Holiday Overload: How Working Parents Can Prevent Meltdowns (Theirs + Their Kids’)

The holiday season can feel magical… and completely overwhelming. In this episode of The Long Game Parent, we explore why working parents experience higher stress, burnout, and emotional overload during the holidays, and how that stress directly affects kids’ behavior, regulation, and ability to enjoy the season.

This episode blends science-backed research, gentle nervous-system tools, and real-life flexible-family strategies for parents who juggle full-time jobs, disrupted school schedules, late nights, overstimulation, travel, and big family expectations.

Listeners will learn:

• Why holiday stress spikes for working parents
• How overstimulation and routine shifts affect children’s nervous systems

• How parent burnout contributes to dysregulation in kids
• Flexible, realistic approaches that work for families without strict routines
• Micro-regulation tools that prevent holiday overwhelm
• How to reduce guilt, simplify expectations, and stay emotionally connected
• Exactly what to say and do before kids (or parents) hit emotional overload
• How to build a holiday season that protects your mental health and strengthens family connection

Perfect for parents searching for holiday stress support, gentle parenting tools, working parent tips, emotional regulation strategies, and realistic ways to prevent holiday meltdowns.

This episode helps you create a calmer, more connected holiday—without perfection, pressure, or rigid routines.