Being there for your kids - Do You Get the Holiday Blues?

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

Everybody gets sad one time or another and for various reasons. What you do with that sadness can define your quality of life. The holidays are often occasions when feeling sad can overwhelm us and take us out of a good mood. Follow little Becky's exchange with her mama over the recent death of her Nana and hear an example of using mentalligent psychotherapy to conquer your holiday blues. For more on MPT, buy my new book, The Healing Journey: Overcoming Adversity on the Path to the Good Life, at amazonbooks.com. Click on https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CY9PQXMZ to make your purchase. Happy Holidays, Dr. Jon

Hi, I'm Dr. John Robinson, and this is Teachable Moments. Let me ask you, do you get holiday blues? For some, the upcoming holidays are full of presents, family, fun, and joy. For others, not so much. Changes occur in life. Holidays mark the passing of time. When a loved one is not here anymore, when others have moved away, when downsizing makes gift-giving tough, we can get stuck.

Got the holiday blues? I've got some suggestions. I hate the holidays. Becky stomped her five-year-old feet as she protested. I never get what I want, and what I do get, I have to share with stupid old Abby. Her three-year-old sister turned her head when she heard her name called. It's not fair, she screamed as she fell to the floor, kicking her feet. Dana came running into the family room from the kitchen after hearing the commotion. She gathered her oldest daughter in her arms. hey baby girl you're so upset she hugged her tightly what's going on becky just continued crying in her arms for a while as her mom soothed her through hiccups and deep breaths becky whispered i miss nana she was here last year and now she's not

becky nestled into her mama's arms i know sweetheart i miss her too i was her favorite you know but don't tell abby dana laughed softly before assuring her daughter i won't darling that'll just be between you and me Becky calmed and smiled at their shared secret. Hey, Punkin, I'm baking cookies. Do you want to lick the bowl? Mmm, yummy, she agreed as she clambered down from her mama's lap. The holiday blues are triggered by many things. Becky's mom helped her settle down by first acknowledging her feelings and then distracting her with a fun activity. She used mindfulness to pull her daughter from the sad past and into a fun activity present.

She could use elements of positive psychology by asking Becky what fond of memory she has of her Nana. She could reframe her upset at her loss by suggesting that missing Nana and the fun time they had together was a way of continuing to love her. That reframe could also result in Becky and her Mama writing her Nana a note where she might list the fun things so that she enjoyed this past year since her Nana had died. In my new book, The Healing Journey, overcoming adversity on the path of the good life, I share a new psychotherapy treatment, would I call mental intelligence psychotherapy or MPT.

I elaborate on the unique ways that mindfulness, positive psychology, and cognitive behavioral interventions can be woven seamlessly together to help you get unstuck and begin soaring to new heights of contentment and resilience.

Buy your copy online at AmazonBooks.com. If my thoughts stir questions of your own, contact me through my website at www. www.thereformykid.com or email me at John Robinson ZeroZero at Belsaf.net. I'm Dr. Jonathan C. Robinson, licensed clinical psychologist and author of Teachable Moments, Building Blocks of Christian Parenting, and my new book, The Healing, The Healing, The Healing, Overcoming Adversity on the Path of the Good Life. Happy Holidays, Dr. John.

Teachable Moments, Building Blocks of Christian Parenting, is available online at Amazonbooks.com and in local and national bookstores. More on Dr. Robinson at TMC-P-I-N-C.com.