Three tips for fostering at Christmas

Experienced foster carer Viv shared these three top tips for Christmas as a foster carer.

• Involve children, plan activities together and anticipate behaviour challenges.

"I wouldn't go over the top with planning activities because a lot of foster children can't cope with that. You might say you want to do this, and I want to do that and plan some things together. You need to realise that they could get overwhelmed, and it could be too much."

• When children stay with you long term, you can build things slowly.

"You can build Christmas up. At the beginning it's easy to think, oh, I want to buy them this because they've had nothing, but it's a lot for the kids to take in and you might be better off starting small."

• Remind children of fun, festive times you've shared.

"For one of the children I care for his father died at Christmas, so it's never been a good time. I've got little books and keep photos with all their important dates. I keep notes of what Christmas has been like, what the year has been like. We also take them out in the run-up to Christmas and talk about the things we've done, what we did last year and how nice different things were. We chat about what we can do this year and if we should do the same or different things. It lets him see that he enjoyed himself last year and gives the reassurance of a happy memory."