10 Christmas Activities for Families by Whack-E-Doo Mom

 For children, Christmas is magic. It’s wonder and excitement. Often times, for grown-ups, it’s mile long shopping lists, mile long lines in department stores and mile long credit card bills piling in after the first of the new year. Don’t allow the hassles and stress of the holidays to diminish your Christmas spirit! Christmas is a time for memories, not migraines! Here are some fun ideas for you and your family to regain the true meaning of Christmas.


1. Ambush your kids with a surprise late night drive around town to see lights and decorations. Get them all set for bed, in nice warm jammies. Then, right when you are about to tuck them in, scoop them up, bundle them in blankets, buckle them in the car and go cruisin’! Be sure to have Christmas tunes ready in the car to sing along to. Older children will especially get a kick out of this special holiday adventure!


2. It’s important to teach your children that Christmas is not just about presents under the tree. Have your children decorate an old shoe box with reds and greens and ribbons and bows. Then talk to your children about gifts that don’t come wrapped, gifts that you can’t touch, such as love. Help your children make a list of all the gifts that they are thankful for that can’t be wrapped and put under the tree. Put the list in the box and place the box in a prominent spot in your home as a reminder of this life lesson. You can pack the box away with your holiday decorations and add a new list each Christmas.


3. Lights, camera, action! Act out your family’s favorite Christmas story, such as Frosty the Snowman or Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and record it. Everyone knows how the story goes, only rehearse your skit once, then capture it on film. You are guaranteed tons of laughter and a great memory!


4. Start a Christmas tradition that each year your family will do something new, something that your family has never done before to celebrate the spirit of the season. It can be anything – ice skating, caroling – have each member of the family come up with an idea for a first-time activity and write them down, then throw all the ideas into a hat. Then write each member of the family’s name down and throw them into a separate hat. Mom or Dad can choose the name out of that hat and whoever they pull out gets to pull the activity out of the other hat. Maybe your experience will be a one shot deal (we had a skiing fiasco in our family last year) or maybe it will be something your family wants to add to the Christmas traditions you already celebrate each year.


5. Get out of the house! Check your local newspaper for community Christmas events that you and your family can enjoy together – going to see a high school production of “The Nutcracker”, joining an organized caroling event or attending a live nativity scene.


6. Put together a time capsule to be opened on a future Christmas. Have your child include their Christmas Wish List, holiday crafts that they’ve made in school and whatever else you’d like to add as a Christmas memory. Mark the box with “Christmas” and the current year and then the year you’ll uncover the time capsule – how about five years from now? Your then eight year old will be horrified to learn she wanted a Barney tape when she was three! You don’t have to actually bury your Christmas Time Capsule – unless you want to – it will stay much safer up in the attic or hidden away in the garage.


7. Tell your children the story of the birth of Jesus. Explain to them that the baby Jesus was born poor and homeless and that even though that was many, many years ago there are still babies born today who don’t have what they need. Take your children to the store and have them pick out gifts for babies born like baby Jesus. Take your children with you to a pregnancy center or woman’s shelter to donate the items. Say a special prayer at bedtime that night for the babies who will receive their gifts.


8. Expose your children to Christmas traditions from around the world. Do some research online or check out a book from the library and educate yourself on Christmas customs from different cultures. Then share your new knowledge with your little ones. One of the traditions you learn about may speak to you and you may want to incorporate it into your own family’s holiday traditions.


9. Hear ye’, hear ye’! Create a family newsletter to send out with your Christmas cards or through email this year. Tell about what’s happened in your family in the past year. Each member of the family can have their own message, older children can write their own and younger children can dictate to you what they’d like to share. You can even include photos, recipes, a word search – whatever you’d like.


10. Many families give their children’s school pictures or a family portrait in a frame as a Christmas gift. Why not add a really personal touch to an already personal gift? Help your children decorate the frames in any manner they choose. You knew you’d find a use for those odds and ends craft scraps of yours!


Hope these suggestions have been helpful. Don’t try to do all of the activities or you’ll wind up more stressed than before, just pick those that spoke to you. Christmas can be a magical time full of wonder and excitement, even for busy grown-ups. Don’t lose sight of what matters this time of year and don’t pass up an opportunity to make a special Christmas memory. Even the seemingly simplest activity can create a special Christmas memory for your child. Maybe even one they will share with their own children someday when they’ve turned into a busy grown-up and need to rediscover their Christmas spirit.

Happy Holidays, here’s to the memories…



Revel in the ramblings of The Whack-E-Doo Mom on her blog at http://whack-e-doo-mom.blogspot.com .

Article Source: http://www.ladypens.com

Wonk, Wonk, Wonk- How to Train Your Kids to Ignore You by Carrie Lauth

 It started with a trip to the grocery store. While I waited for the cashier
to ring up my items, a mother behind me was delivering a soliloquy (only she
didn't recognize it as such!).

"Suzy, you're not going to take that home."
"Suzy, you can carry that around but I'm not buying that."
"Suzy, you've been naughty. Why should I buy that for you?"
"Suzy, put that away. I'm not paying for it."
"suzy, everyone is looking at how much trouble you're causing."

And on and on and on...

