ND DS overwhelmed this morning

Sympathy OP. My two year old just keeps screaming and crying in frustration and I don’t even know why. I suspect she’s overwhelmed but hasn’t got the language to explain.

Calm down, it’s fine. He will lots of emotions and is expressing them. This is good. Work out what he needs today.

In a couple of weeks you can start to work out what would be better for him. We’re just starting to figure this out for my autistic 9 year old. Gifts from other people are spread out before and after Christmas day, she knows what most of her gifts are and has seen them in advance, not too many gifts, all her gifts are in her sack and the run up to Christmas is much more chilled than we used to do.

My son is 15 and nd and struggles with Christmas massively, we’ve had some horrific Christmas’s and we had to have the police out last night as he became so dysregulated. My expectations are now very low and if we can make it through Christmas alive that’s a success. It’s really hard as it’s supposed to be a happy special time and the reality is it’s the most stressful time of the year.

That is so hard. Have you considered putting a plan in place discussed before the day and repeated. For example, my 6 (ND) and 3 year old went into the living room and my 6 year old burst into tears, just felt overwhelmed. We then take it in turns for everyone to open one present at a time. We start with the kids and then they can play with that present while the adults take turns. But it slows the process down. I've also kept presents back by telling family that the kids can open their present with them when we see them.
I also have the added issue that my 6 year olds birthday is in a few days. So we tend to open present over roughly 2 weeks, sometimes one a day.
I understand how hard it is. You've naturally put pressure on yourself to make it special, but it's okay! He will take time to reset and then just give him one of the presents to open and explore.
Christmas with ND kids doesn't have to look like everyone else's. It's about you, as a family, enjoying yourselves. I'm also ND, and this year was the best Christmas we have had from my perspective too (we celebrated Christmas last weekend as the kids are with their dad today) because we have done it at a slower pace and I didn't feel rushed by extended family, it acrually worked out well when I'd been dreading having an early Christmas.

Really feel for you, make a cup of tea or glass of champagne and remember you've done everything as a parent to make this special, that version of special juat looks a little different.

One present only at that age, plus a stocking. But if you’ve bought too much, the damage is done. Slow it right down. Remove most of the presents and just look at one at a time.

Agree with poster above. Just remember, he's only 7 - next year, slow it down. For now, pick a present, put the rest to one side, and enjoy them one at a time.

Next year don't leave the presents out. Hand them out one by one.

Sending support and empathy.

Christmas is very hard for our AuDHD 6 year old. We’ve had to completely reset our expectations around what it will be like.

We’re going down to do presents shortly and he’s just stated that there’s only one thing he wants and that he’s been waiting for since last Christmas…… this is the first we’ve heard of it!! And he doesn’t have it, so we know we’ll have a meltdown approaching….

When he calms down he’ll have another look and enjoy what he’s got.

Try to calm the morning down. Concentrate on one toy and build it. Fellow ND household here. Weve had christmases like that before. We now slow it down to take in turns to open gifts.