While the Christmas holidays provide a much-needed rest for students after a busy year, this time can also take students away from friends and their usual school supports. Changes to routine can cause some young people to feel stressed, isolated and alone. Parent support is very important at this time. Here are some key tips:

• Encourage Connection: Social relationships are important to your young person’s general wellbeing. It is okay if they take time out for themselves at times, but encourage them to keep in contact with friends over the holidays. Friends can provide both play and support, and spending time with friends is also important for keeping and building on existing friendships.
• Encourage exercise: Physical activity is important for everyone’s health and wellbeing. If your young person is feeling down or finding things are difficult, physical activity may be the last thing they feel like doing. But even small activities, like walking around the block, can help relieve stress and frustration, provide a good distraction from worrying thoughts, improve concentration and improve mood.
• Encourage healthy eating: Eating well doesn’t only reduce the risk of physical health problems, like heart disease and diabetes, but it can also help with sleeping patterns, energy levels, mood, and general health and wellbeing.
• Encourage commitment: Staying involved with volunteer work, hobbies, clubs or committees, or sports – these can help young people feel connected to their wider community. Participate with them when you can.
• Encourage routine: Adolescence is a time when a number of changes to the “body clock” impact on sleeping patterns and young people are more likely to have problems with sleep. Developing a sleeping routine can help. Encourage your young person to headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health under the Youth Mental Health Initiative. wake up around the same time each day, get out of bed when they wake up, and go to bed around the same time each night.
• Encourage Play: Devoting time to just having fun can help to recharge your young person’s battery, revitalise their social networks and reduce stress and anxiety.

The attached link from Headspace provides information to help you support your young person to stay in a healthy headspace in school holidays. There is also some information that may help you to identify when your young person might need some extra support and where to go for help.

Support-your-young-person-during-the-holidays