Unspoiled Kids

I liked the review I read of the book pictured here, not for the review but the premise of the book. The book makes the following great observation which many of us Gen X parents suspect but are too afraid to live by: OUR KIDS DON’T NEED MORE STUFF!!!!!

It’s not anti-toys or anti-presents (and the author’s not either, because I’ve read her cloumn in an Aussie newspaper here in Melbourne). But it does say that kids get more out of toys that make them think, interact with other people and develop their fine- and gross-motor skills than they do out of another game for the DS or xbox.

Thank the Lord I bought my 13 year old a bass guitar this year and paid for lessons. It’s his default away from the xbox.

How do you feel about the pressure to buy? Do kids have too much, or maybe too much of one thing to the detriment of other pursuits in their lives?

On the 11th Day of Christmas:A Few of My Favourite Things

When I were a lad, oh matey, did I ever love Christmas day!

Of course, I still do. These days, it’s a shear joy to watch my kids’ delite as they open their own presents while later I revel in the tastes of Christmas food. But as a kid, it was all about my presents.

Here’s my five favourites, the ones I remember giving me the greatest joy and the ones that also I played with the most…

1. The Six Million Dollar Man doll action figure, complete with bionic eye (you looked through a hole in the back of his head and objects far away looked slightly closer).

2. The slide that miraculously appeared in the backyard when I was five. Wheeeeeeeeeee! 

3. The Star Trek (TOS) phaser. Unfortunately in late 70s’ Australia, Klingon disrupters weren’t available, but a Federation weapon was nearly as good.

4. The spud gun – you know the pistol sized ones where you shoved one end into a potato, gouged out a bullet and fired it at your sister or the dog. The difference between winning or losing a neighbourhood battle could often come down to who’d brought the most spuds with them.

5. But the piece de resistance [French for best present ever] was the Super-8 movie camera I received in 1980. This black aparatus (with the screw-on handgrip) got one hell of a workout over the next few years. My friends and I made some of the wierdest films ever made – which were made all the better by the 1981 addition of a projector which we could use to actually dub sound onto them. Can you believe it? Home movies with sound?! The wonders of pre-video technology…

How ’bout you? What were some of yours?

On the 9th Day of Christmas…

Ho ho ho, Merrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry Chrissstmas!

On the 8th Day of Christmas: Holidays and Non-custodial Dads

Holidays.

Is there a more emotive word for families? It can surface feelings of excitement and longing, or of anxiety and dread.

For some men – those who don’t live with their kids – it can also bring up some very sad or frustrated feelings.

An article I came across recently looked like a very helpful foray into that territory with tips (the author says) gleaned from a group of therapists. Here’s a sample:

The holidays tend to be an emotional time for non-custodial dads. There is just something about the holiday season that puts us in a nostalgic mood, remembering the good times for the most part. Our holiday memories are often romanticized, and many of the traditions families create become negative or impossible after an estrangement, separation or divorce.

So, given all the emotion and the nostalgia, what is a non-custodial father to do during the holidays? How do you make new memories and new traditions? What should you do to make the holidays as positive as possible for your children, who are possibly hurting far worse than their non-custodial dad?

So. Go check out Handling the Christmas Holidays as a Non-Custodial Dad …

And if you have the time, the inclination and you’re a Non-Custodial Dad (there has to be a better term!), you might like to leave a comment here and tell us what helps you not just handle them but enjoy and enhance them…

On the 6th Day of Christmas…

Dads, got lot’s of I’m-gonna-be-stuck-in-a-confined-space-with-bored-kids time coming at ya fast? Need more activities and ideas than you can shake a holly-branch at?

You need to visit Black Dog, my friend. Depending on the age of your kids (and their interests), there’s got to be something here to save your bacon, whether it’s a puzzle that you race them to finish – or a lame joke that will send them fleeing from your presence screaming so you and the missus can have some alone time.

That reminds me:

Q. What do snowmen eat for breakfast?

A.  Snowflakes.

… Hey, where ya goin’? Come back!

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BREAKING NEWS: Got an early Christmas present today: my very own slingshot monkey!!!!!!! Tried to get footage, camera broke down, more news at 11.

On the 5th Day of Christmas … MORE WIERD GIFTS!

More gifts for Christmas … if you’re struggling for ideas ….

What’s that you say? Something about “bottom of the barrell”? Oh, no there’s worse than that…

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My kids would do it. Don’t tell me yours wouldn’t!

