Six tips for beating Christmas family arguments (involves conversation)

With one piece of research suggesting that even the best families will argue for seven hours over the Christmas week, or a horrendous three hours per day in the worst case, here are some tips for avoiding fallout this festive period.

Lisa Warner, inventor of FINK family conversation cards, offers these six top tips:

1. Start interesting and engaging conversation: if families simply stare at the TV all day they’re bound to get bored and irritable. Try FINK family conversation cards to get the conversation started.

2. Play family games: group activities are a great way to bond with each other and family games can bring all the generations together.

3. Don’t over stretch yourself: if the thought of cooking for 12 people worries you keep it simple and avoid the stress. Everyone will feel the pressure if you are stressed, so keep it simple and enjoy yourself.

4. Get some sleep: don’t miss out on the fun but remember we all get irritable when we don’t get enough sleep.

5. Take time out: a short break from everyone will give you a little breather and chance to recoup.

6. Ban texting at the table: if your children are texting their friends at the table then they’re not engaging with everyone else.

Rod Stewart recently made a stand with his family by completely banning mobile phones at the dinner table to preserve the art of conversation.

Lisa continued: “It may seem like a simple action but banning kids from texting at the table means they concentrate more and actually engage in the conversation. You have to be vigilant though, some kids are experts at texting without even looking at the phone!”

FinkCards.com

Twelve toys of Christmas: under £50 toys a hit this year

Last month’s industry research found that British kids are hankering for sub-£50 toys and games this Christmas.

That’s probably good news for cash-strapped parents.

A few old favourites get makeovers, including LEGO, Monopoly and Transformers.

The Toy Retailers Association found that the average price of a toy on the top dozen list was around £26. That’s £6 less than two years ago.

“With licensed toys combining the fun and familiarity of popular characters as well as collectable, pocket money priced toys making a big comeback this year, we are in for an affordable, family orientated Christmas,” said the association’s chairman Gary Grant.

“The list also reveals a trend towards nostalgic characters and brands which have been updated with a modern twist. Consumers are reverting back to heritage brands which will last longer than the Christmas season.”

The dozen is:

1. Bakugan Battle Pack
2. Battle Strikers Starter Set
3. Ben 10 Alien Force Kevin’s DX Action Cruiser
4. Bendaroos Mega Pack
5. Go Go Pets Hamster
6. GX Racers Tightrope Terror
7. Kidizoom Multimedia Digital Camera
8. LEGO Games 3841 Minotaurus
9. Monopoly City
10. Princess Peppa’s Palace
11. Sylvanian Families Caravan
12. Transformers Movie 2 Voyagers Figures

Four tips for dealing with Christmas after divorce

Holidays are often a happy, but stressful time for most families. Add a divorce into that mix, and things can become infinitely more complicated. The experts at GreatDad.com, a leading source of experience, recommendations, inspiration and advice for dads, have some advice and suggestions to make the adjustment after a divorce as easy as possible for your family.

Communication and planning are critical elements to making the holidays stress-free and more enjoyable. Paul Banas, founder and CEO of GreatDad.com explains, “Dealing with holidays can be an emotional rollercoaster, especially the first few years after the separation. Working together with your ex-wife and planning well in advance will help eliminate some of the last-minute pressure and uncertainty that is sure to come up during the holidays.”

Sage Advice:

• Develop a Parenting Plan: Experts suggest developing a “parenting agreement” with your ex- after the divorce, which should include how and where the kids will spend holidays. With an agreement in place, you can avoid arguing about plans every time the holidays roll around.
• Remain Flexible and Patient: Even with a plan in place, changes will undoubtedly happen–flexibility and patience will go a long way to keeping everything running smoothly. “It’s definitely important to remain flexible during the holidays. Being extra-sensitive and ready for the inevitable schedule changes will help you and your kids have a great holiday together,” added Banas.
• Coordinate Gift Giving: It’s also important that you and your ex-spouse talk about what you are getting your kids as gifts. This way, you don’t end up giving the same things (iPhone, doll, Wii console, etc.), and you also set rules in place on what’s acceptable.
• Create New Traditions: With time and forethought, you and your children can create new traditions together and make the holidays joyous again. This is a wonderful opportunity to get the kids involved and show them how important their input is.

For more tips and advice for celebrating the holidays after a divorce, go to www.greatdad.com/holidays.

Top Toys for Christmas 2008: Toys R Us announces list

Leading toy store Toys R Us has announced what it believes will be this year’s must have Christmas toys. Don’t be surprised that a lot of these are quite high-budget items, including Nintendo games consoles and an Asus Eee PC.

Having said that, it’s good to see some of the classics are still in place, including LEGO, plus some educational items from LeapFrog.

