Exploring Gratitude Guides: Take What You Need and Leave the Rest
This month, we'll explore holiday guides, strategies, and suggestions, so you can find what actually works for you and your learner.
Hello Gifted Guides!
We’re so glad you’re here! And we’d like to give a special welcome to our new friends from the annual NAGC Convention. (For our new friends, if you’re looking for Davidson Institute program info, that is all at the end of this newsletter.)
How are you doing?
No, really.
Pause.
Take a breath.
Do a body scan.
How are you feeling?
Where are you feeling your feels?
As we inch closer to the end of 2025, where are you spending your energy? What feelings do you find yourself coming back to?
Our inboxes are suggesting that folks might be feeling overwhelmed, as they struggle with decision fatigue. Maybe you’re struggling to find the resources, community, or support you need. Maybe you’re keeping things afloat, but you’re not quite sure how. Maybe things are actually going great for you and your learner, and you’re worried the other shoe will drop soon. Maybe you’re just waiting to enjoy the special dish or tradition that your family takes part in every holiday season.
Maybe, and perhaps more likely, you’re a mix of these and many other feelings.
We’re right there with you.
Last month, we welcomed you to “dysregulation season,” and last year, the title of our November issue of Guiding Gifted as “What if I Don’t Want to be Grateful!?”
While the holidays offer a lot to look forward to, we also know the holidays can be an overwhelming mix of emotions.
While holiday disruptions to our normal day-to-day routines can be fun and special and magical, they are also disruptions. And disruptions can find us juggling busy schedules, feeling scattered, and struggling with transitions.
If we, as adults, are struggling with these things, chances are that our gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) learners may also be struggling, even during activities they’ve been looking forward to.
These are all reasons why this is the time of year when there are many articles, blog posts, newsletters, and podcasts about neurodivergent needs during the holidays. There are guides and tips and strategies galore.
It’s wonderful that we get to share all these suggestions and resources with each other. It can help us feel seen and understood. It can also help us to build experiences that work for us.
Here are some of our favorite holiday guides:
“Stop Unsolicited Advice from Families in Its Tracks” - Carol Brady, Ph.D.
“A Gifted and Distractable Guide to Making it Through the Holidays” - Julie F. Skolnick, M.A., J.D.
“Parenting Gifted Children Through the Holidays” - Molly A. Isaacs-McLeod
“Surviving the Holidays with a House Full of Gifted Folks” – Institute for Educational Advancement
“Tips for Low Stress Holidays for Gifted Families” - Davidson Institute
At the same time, too much advice can feel like just that: too much!
It can feel like there is a “right” way to accommodate us. It can feel like if we’re truly accommodating our needs or the needs of our learners, then we will simply be able to bypass dysregulation all together. If we plan enough or accommodate enough, certainly we’ll be able to remain emotionally regulated, right?
That’s a very nice thought, but that’s not how emotional regulation, or, quite frankly, being a human works.
You will experience emotional dysregulation. Even if you have a big list of tools. Even if all your accommodations are in place. Even if you plan your activities and rest in the “best possible way.”
We are emotional beings, and emotions aren’t always predictable. The strategies, suggestions, and tools shared in advocacy conversations are never meant to erase your emotional responses. They are there to help you navigate moments of dysregulation—not to prevent you from ever experiencing dysregulation.
So, as you travel “over the river and through the woods” or wherever holiday festivities may take you, our holiday wish is that you give yourself and your learner grace to be exactly who you are. Give yourself time to celebrate and time to rest. Give yourself time to socialize, as well as quiet moments.
Gifted and 2e advocacy is not an endeavor to erase needs or to mask your feelings and reactions. Advocacy is work we do to allow ourselves and our learners to explore and experience the world in ways that work for us. Exploration and experiences are not uniformly monotone or static. There are ups and downs, loud times and quiet times, laughter and tears. All of these things come with being human.
As always, when we offer you resources or suggestions, we hope you take what you need and leave the rest. You don’t need to “strategy” yourself into a perfectly emotionally regulated holiday. That’s not even really possible.
Take the strategies and suggestions that will help you have the experiences and interactions that are meaningful, interesting, and enjoyable to you.
Take the strategies and suggestions to make the abrupt or jarring transitions or schedule disruptions more tolerable.
Take strategies and suggestions that help you navigate crowds, cold temperatures, or unfamiliar foods in ways that help you more fully participate in events and activities that you want to participate in.
Take the strategies and suggestions that help you support your learner or other loved ones—including yourself!
Conclusion
This month, the Davidson Institute is especially grateful that you are part of our community—whether this is your first issue of Guiding Gifted with us or if you’ve been here from the beginning; whether you’re part of one of our programs or if this is your first interaction with us. We are grateful to be part of your advocacy community, and we’re here to support you how we can.
If you’re in one of our programs already, you know there are lots of resources for you to access via our private, member’s only website.
If you’re not currently participating in one of our programs, there is still a wealth of information and support available to you. Check out our Resource Library or our free resource guides or any of our other curated resources (like our Spotify and YouTube playlists or our Bookshop.org reading lists).
Finally, a fundamental part of advocacy is making sure basic needs—like food and shelter—are being met for both us and our learners. If you or someone you know might need extra support, findhelp.org may be a useful resource. It can also help you find organizations to support, if you’re in a position to help others.
We are honored to be part of your advocacy community, and we will see you next month to wrap up “dysregulation season”!
What’s New at the Davidson Institute?
Apply to Young Scholars!
If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!
2026 application dates will be announced next month, but you can start your application today!
If you want to learn more about our program, explore our website, or register for our upcoming virtual Application Q&A. Our next Q&A is taking place on January 12, at 11 am (Pacific). Does that time not work for you? Don’t worry. If you register for the event, you’ll receive a recording of the Q&A.
Remember! Davidson summer programs and events are only open to Young Scholars. If you want your learner to join us for Summer 2026, be sure to apply to Young Scholars!
Testing Opportunities are OPEN! REGISTER TODAY!
Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.
This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.
There are limited test sessions left in 2025. To learn more and register, check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!
If you’d like to join the wait list for 2026 test dates, CLICK HERE! Please note: There will not be any new 2026 dates prior to Davidson Academy and Davidson Academy Online applications for the 2026-2027 school year closing.
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We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!