Holiday time for school children is a time of celebration, parties, special treats, and wonderment. But they can also be a time of worry for parents of children with special dietary needs. It is important to communicate to the teacher and school staff that a gluten-free diet does not take a holiday and must be maintained at all times. However with careful planning and communication with the teacher the holidays can still be a time of celebration and fun.

The holidays are a wonderful opportunity to help your child and the school focus on the community. Many community agencies welcome extra help during the holiday time. There are a vast array of areas the class could decide to focus on everything from food banks and shelters, senior centers, reading to preschool groups, recycling, local foods and farmers, even paper use and recycling in their own school.

Whatever the project it will bring the holiday spirit to more than just the classroom.

Holiday school strategies

Five ways to ward off the holiday blues for your child:

1. Bake or bring in your child’s favorite gluten-free cookies. Or provide your child class with a holiday snack basket filled with kid friendly gluten-free treats; popcorn, chips, trail mix
2. Help arrange the class to visit a local senior center to provide holiday songs, reading etc. (or even visit a younger class in the same school and spend time reading or working on a collaborative project)
3. Work with the teacher to focus on non-food holiday activities; create birdfeeders out of peanut butter and birdseed to hang outside the classroom windows, research winter habitat of the local wildlife, or visit a local nature center to learn more about local wildlife and the environment.
4. Collect nonperishable for the local community food bank instead of classroom parties
5. Create a book tree in place of treats for the class that can be delivered to the local hospital for the pediatric floor, or a mitten tree for a homeless shelter.