So here we go. (Please note that the links are to relevant searches on Amazon.co.uk. If you buy anything from Amazon directly from these links, we earn a small commission. Thanks )

• High School Musical Dance Mat
• Hannah Montana Tour Bus
• Baby Annabel Doll
• Ben 10 Action Figures
• Ben 10 Omnitrix Watch
• In the Night Garden Upsy Daisy and her Bed
• Dance with me Teletubby
• Lego
• Star Wars Clone Wars
• Dr Who Classic Figures
• Bakugan Battle Brawlers
• My Meebas
• Catcha Beast
• Fur Real Biscuit
• Silverlit Picoo-Z Helicopter
• Nintendo Wii & Nintendo DS
• Monopoly Here and Now; the World Edition
• Baby Chou Chou My First Tooth Doll
• LeapFrog Tag
• LeapFrog Musical Fold Up Trike
• Asus Eec PC 7" Laptop
• Nintendo Wii and DS Lite

Early Learning Centre gears up for Christmas with 450 new toys

The Early Learning Centre has announced a huge range of new toys coming into stock in plenty of time for Christmas this year.

As a special offer, customers buying any product from the Star Buys range will receive another free toy.

The Brilliant Start range of toys is designed specially for babies, featuring black and white designs with bold colours and graphics.

Toys such as the Brilliant Start Activity Table help to encourage babies’ visual development and boost their strength and co-ordination.

The ever-popular Classic range of toys are made from wood, tin, and fabric, and include the Tin Spinning Top and Rocking Horse.

A number of Christmas toys are also on offer to encourage children to use their imagination and creativity including the Snow Queen Palace, featuring towers and balconies. Along with the Magical Figure Set, this is a Christmas must have for imaginative children.

Early Learning Centre

Two books aim to cut down the Christmas stress

Dare I say that it’s just a little over two months until Christmas Day, with the preparations – and stress – likely to start well before that.

Small surprise, then, that two books have been publicised on the same day, aiming to beat down some of that stress and get things in perspective.

Charles Linden has written “Stress Free in 30 Days”, which seems to focus on Christmas but could no doubt be a useful resource at any time of the year, particularly if you’re juggling a busy family.

“Christmas is a key stress trigger due to the high expectations people often put on that one day! Pre-planning and budgeting can ease the pressure for many, or learning how to deal with volatile family situations can turn a fraught Christmas into an enjoyable one!” Linden says.

“It is not always about removing the stress from your life, but more about how you deal with it that is the key to feeling less stressed”

Stress Free in 30 Days costs £17.99 and is available in Waterstones, WH Smith and Amazon.

Meanwhile, “The S.U.M.O. Guy”, Paul McGee, author of “S.U.M.O. Your Relationships”, says, “YouÂ’’ll be better placed to deal with the festive season if you can get it into perspective. Christmas Day, for example, is only one day out of 365. Stop thinking everything has to be ‘perfectÂ’ and try to plan how you can simplify Christmas as much as possible, and get friends and family to help you! For example, if you’Â’re planning to host a Christmas party, ask your friends to all bring either a mystery sweet or savoury dish – theyÂ’’ll be happy to help and it will be fun to see what everyone brings! Cease thinking you have to ‘be all, provide all’ – that can make for a very dull and frazzled hostess. Encourage others to step up to the proverbial plate.””

He also offers up some tips for staying sane this Christmastime.

1. Be Careful Who You Talk To!

The phrase ‘a trouble shared is a trouble halved’ is an important principle, but not always helpful. Some people have the ability to make you actually feel worse and more troubled after you’ve spoken to them and will end up telling you all their worries – or they’ll tell you they’ve finished all their preparations and “don’t understand what all the fuss is about” –not helpful.

2. Be Careful How Many People You Talk To During Hippo Time!

Repeating all the stresses of your ‘terrible afternoon’ to everyone you speak to will not actually make you feel any better as you’ll just end up in replay mode. Sharing your day’s woes with more than one person can actually be one too many be choosy who to include during your Hippo Time.

3. Do Something You Enjoy!

There are perhaps cheaper and healthier ways to spend your time wallowing, but if eating a little chocolate, or having a few drinks in a bar works for you – why not? Do whatever helps you to relax. Alternatively, it could be a walk in the park with the dog, or a long wallowing bath.

Hippo Time provides a useful ‘mini breakÂ’ from life and relieves us from our day-to-day pressures. Time out during Hippo Time also helps you S.U.M.O (Shut Up, Move On) with what you really need to do, and get life in perspective. Remember when things donÂ’t go as planned, ask yourself: ““Where is this on a scale of 1-10?” (where 10 equates to death)” or ““How important will this be in six months time?”” You’Â’ll realise itÂ’’s not worth really worrying so much.

Easier said than done, perhaps, but worth bearing in mind.

Wanted: Top tots to trial Christmas toys

Christmas will come early for ten lucky tots, as a search gets underway to find the UKÂ’’s youngest panel of toy experts to play SantaÂ’’s little helpersÂ’, and pick out the must have toys for this festive season.

North West based Toy company, Martin Yaffe, is offering 10 children aged between three and six years old a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join its ‘play panelÂ’ – spending a whole day playing with hundreds of brand new products that wonÂ’’t hit toy shop shelves across the country until September.

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