Better Ways to Manage Your Holiday Stress

Key points

Up to one in six parents feel elevated holiday stress, with mothers reporting it nearly twice as often.

Financial pressures and cultural expectations drive much of the seasonal stress burden for families.

Rituals and traditions buffer stress and create joy more reliably than spending or perfect planning.

Have you ever been stressed about being stressed? Well, that's the gift I give myself every December. In an effort to create the perfect holiday memories for my family, I fall into the same trap: I plan multiple projects and then stress about all of them (as well as the fact that I’m stressed). What if I’m the one ruining the season for my family?

It turns out, I’m not alone. A national report from C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital found that, in 2021, as many as one in six p