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Parenting Press®Welcome to the December 2009
“News for Parents”
This electronic newsletter has dozens of ideas that we at Parenting Press hope you’ll find helpful and interesting. To suggest a story topic or to comment on article content or format, please use the link after each article; we welcome your feedback.
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If you write for a newspaper or school, extension, or child care newsletter, you’re welcome to excerpt or reprint our information, as long as you credit us and send us a copy. Advance copies of selected stories from next month’s issue (see “Coming Attractions”) are available the last week of this month for excerpts in print publications. Email our media contact.
IN THIS ISSUE
- WHAT’S NEW?
- FEATURES
- POTPOURRI
- COMING ATTRACTIONS
- Swap Trash and Treasures
- Rain, Rain, Go. . .
- 5 R’s for the New Year
I. WHAT’S NEW?
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Kid-Friendly December Decorations
Snowflakes: How many different ways can you fold and cut white paper for snowflakes? Hang them one by one in your windows or string them all together for a garland around a door frame or a mobile over the kitchen table. (Oh, and they don’t all have to be flakes. Think ahead to Valentine’s Day and make a few lacy hearts.)
Stars: Or celebrate with a garland of stars! Cut them from stiff white paper and pierce each one in the middle so the stars can be strung on fishline or heavy thread. (Another garland idea: cut out stars, snowmen, Santas and birds from old holiday cards and string them across doorways or windows.)
Luminaries: Light up winter nights with ice luminaries. They’re easy to make with directions from EEK, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources Environmental Education for Kids page.
Paper lanterns: For light indoors or out, drop tea lights into glass jars you’ve decorated. Even little kids can smear on paint or decoupage with colored tissue. Grown-ups and bigger kids can snip paper into patterns to wrap around the jars.
Origami: Turn scraps of stiff wrapping paper (heavy foil gift wrap is wonderful) into cranes you can hang in the windows. Or try the easy designs at Origami Club.
Pomanders: Extend the scents of the season by studding oranges and lemons with whole cloves. Make faces, patterns—or cover the entire fruit. (If you’re having trouble pressing in the cloves, make a tiny starter hole with a darning needle or skewer.) Mound the pomanders in a dish in a room you use a lot, so that you can enjoy the aroma.
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Surviving Witching Hours and Waiting Time
Transitions are difficult for most kids at least some of the time. Even kids reluctant to separate from parents in the morning may be cranky about coming home—in part because coming home follows a day full of transitions and the stress of self-control. This is especially true this time of year, when schedules may be disrupted by holiday events, and special outings require different rules.
All this stimulation can be exhausting, which is one reason why kids may be so unpleasant and demanding in the same time period—the “witching hour”—when adults are attempting to make their own transitions from the work place to home and family tasks like preparing dinner. Even if you don’t have to make a physical transition in the late afternoon, you may deal with kids who are coming home from child care or preschool, school or an after-school activity.
How to Handle the Hungry Child
Especially if your child has a long commute home or if snacks aren’t served at the after-school activity, tuck a nutritious snack into the backpack or take along something that isn’t messy (carrot or celery sticks, apple slices, Cheerios, water). Shelf-stable snacks such as crackers or cereal can be kept in your car or stroller, making it more likely that you’ll always have something to offer. (Works well when your family has long drives home from such special outings as that trip to the Christmas tree farm, too!)
For kids who cannot eat en route home, have a snack ready when your child walks in the house. Kids who get hungry when they smell dinner being prepared can be offered “an appetizer” such as fresh vegetables or salad. Or offer them samples of what is being prepared: a spoonful of the soup, a slice of the bread, an eighth of the apple.
Coping Strategies When Kids Are Crabby
Follow the child’s lead. Some children leave school or child care bursting with news, and want to describe every event. Others need silence and solitude to recover from the stimulation of the day.
Have soothing activities available. Play music or audio books in the car or when you’re home, offer a rocking chair, or suggest your child swing on the playground or at home. The grade-school student who has been sitting for hours in class and on the bus could walk the dog for some low-key exercise and quiet time. Other activities:
Water play. Taking a bath can be very soothing, especially for the upset child. (This gets one of the evening activities done in advance, allowing an earlier bedtime or more stories before lights out.) Your child might also water plants, or wash dishes.
Reading. You can read to your child, let the child look at books or read, or have the child read aloud to a younger child, a pet or a toy.
Arts and crafts. Painting with finger paints (substitute pudding for the very young), water colors or tempera gives kids the chance for rhythmic stroking, swirling or brushing. Cutting strips of paper for papier mache or weaving, shaping modeling clay and sanding wood are other activities that can soothe through repetition.