I was so thankful when the cashier gave me my total. I was tired of this woman blathering on and I don't have to live with her! Poor Suzy. She is being trained to ignore her Mother. The more Mom talks, the less she hears.
Mom needs to learn rule number one:

Less Talk, More Action

Remember the Peanuts cartoons? When one of the adults spoke, all the kids heard was "wonkwonkwonkwonk". The more you lecture, threaten, warn, count to 3, etc... the less your child listens. Stop diluting your effectiveness as a parent with these non-actions. Use natural consequences as often as possible, and deliver the consequence calmly and swiftly. For example:

If your two year old won't stop running into the street, clearly explain to her that if she does it, she will be taken inside for the day. Then, when she does it (and she will, of course, cute little Scientist that she is!), calmly and without fanfare, escort her inside. Don't give her warnings or "another chance".

Toddlers and young kids don't understand an abstract concept like getting hit by a car... something they've never seen, felt or tasted. So talking about it until you're blue in the face is unlikely to do any good.

But what they DO understand is cause and effect. "If I do "X", then Mommy does "X"....EVERY TIME. Even young babies learn this. Ever noticed how excited your baby gets right before you feed him? He's learned that when you hold him a certain way, food is forthcoming. Our kids are smarter than we think sometimes.

Another example: Two siblings are fighting about a toy. Don't waste your time trying to figure out who is in the wrong, it's virtually impossible and just encourages tattling. The children will learn how to work out their own negotiations if involving the parent means unpleasantness. The toy is put up for a period of time. End of story. Toy squabbles will dramatically decrease almost magically!

Let Your Yes Mean Yes & Your No, No

Do what you say you will do. If you tell your child that acting up in the grocery store means no cookie from the bakery at the end of the trip, MEAN it. I'll never forget the look on my 2 year old daughter's face as she watched her brothers eat huge chocolate chip cookies while she went empty handed! Few things impress a young child more than you holding to your words, calmly and without a lot of emotion (that just makes you look like an idiot). Children don't respect you if you are always swinging back and forth like a pendulum. Decide what's important to you and expect those limits to be respected.

This rule makes parenting so much easier because your kids will stop testing you so much, which is just their way of saying "Do you really mean it?".

The flip side of this is that when you promise something positive, you had better make good on it! If you do this, your children will learn that you mean what you say.

Carrie Lauth is a homeschooling Mom of 4. For more positive parenting and discipline tips,
visit http://www.natural-moms.com/Parenting_positive_discipline.html


Article Source: http://www.ladypens.com

13 Things For Your Child To Do (Instead of Watch TV) by Carrie Lauth

 C'mon, admit it. You sometimes use the television set as a cheap babysitter.
That's ok...we ALL do it sometimes! Ah, but it's a double-edged sword, because kids who watch a lot of TV have trouble keeping themselves entertained, which in the long run makes your job harder!

If you're trying to limit the TV viewing in your household, you might need a little inspiration.  Try these TV-free activities guaranteed to keep the kids busy... at least for a little while!

1) Make paper airplanes
Warning: This one is highly addictive! My two boys absolutely love making paper airplanes. Buy them a book on the fine arts of paper airplane making, and then put your feet up and read a book.

2) Make a tower with toothpicks and peas
Go ahead- encourage them to play with their food!

3) Make homemade ice cream
Put two parts milk and cream and one part sugar in a coffee can, with any flavorings you want. Put the lid on, then put it in a bigger can and pour ice around the little can. Put rock salt on the ice. Put a lid on the big can, and give it to your child to roll it back and forth for about 1/2 hour or until it turns into ice cream! (Do this one even if it's winter...I won't tell!)

4) Give them a magnet and instruct them to run it all over the house and see what they find. And loose couch change is fair game!

5) If you have bunk beds, put blankets around the lower one and make a
submarine. Make it a yellow blanket. Then sing the appropriate Beatles tune.

6) Play First Family Savings and Loan
Save your cancelled checks and fake credit cards that come in the mail. Supply the kids with a calculator, pencils, small table and Monopoly money. This one was my favorite as a kid!

7) Build a mini log cabin with twigs

8) Have a tic-tac-toe tournament

9) Make your own soda.
Here's an easy recipe: http://www.easyfunschool.com/article2052.html

10) Make a card for Grandma.
Get out the rubber stamps, art supplies and construction paper and make a greeting card for Grandma or another loved one.

11) Bake a cake
Buy the kids an easy cake or brownie mix and let them loose in the kitchen. Tell them they can enjoy the fruits of their labors as long as they clean up all mess.

12) Make up a treasure hunt
Buy cheap dollar store toys. Hide in your closet. Make a list of items they must find outside. (A white rock, a feather, a red leaf, a penny, etc) Tell them an exciting booty awaits when they bring all the items to you.

13) Make a cave inside the house.
Put old blankets over the backs of chairs or over a table to make a tent.
Grab a flashlight and instruct child to go read scary stories inside it.


http://www.InsteadofTV.com is a resource for parents trying to turn off the TV and turn on life. Sign up for our free newsletter and get "101 Things To Do Instead of Watch TV".



Article Source: http://www.ladypens.com