A Nervous System Guide for Overwhelmed Parents

👉 If holiday parenting stress leaves you feeling overwhelmed, reactive, or exhausted, I wrote a book for you.
Parenting Is Easy (Especially During the Holidays) is available now on Amazon for $2.99. You don’t need a Kindle. You can read it instantly on your phone, tablet, or computer.
👉Click here to grab your copy!

The Holidays Don’t Break Families. Burnout Breaks Nervous Systems.

Christmas mornings.
Hanukkah candles and spinning dreidels.
Diwali lights filling the house.
Kwanzaa gatherings rooted in meaning.
School concerts. Family dinners. Big emotions.

For many parents, the holidays are supposed to feel magical.

But behind the scenes, countless parents are quietly struggling with holiday parenting stress, snapping more than they want to, and wondering:

Why does this feel so hard?

If that’s you, nothing is wrong with you.

Your nervous system is overloaded.

And that truth sits at the heart of my new book.

Why Parenting Feels Harder During the Holidays

Here’s what most parents were never taught:

Parenting feels hardest when your nervous system is in survival mode.

During the holidays, everything intensifies at once:
More stimulation.
More expectations.
More social pressure.
More disruptions to routine.

Your body reads this as threat, not celebration.

And survival mode cannot create magic.

Why “Trying Harder” Makes Holiday Parenting Stress Worse

When stress is high, your brain is not wired for patience, compassion, or creativity.

Blood flow shifts away from the parts of the brain responsible for reasoning and connection and toward protection.

That’s why:

You can know better and still react
Parenting tools stop working when you’re overwhelmed
Guilt shows up after the moment has passed

This isn’t a mindset issue.
This isn’t a personal failure.

It’s biology.

Which means the solution isn’t control.
It’s nervous system regulation.

One Simple Nervous System Reset You Can Try Right Now

One of the most powerful tools in the book is also one of the simplest.

Drop. Breathe. Soften.

Drop your tongue from the roof of your mouth
Relax your jaw
Inhale through your nose for six seconds
Exhale through your nose for six seconds
Let your shoulders and belly soften

That’s it.

This small physical shift sends your nervous system a signal of safety. And when your body feels safer, your reactions change without force.

One of the core principles in the book is this:

Regulation comes before behaviour.

Presence Before Correction: The Look & Listen Shift

Another powerful concept in the book is something I call Look & Listen.

Children don’t need perfect words.
They need your body to show up.

When you turn toward your child, soften your face, and make eye contact, their nervous system receives a clear message:

I matter. I’m safe.

Often, behaviour shifts without a single correction.

In the book, I share how planning this response ahead of time completely changed my relationship with my child, not through discipline, but through presence.

Why Validation Reduces Holiday Meltdowns

Many parents unintentionally escalate emotions during the holidays by trying to fix them too quickly.

Validation doesn’t mean agreement.
It means understanding.

Instead of:
“Stop crying. It’s not a big deal.”

Try:
“I see you’re disappointed.”

When emotions are named, they move.
When they’re dismissed, they escalate.

This single shift brings enormous relief to parents navigating holiday stress.

This Book Is Not About Perfect Holiday Parenting

Parenting Is Easy (Especially During the Holidays) is not about doing more, being better, or fixing your child.

It’s about:

Supporting your nervous system first
Releasing guilt and self-criticism
Understanding behaviour through neuroscience
Creating connection instead of correction
Moving through the holidays with more ease and compassion

It’s written to be read slowly, gently, and returned to in real moments when emotions are high.

Ready for a Calmer, More Connected Holiday Season?

The book is available now on Amazon for $2.99.
No Kindle required.

👉 [Link to the book]

If the book helps you feel even a little more supported, I would be deeply grateful if you left a review. Reviews help this work reach parents who are struggling silently and need to know they’re not failing.

Parenting doesn’t need to be perfect to be powerful.
It needs to be regulated, connected, and human.

With love and gratitude,
Lara Dawn
Founder, The ADHD Village
Creator of the LOVE Ü Parenting Method