What to Keep in the “Waiting” Box
Besides mealtime, there are frequent occasions when children have to wait for something to be prepared or arrive, or for parents or other children to be ready for an activity or trip. These are often times when children are dressed up or your home is prepared for visitors, so you prefer to have children kept busy with activities that are quiet, easily put away and not likely to get your child or the room messy. Some suggestions:
- Lift-the-flap and pop-up books
- Wipe-clean board books for tic-tac-toe and boxes
- Origami books and paper
- Maze and puzzle books
- Paper or sticker “dolls”
- Magnetic drawing toys
- Stickers and paper
- Stencils, paper and colored pencils
- Decks of playing and quiz cards
- Magnets
- Mirrors
- Kaleidoscope
- Abacus
- Snow globe
- Hand and finger puppets
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Expressing Appreciation for Each Other
Some people say “I love you” easily. Others of us are more reserved. For those for whom it’s hard to express admiration or appreciation for family members, author and clinical psychologist Eileen Kennedy-Moore has a suggestion. As she explains:
“My husband and I and our four children have a tradition called ‘Christmas Eve Books.’ We each have one of these, a small book with blank pages. In December, each of us secretly writes three things that he or she loves about each other family member in that person’s book.
“The entries begin with the words ‘I love how you. . .’ To help the kids figure out what to write, I have some prompts on an index card: ‘What do you like or admire most about ____?’ ‘What is the nicest thing ____ has done for you either lately or this year?’ ‘What do you enjoy doing with ____?’ The older kids write their entries on their own, but I serve as scribe for the younger kids. On Christmas Eve, we read the new entries aloud. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate what’s most important within our family: cherishing each other.”
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Very Last-Minute Gifts for Kids
Yikes! You haven’t a minute to spare, and suddenly you need a child’s gift for an unexpected birthday party or holiday guest.
One solution: stop in the breakfast aisle when you’re grocery-shopping and pick up at least one “variety pack,” with its individual servings of different cereals. Grab a package of lunch-size brown paper bags, an assortment of tiny cans of fruits and vegetables, and wrap it all up with play money for “Store.” If you’ve got time, stop at the office supplies store for a cash box and price tag stickers. Hardware stores with storage containers probably have rectangular plastic or metal baskets to add for the “shopper” to use.
If the hardware store is more convenient than the supermarket, fill a small bucket with scoops, sponges, sponge brushes, magnets, funnels and sidewalk chalk: “stuff” kids can use in so many different ways.
Rather stick with office supplies? Imagine how delighted most children will be with a miniature file box full of markers, paper punches, tape, stencils and a pad of paper.
(Need ideas for homemade gifts for kids? Check the November issue of “News for Parents.”)
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Preview a New Manuscript
The editorial staff at Parenting Press would appreciate your comments on the manuscript for Is Your Child Safe from Sexploitation? A Parent’s Guide to Protecting Children from Sexual Abuse by Sandy K. Wurtele, Ph.D. This 32-page manuscript, which we expect to publish as a paperback, a library edition, and a downloadable electronic book, is available as a PDF by e-mailing marketing@ParentingPress.com. Reading the manuscript and responding to the brief questionnaire should take about 30 minutes of your time. Those who respond by Dec. 12 can receive a complimentary copy of the finished paperback.
II. FEATURES
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Tips for the month
Each Saturday, Parenting Press posts a new parenting tip and the previous week’s tip is moved to the archive. The topics planned for December are:
December 5 — Avoiding Holiday Chaos
December 12 — Building Friendship Skills
December 19 — Managing Toddlers’ Anger & Upsets
December 26 — Help! My Child is Biting!
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Family Fun Ideas — 12 Days of Christmas
Regardless of which December holidays you celebrate—or whether you celebrate at all—this month brings with it a lengthy school break. In many regions of the country, these are chilly days, and families spend much of the time indoors. To ensure you make the most of this vacation, here’s a dozen seasonal ways to have fun together.
Snowmen: Build a snowman, a snow dog or a snow fort if your winter is white. Otherwise, gather up used white tissue gift wrap and turn it into papier mache “snow” people. For a snowman-shaped base, underinflate a large oval balloon and then tie a string about a third of the way from the top to form a head. Then paste on strips or squares of tissue with a flour and water mixture or diluted white glue. When the papier mache’s dry, glue on buttons for eyes and mouth and twigs for the arms.
At www.craftstylish.com (search for item 44094), you’ll find step-by-step directions for creating baskets from cereal boxes. For miniature baskets, adapt the instructions for old holiday cards.Baskets: Fold old holiday cards into tiny baskets to fill with candy for table favors or hang on a Christmas tree; fold cereal boxes into gift baskets for fruit breads or slice-and-bake sugar cookies that the kids can deliver as hostess gifts.
Stargazing: Bundle up on a clear night and walk to where you can crane your necks for a look at the stars. Bigger kids can study the constellations before you go and help everyone spot the highlights of the winter sky. Or click through to Astronomy Magazine’s Current Events page for information on star parties near you.
