We got our first Christmas all wrong!

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Foster carer Phil, tells us why they got their first Christmas as a foster family wrong and why they now focus on the true meaning of Christmas....

We got caught up in all the excitement of presents, decorations and parties.

Our birth kids, both in Junior School, had learned to anticipate that ‘change’ was often positive, and with regards to Christmas, it was exciting too.

For the four-year-old foster child, who’d only arrived earlier that November, the Season of Goodwill was terrifying.

Just as we’d got him into a routine of get up dressed, get washed, get fed, go to school, repeat, he felt everything was changing

And ‘change’, of any type, threw him into a turmoil.

In his brain, dressing up for a party or ‘plain clothes day’ was not just confusing, but triggered wide eyed fear, and what foster carers call ‘deregulation’.

He wanted to wear his familiar Disney jumper with its familiar smells, that we rarely washed, and only then at a very low temperature every single day.  He hated his novelty Snowman jumper.

His favourite food was spaghetti hoops with a side of broccoli (don’t ask! It’s fairly healthy and that was  enough), so why was he being offered chocolate and mince pies?

Lots of kids have meltdowns triggered by a heady seasonal mix of tiredness and excitement, but we were unwittingly sending this vulnerable young boy into a spiral of confusing and terrifying emotions.

The idea that some sort of rotund, bearded gentleman and his reindeer was going to break into the house was something we quickly began to downplay.

We realised we needed to dial down the anticipation and excitement

We needed to stay predictable, to the point of being boring.

We needed to keep to the routine as much as possible.

Christmas’s with a Foster Child, or any child who has experienced significant trauma, can still be fun, but they are different.

Nowadays, we spread the presents over weeks rather than all on the one day.

We carefully consider each and every party invitation (easier in COVID), and if a child wants a familiar pizza for Christmas Dinner, is there actually any harm done?

It’s become a tradition to consider the ‘true meaning of Christmas’.

Was it ever meant to be a celebration of buying stuff that you don’t want, don’t need and can’t afford?

This will be our 10th Christmas with ‘an extra kid’ at the table.

If you have got a spare room, space at your table, and room in your heart, could you consider fostering?

It’s become a tradition to consider the ‘true meaning of Christmas

Phil