Christmas

[lunkitsmum]

Little one is 6 with autism. The last 2 Years at Christmas he’s found it tricky on and off throughout December. I try to keep it all as low key as possible but I do have other children so can’t avoid it all together. This morning my son woke up asking me to make sure Santa doesn’t come, he was stressed out and wanted me to carry him because all the other kids were wearing Xmas jumpers going into school today.(he didn’t want to wear one) I was wondering about telling him Santa isn’t real and it’s just a fun game to take some of the pressure away, but then there are times when he gets excited about it all…he slept with the smiths toy Christmas catalogue for two weeks when it came out and excitedly told me what he was going to ask for from santa! Anyone got any suggestions advice or experience’s?

My friend's DS (who has autism) was like this about Santa at around the same age. He was absolutely terrified of him and the thought of a strange man entering his house. (Which if you think about it, is a bit weird!)

My friend and her DS wrote to Santa to ask him leave his present in the garden. That seemed to help. I think one year they asked Santa to drop his present off at nana's house and she brought it round in the morning.

Christmas can be a hard time for our children (my Ds has autism too). There's so much change to routine, noise, people etc.

FWIW I’d tell him the truth.

Yeah, draw out exactly what's going to happen Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day including leaving the present somewhere safe? If Santa's magic, Santa can adapt.