Holiday cards: Didn’t get cards out before the holiday? There’s no reason why you can’t make cards to celebrate the Dec. 31 new moon, New Year’s Day, or the birthdays of Ben Franklin (kite-shaped cards for Jan. 17) or Sesame Street Muppet Ernie (stripes for the 28th). Set up a family assembly line one night after supper, with different people “assigned” cutting, coloring, signing and addressing.
A feast for the birds: Adapt the Norwegian custom of hanging a sheaf of unthreshed grain above the barn door as a holiday treat for wild birds by creating your own bird feeders. Make unflavored popcorn on the stove or in an air-popper and thread it into a garland that can be wrapped into a wreath. For a satisfyingly messy project for preschoolers, spread out a tarp, give the kids large pine cones to smear with peanut butter and then roll in bird seed. Suspend these from a tree in your yard or a nearby park.
Photo cards: Writing thank-you notes? Make them special with a photo of the writer. Use a picture taken at a holiday event or spend an hour snapping shots of each child with the bird feeder, the snowman or the gift. Cards can be as simple as the image printed or glued in one corner of a sheet of paper that is then folded into quarters. Each will then fit snugly into an envelope that is 4-3/8 x 5-5/8 inches. Or cut a little opening—a square or a heart in the front of a blank card—and position the photo inside so that it can be seen. An extra-simple option: create a postcard with the photo on one side and space for a brief note on the reverse.
Sing-along: How many of us know all the words to holiday songs? Get out your songbook, borrow one from the library or go online to get all the verses for favorites like “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” or “Auld Lang Syne.” (There are more than you think!) Sing around your table, invite in the neighbors—and maybe even make a game of it, stepping up the tempo with each verse.
Shoebox theater: Cut out paper dolls, Christmas elves or dinosaurs and monsters and glue them into a lidded box to make a scene in a peephole box. You’ll find how-to’s in “Paper Engineering and Pop-ups for Dummies,” by Rob Ives and at the California Paper Goods web site.
Holiday “scrounge” art: Give the paper dolls fancy gowns of discarded gift wrap, cut the plastic candy box liners into headlamps on vehicles built from boxes, or use leftover cartons for tunnels for the train set. Kids can tie bows and streamers of ribbon onto disposable pie pans for hats for themselves or the snowpeople. All of you can dismantle larger boxes and flatten them for impromptu sleds.
Story-telling: Especially if you have older family members visiting, set aside a few hours for tales about long ago holiday seasons. Kids are guaranteed to love the stories about their first few Christmases and chances are, they’ll enjoy hearing about meals with your grandparents, the gifts you dreamed of (and didn’t receive) and how different holiday shopping was before the Internet, big box stores and malls.
Photo albums: Stories are even easier to tell when you have old photos to remind you of events! Ask Grandma and Grandpa to bring an album if they’re coming to your house, and pull out your high school yearbooks if your kids are old enough to chuckle over short-lived fashion trends.
Time capsule: What do you want to remember five, 10 or even 15 years from now? Pack up photos, grocery ads, maps and other symbols of the year 2009 in a coffee can, a potato crisp cylinder or a jar and tuck this time capsule away somewhere you’ll be able to find it in the future. Maybe you’ll want to bury it in the garden or hide it in the garage attic as part of a New Year’s Eve celebration!
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Community Service — Spread Holiday Cheer
Our goal with this column is to suggest ways that you can model the concept of sharing and giving back to your community. There are practical advantages to community service, too. Kids can use these projects to meet school or youth group requirements for community service and to start building resumes that they’ll use when applying for first jobs or college.
Because December brings with it many appeals from your hometown organizations for your time and your money, “News for Parents” this month always focuses on what you can do for friends and neighbors, especially those who are lonely, ill or grieving. This is a month when cheerful notes, short visits, caroling, snow shoveling, homemade goodies and even snow angels outside a window can brighten someone’s day. To get started, sit down and discuss who would benefit from your family’s help. Each of you can select a person to remember throughout the season, or you can work together to be someone’s “secret pal.” Or not-so-secret! You don’t have to announce anything to your recipient: simply clear the sidewalk in the early morning, dangle a sturdy bag of homemade gingerbread on the door handle, or go as a group to sing (and ring) “Jingle Bells” outside someone’s dining room window.
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Raise funds with a Parenting Press Book Fair
Would your school or group like a new fund-raiser?
For years Parenting Press has been offering its carefully written books on child guidance, problem solving and dealing with feelings through preschool Book Fairs. Now our Book Fairs are being expanded to schools, churches, child-care programs, parenting groups—any organization that can use parenting and children’s books.
More information about our Book Fairs is posted online. You’ll find a copy of the brochure, an explanation of how much you can earn with a Book Fair, a step-by-step guide to make Book Fairs easy and fun to organize, and downloadable promotional materials.
III. POTPOURRI
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Special of the month — Celebrate with the newsletter editor!
This special has expired.
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