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Who made these action figures? Weren’t they ever children??

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You think that’s tasteless? How about this next one for a finale?

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At $13.95 – ya just gotta doo it.

And now finally, we’ve scraped the bottom of the barrell…

…actually, that towel wasn’t too bad …

On the 4th Day of Christmas: Christmas Lies?

Poor little guy …

I’ve written before against the evils of Santa Claus…

Actually that’s not true. I just made fun of him. Much to the (very mild) disgust of Hula Doula (who remains a good buddy and has forgiven me for being a curmudgeon).

So I didn’t really write that Santa Claus is a dubious myth…

But someone else has. Dawn Fry’s article is worth a look-see. And while “You Better Not Lie” is a little extreme, it does make at least one interesting point, one that I actually am inclined to agree with.

When children finally figure out for themselves (or their parents confess) that Santa is make-believe it can feel like a huge betrayal. People that they trust the most have been telling them that Santa is real.

Some adults think that it is okay to lie to children when it is for their own good. That may be true in some cases but where is the good of a short-term fantasy that damages a child’s core sense of trust?

Hmmm, now I know many of you will be horribly upset with the writer … and by association – ME! And I repeat that I think that Dawn is overstating it, but she raises a good question about the boundary between fantasy and lies. 

I’ve never been one to just swallow what the dominant culture tells me is true or to follow what it says to do without examining it for myself.

And I’ve always wondered why we insist on children believing this particular myth, and why many of us get so anxious and angry when someone else threatens to burst the Santa bubble ["How could you tell my 9 year old son there's no Santa?!? You beast!!"].

For my part, I really don’t care whether someone tells their children there’s a Santa Claus or not. Our choice has always been not. And this is partly because we wanted our kids to trust us and partly - as my wife puts it -  “We don’t want someone else to get the credit for the cool presents we give our kids!”

So how do you feel about this?

Do you think I’m some kind of bah-humbug-scrooge-beast for not perpetrating spreading a wonderful magical joyous story?

Or do I have a point, and do you also tell your kids “There ain’t no Santa, so ya better keep me happy if you want them presents!”?

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DISCLAIMER: Aldin children enjoy their Christmas. They get presents, have a tree and decorations, eat until their stomachs threaten to burst [and the food additives send them scaling walls that would challenge Spiderman], and find ways to do good deeds to others.

On the 3rd Day of Christmas… WIERD GIFTS!

Well, maybe this is not the right one to follow up yesterday’s post about the Church of Stop Shopping anti-consumerism movement. Still I got a chuckle out of finding this stuff, if not buying it…

 If you’re starting your wish list now, these are genuine products available to put under your tree…

Mmm, toilet lollies…

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Nerd toys! (”Amazing push-button shushing action!” oooo!)

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Just in case you’re missing school on your holiday, young one. [Me? I'm feeling queasy.]

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Why not?

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Because all children dream of having OCD! I know I did…

On the 2nd Day of Christmas…: There’s Something About Billy

What Would Jesus Buy? follows Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir as they go on a cross-country mission to save Christmas from the Shopocalypse: the end of mankind from consumerism, over-consumption and the fires of eternal debt! Movie by Morgan Spurlock.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YUFUF55f44[/youtube]

Find out more about this by visiting the Church of Stop Shopping… 

Somehow, this strikes a chord with me people. Can I get an amen? [Even a grudging one??]

On the first Day of Christmas: Fire Safety Tips!

When you’re short of ideas [or in my case, just lazy], work a theme (and work it hard!).

For the next 12 days leading up to Christmas, I’ll post once a day on the Christmas theme. Some of it will be useful info and some of it … well, just … silly … but we Aussies don’t call December the Silly Season for nothing … and the world needs more silly!

And yes, I know the 12 Days of Christmas officially start on Christmas Eve, but I’ll be just startin’ to kick back and ignore my blogging audience around then, so let’s just get it over and done with now …

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Day 1: Holiday Fire-Safety Tips

Each year, hospital emergency rooms treat about 8,100 people for injuries, such as falls, cuts, and shocks related to holiday lights, decorations, and Christmas trees. In addition, Christmas trees are involved in more than 400 fires annually, resulting in 30 deaths, 90 injuries, and an average of more than $17 million in property loss and damage.

Now, this article is based in the USA, but for Southern Hemisphere Christmasites like me, I still found a couple of useful tips in the article. Worth a visit [click the title above to go read it].

Enjoy the Silly Season!