm and sameness.
2. Movement Before Events
Before a concert, party, store trip, or gathering:
Jumping
Swinging
Climbing
Crawling
Pushing or pulling weight (“heavy work”)
Movement discharges stored stress before it explodes.
3. Use Long Axis Traction to Reset the Body
This is one of our most effective tools to settle the system quickly.
Sit behind your child
Hold wrists gently
Apply gentle, sustained traction (pull) along the long axis of the arms
Slow, steady, rhythmic breathing together
This calms the proprioceptive system, which tells the brain “I am safe in my body.”
Use it:
Before transitions
When overwhelm is building
After social events
Before bedtime
4. Magnesium & Epsom Salt Baths
Magnesium supports:
Relaxation
Muscle ease
Better sleep
Reduced sensory sensitivity
Epsom salt baths calm the nervous system + vagus nerve through skin absorption and warm water pressure input.
Great for nightly routine.
5. Essential Oil Rollers or Diffusers
Calming essential oils (lavender, chamomile, vetiver, cedarwood) support the parasympathetic nervous system through the olfactory-limbic pathway — the same system responsible for emotional memory and safety cues.
This is science, not fluff.
How to Know When Your Child Is Approaching Overwhelm
Look for these early cues:
Faster breathing
Jaw clenching
Restlessness / pacing / rolling
“I don’t know what to do with my body” behavior
Sound suddenly feels too loud
Avoiding eye contact
These are yellow lights.
Regulation tools work best here — before the meltdown.
The Takeaway
Your child is not overwhelmed because they are dramatic, difficult, or disobedient.
They are overwhelmed because their nervous system is overloaded and asking for support.
When we care for the nervous system, we give them:
Capacity
Confidence
Calm
Connection
Resilience
Regulated nervous systems experience holidays differently.
More joy.
More peace.
More presence.
More childhood.
