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Social Story for a Big Family Gathering
A family gathering social story tells a child what the day will be like before they walk in: lots of people, lots of noise, and some grown-ups they don’t remember who very much remember them. For a small child that is a great deal at once. Every aunt wants a hug, every room is loud, the food is different, and the usual rules have quietly gone somewhere else for the afternoon.
The story below gives a child three things to hold onto: they can choose how to say hello, there is a signal they can give you, and there is somewhere quieter to go. Useful before Thanksgiving, the winter holidays, a wedding, or any house with too many coats on the bed. Free to read aloud, or make one set at your own family’s occasion.
Milo and the House With Too Many Coats
A free story to read aloud tonight
There were so many coats at Grandma’s that they had stopped going on the hooks and started going on the bed, in a heap, like a sleeping animal made entirely of sleeves.
Inside, everybody was talking at once. Someone was laughing in the kitchen. A great aunt Milo did not remember at all said “Look how BIG you are!” and opened her arms.
Milo had a choice, and he knew it, because they had talked about it in the car. A hug, or a high five, or a wave. He chose a wave. The great aunt waved back, a big one, and that was that.
The cousins were loud and fast and ran in a pack. Milo ran with them for a while and then didn’t want to any more, so he found his dad and tapped him twice on the arm, which was the signal. His dad didn’t ask any questions. He just walked Milo to the little back room where the old dog was sleeping.
It was quieter in there. The dog opened one eye, decided Milo was fine, and closed it again. Milo sat on the floor with his hand on the dog’s warm side and listened to the party through the wall, which is a much better volume for a party.
Later there was pie, and later still there was the car, and the heater, and the dark road home. Milo fell asleep before the end of the street, and was carried up to his own bed still smelling slightly of dog, which he would have said was the best part.
Read it a few nights running rather than on the morning of. Familiarity is the part that works. The aim is that by the day itself, none of it is new.
Should I make my child hug relatives?
Many parents now offer a choice instead: a hug, a high five, a wave or a hello. Agreeing on it in the car, before anyone is holding their arms out, makes it much easier for a child to use. Most relatives take a wave well when it comes with a smile, and a quiet word in advance with the one who won’t can save an awkward moment for everybody.
My child falls apart at loud gatherings. What helps?
Plenty of children find a house full of people exhausting, even when they are enjoying it. The things parents mention most are arriving early before it fills up, agreeing on a signal that means “I need a break” (with no questions asked when it’s used), knowing where the quiet room is, and leaving before the end rather than after it. If big gatherings regularly overwhelm your child, it is worth mentioning to your pediatrician.
Is this a Thanksgiving story?
It works for any big family day: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Diwali, Eid, Lunar New Year, a wedding, a birthday at Grandma’s. To make a personalized one, pick “My own…” at the story world step and type the occasion, and the story is set there with your child as the hero.