New Year's Eve Tip

Happy New Year early!
Tip- If you let your child stay up until midnight have him/her take a mid-day nap if you can. And let them sleep in the next morning!

Idea for Underappreciated Gifts

So Great Aunt Kathy gave you another potato peeler in the shape of an old man for Christmas. What do you do with it? Instead of throwing it in a drawer and forgetting about it, have a White Elephant party. Invite ten or more friends over and tell them to each bring a White Elephant gift (an item that has no use to them or is "different"). You'll be surprised how many individuals will like other people's white elephant gift. Put everyone's name in a hat. When a person's name is called they get to pick a gift. There is a catch. Someone can steal this gift from them if their name is called after them. Or play spin the bottle where if the bottle points to you, you get to pick a gift.

Fun Tip

Merry Christmas! If you're having turkey for dinner, find the wish bone. Wash it and once dried have your child take one end and you take the other. Break it while making a wish. Lore has it when the wish bone breaks the one who ends up with the bigger end will have their wish come true. (But in reality this is just a game.)

Movie Review, Christmas

Movie Title- Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Adapted from the story by Robert May. Narrated by Burl Ives whose character is a snowman. Christmas classic. For kids ages 6 to 9. There is a snow monster which is why I put age 6 to watch it. There is singing so if your child does not like shows with singing skip this short movie. The characters are not human, but they aren't cartoon. The elves remind me of the children in the Disneyland ride It's a Small World. My favorite character in the movie is Herby the elf who wants to be a dentist.
Story line: One of Santa's reindeer, Donner, has a son, Rudolph, who is born with a glowing red nose. The father tries to hide his son's nose with mud. When this doesn't work he has him wear a fake nose. This makes Rudolph talk like he has a cold. Rudolph joins the other little bucks in some reindeer games. When his fake nose comes off the coach tells Rudolph he can't join in the games anymore. Saddened and feeling like a misfit, Rudolph runs away from home with an elf named Herby who also feels like a misfit. Herby doesn't like making toys for Santa. He would rather be a dentist. After getting a sleigh lift from a prospector they narrowly escape from a snow monster by hopping on an ice float. They land on the Island of Misfit Toys. Rudolph runs away by himself and grows up. He then goes back to Christmas Town. A big storm hits. Rudolph saves the day by leading Santa's sleigh with his glowing nose.

Holiday Picture Book Review

Kay Thompson's "Eloise at Christmastime." Drawings by Hilary Knight. I love the mischievous Eloise. Young Eloise and her nanny live at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. In this book they are getting ready for Christmas. The drawings are terrific. The facial expressions really show what's going on. Do spend some time observing the range of emotions that the characters express. You'll see: happy, perplexed, sad, excited, indifferent, surprised, angry, hurry up, and even struggling, as in someone struggling in an endeavor. I give this book ten fingers up.

Holiday Picture Book Review

Kay Thompson's "Eloise at Christmastime." Drawings by Hilary Knight. I love the mischievous Eloise. Young Eloise and her nanny live at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. In this book they are getting ready for Christmas. The drawings are terrific. The facial expressions really show what's going on. Do spend some time observing the range of emotions that the characters express. You'll see: happy, perplexed, sad, excited, indifferent, surprised, angry, hurry up, and even struggling, as in someone struggling in an endeavor. I give this book ten fingers up.

Parenting Article about Lying

Is it Okay to Lie to Your Kids?

Is it okay to lie to your children? To answer this let us first be clear what a lie constitutes as. It is an untruth. But it can also be an excuse. It is wrong to lie to EXCUSE behavior. But I feel telling a story, like about Santa Claus, is different than telling a lie. It involves make believe and is told to make children smile. It is not told to excuse behavior. That is where the difference lies. Now some parents will not tell their children imaginary tales about Santa Claus; how he comes down a chimney to bring children presents and so on. These parents say they do not do it because it is wrong to tell false tales to kids. This is a fair argument, but my mom told me about Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy and I had no problem with it. I understood the difference between make believe and real. Which is the key. A real lie involves reality. Plus, knowing about Santa Claus never hurt me, even when I figured it out that Santa did not really come down chimneys. A lie which is told to excuse behavior can make people sad and make the teller seem untrustworthy. Since my mom did not lie to me about normal everyday things, like where she was afterschool or what she made for dinner, her tall tale about imaginary characters did not affect her creditability with me. I also knew she did not tell me about Santa Claus to hide from a wrong she did. A true lie, I feel, is told to conceal ones conduct.

So what about parents who lie to their kids about something they did as a kid or in college? If they are lying to conceal inappropriate behavior then I believe it is wrong. They can try to justify their lie all they want, but the bottom line is they are trying to conceal their behavior. Their rationalization of the lie is really just an excuse for telling it. An example of this: I read an article in a parenting magazine about lying. The writer said she would never tell her kids about her drug use in college even if she had to lie about it. She did not want them to know she did it so she tried to defend why she would lie. I got the feeling she was more worried about how her kids would think of her than how drugs can affect the mind. In any case, embarrassment can propel a person to lie. So can fear. Many times fear and lying go hand and hand. Some parents want to appear like the perfect role model to their kids. But parents have flaws. They are not super heroes. You can be a great parent and still tell your kids, when they are old enough, that you unfortunately did X in college. If they ask. You can tell them how it affected your grades, etc. This knowledge hopefully will have a positive impact on them. Maybe they will think, "Man, I should not do dope in college. Dad said he flunked out of school because of it." Or, "I better not plagiarize a term paper like Mom. If the teacher finds out I could get kicked out of school." Children respect honest parents. If you want your child to respect you, be honest with them. If you do not want your kids to rationalize away their lies, do not do it yourself. And remember if you tell a lie to your kids what if they find out? I personally have seen a parent get caught in a lie. She tried to squirm her way out and white wash it. But it can look worse for you in the long run. Lying so you look better in the eyes of your child is a way of coping out. You just do not want to deal with the situation so you revert to lying because that is the easiest way out. But being a parent is not about taking the simplest way out.

A final note: If something happened to you or someone in your family which is a private matter, then I believe you need not discuss it with your kids. But do not lie to them. The best thing to do is: Do not bring the topic up or if it does come up tell your child it is a personal issue and does not concern them. Children need to learn not to be nosy. They need to learn to be considerate of others people's business. Yours. Their cousin's. Grandma's. And the neighbor's down the street.