Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

15 Holiday Survival Tips

Excerpt from: National Center for Learning Disabilities (click for full article)

 

Have a second helping of stuffing, stay up past bedtime, shop ‘til you drop and eat cookie dough right out of the bowl — it’s the holiday season! For many of us, this is a time to focus on fun, friends, and family, flipping our schedules upside-down and filling our days with excitement. But for some children, including those with learning disabilities (LD), who depend upon daily routines and careful planning of activities, times of fun and excitement can dissolve into moments of anxiety and stress before the holiday decorations are even out of the box.

Sometimes we all think about throwing in the towel and just avoiding the things that make life harder. However, with careful planning and a little creativity, it can be “easy as pie” to help children with LD make the most of holiday traditions and cherished family events.

 

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The Season of Renewal and Suicide

Excerpt from: Slate (click for full article)

 

The suicide rate does not peak during the holidays, and the media should stop saying it does, according to a report released Tuesday by the Annenberg Public Policy Center. In fact, the suicide rate is highest in spring and summer. The holiday suicide-spike myth persists because it has a convenient narrative: Lonely people become despondent around Christmastime. So why do people kill themselves in the spring?

Possibly because they interact more. Doctors first observed in the 1820s that suicide rates spike during late spring. Researchers have since postulated and tested all sorts of explanations for the global phenomenon, making this one of the most studied questions in psychiatry. There’s still no consensus, but evidence suggests it has to do with so-called sociodemographic factors. During the winter, many people go into semihibernation: They work less, see fewer people, and are exposed to less frustration and conflict. That all changes in the spring, when increased interaction with others and the stress of work may trigger suicidal thoughts. The theory is based on a couple of observations. First, the spring suicide peak is more pronounced among people employed on farms or in factories who experience greater seasonal variation in the intensity of work and social interactions. In addition, developing countries with a higher proportion of agricultural workers see more seasonal change in the suicide rate than do developed countries. The magnitude of seasonal changes in the suicide rate is more than 10 times higher in Uruguay, for example, than in Belgium. Researchers have also detected a smoothing out of the seasonal variation in suicides in recent decades as more people move from farm to office.

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Disability & Holiday Shopping

Excerpt from: Disability Blog (click for full article)

 

So in the spirit of self preservation, here are some alternatives that will keep you from dropping while you shop for holiday gifts:

1. Shop early.
2. Follow calendars, like Frugal Living’s, to find out what’s on sale when.
3. Shop online.
4. Take advantage
5. Suck it up 
6. Take your time.
7. Save your money.
8. Don’t feed the elephant.
9. Stay home.