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By Mom Unplugged, June 5, 2008 10:06 pm

How many of you know the game of Hopscotch, Red Light Green Light, or Monkey in the Middle? I would guess that most of you parents know these games. But what about your children?

Do you or your children know how to play Exchange, Sardines, or Hot Box? Perhaps not.

That is why every family interested in getting their children outside for some good old-fashioned play NEEDS this book in their library.

Author Scott Strother’s preface reminded me of how much fun I used to have playing spontaneous neighborhood games with my friends.

Two experiences inspired Mr. Strother to write this book: 1) Coaching 6 to 16 year-olds in tennis, and realizing that they had no idea what he was talking about when he referred to some of the very common games from his childhood; and 2) A paper that he wrote about childhood obesity and today’s children’s sedentary lifestyles.

Here are the highlights:

• Forgotten Neighborhood Games: Get Kids Back Outside and Loving It! is basically an encyclopedic reference to over 150 outdoor games for children. There are all the old classics that I remember enjoying, and many, many new ones that I have never heard of before.

• Games are classified and organized according to activity level. The first section is Activity Level V, “…games that require the most exercise. These games mainly entail constant running or movement and are highly active.” Each section decreases in intensity until the final, Activity Level I - “…games where mostly walking or limited physical exercise is required. These games are still active and outside, but are not as physically demanding as the others.”

• There is only one game per page and the information is complete, and very clearly presented. Each game description specifies number of kids, ages, time allotted, space/area, equipment, description (startup, object, and play), and the author’s personal comments.

• Many of the games require children to determine who is “it.” Do you remember doing that? Well, I suspect that choosing who is “it” might be another lost art. Fortunately Forgotten Neighborhood Games also has a section entitled “Picking the ‘It’” which includes a description of the process, and a few rhymes from which to choose.

When I first began this blog in February of 2007, I had planned on having a “Children’s Games” page where I would write up the rules for various outdoor, neighborhood games. Like the author of this book, I had noticed that most children today are too focused on video games and TV to spend much time outdoors playing active and social games like these. I did write a few game posts which I later eliminated. The task was just too daunting.

Although it is sad that a book like this might be necessary to teach today’s children how to play this way, I am so thankful that Mr. Strother took the time to write this very comprehensive, yet easy to use book. The blog equivalent of Forgotten Neighborhood Games is precisely what I had in mind in back in “the old days” when I first began Unplug Your Kids.

My advice would be to use this book as a reference to find a few games to teach your kids. Or better yet, if your children read well enough, have them explore it on their own. As the author says:

It might take a little effort at first, learning the games and getting other children to play, but once kids start learning these exciting games, they will not want to stop. Do not be afraid to go find kids and coerce them outside for some fun. More and more children from the neighborhood will start to get involved. Everyone will begin looking forward to playing and will meet more often. Instead of sitting around inside, kids can meet each other, make friends, get exercise, and have a ton of fun! This is what childhood is all about. Kids need to get back outside, exercise, and love it…and this book is the guide!

Forgotten Neighborhood Games: Get Kids Back Outside and Loving It! is another useful tool for parents to help get children away from “The Box” and back outside. Deserves to become a classic.

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By Mom Unplugged, May 20, 2008 2:11 pm

Despite writing a blog for all the world to see, I actually tend to be a rather private person. I am very bad at self-promotion, but I have news that I simply can’t keep to myself any longer.

That picture above may look like any old page from any old book to you, but to me it is astonishing, amazing, and quite unbelievable. It is something that I must pick up and look at again and again in order to be completely sure it is real.

Those words on that page, and several others like it, are MY words (“Mines!” as my 2 year-old would say). My words in print, published in a real book that is available in real bookstores for anyone to pick up and read as they sit and sip their Starbucks. A fat, solid book with a lovely glossy cover and that wonderful “new book smell.”

The book is called How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel: And Other Misadventures Traveling with Kids and is edited by Sarah Franklin. It is a very funny anthology of absolutely true nightmare stories about traveling with children. I feel very honored that my unusual adventure was chosen for inclusion. Suffice it to say that my contribution involves a small single-engine airplane piloted by me, and a screaming, hungry 3 month-old baby (my oldest daughter).

Anyhow, I really enjoyed reading all the tales in the collection, and I often laughed out loud! I would have recommended it as a great summer or travel read for all parents, except that now I am a bit embarrassed to do so since my piece is in it. How weird is that?

Seriously though, consider reading it this summer on your United Airlines flight to Chicago, or your cross-country car trip to Grandma’s. If your little darlings fuss on the flight or vomit cherry slushies all over your new car, this book will lift your spirits and you’ll immediately feel better knowing that it COULD ALWAYS BE WORSE.

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By Mom Unplugged, November 12, 2007 10:08 pm

Last week I announced a new series of posts entitled “Christmas Unplugged.” Actually any major holiday can be inserted in place of “Christmas,” but I think it will be easier for me to just focus on one holiday and allow you to generalize.

For several years now, I have really been trying to figure out how to simplify Christmas. Christmas just seems so over-the-top sometimes. Even without TV I am irked by the commercialism and the messages of spending money as the only path to “The Perfect Christmas.” I don’t like all the massive exchanges of gifts that often are unwanted or unneeded.

Before children, I could ignore my discomfort. After all, it is just one day a year. But ever since I have had children, I have felt the need to focus my thoughts much more on how and why we celebrate Christmas.

I think I will write more on this topic next time for it is the starting point of any transformation of Holiday traditions. Today, I want to begin this series by introducing a very interesting book that has helped me think more about my “issues” with Christmas and what to do about them.

When I first announced my Christmas Unplugged series last week, several of you commented that I should read Unplug the Christmas Machine. Well, I already had (or nearly had, I think I still had one or two chapters to go), in fact it was one of my inspirations for writing this series.

I accidentally found Unplug the Christmas Machine: A Complete Guide to Putting Love and Joy Back into the Season on Amazon a while ago. I wish I could remember how. I put it in my “Wish List” for future reference and finally bought it back at the end of September, as my thoughts turned to yet another round of holiday confusion.

I have really enjoyed this book, and have found it very useful for helping to sort out my thoughts. I guess I am not alone in feeling empty and miffed at the holidays.

Unplug the Christmas Machine covers all the bases. Whether you are an exhausted overachiever, a guilty underachiever, have annual family conflicts to deal with, hate the commercialism, want more spirituality in your Christmas, male, female, with children, childless, etc. etc. etc. I think you will find some helpful thoughts and ideas in this book.

I always like reading chapter titles when I consider a book, so if you like that too, then here they are:

Intro: The Christmas Pledge
1) “A Christmas Carol” Revisited
2) Women: The Christmas Magicians
3) Men: The Christmas Stagehands
4) The Four Things Children Really Want for Christmas
5) The Homecoming
6) Inside the Christmas Machine
7) The Gift of Joy
8) A Simple Christmas
9) Christmas Revival
Appendix: Resources for a Simple Christmas

Each chapter ends with exercises for helping you determine your feelings about the particular subject of the chapter. There is also always a question and answer section that often contains concrete ideas and helpful resources.

The Appendix is a book unto itself and is packed full of ideas and resources that the authors have found useful for helping to simplify Christmas. The subjects covered are:

-Decorations, broken down by category (Greens, Tree, Candles, etc.)

-Music

-Christmas Cards

-Entertaining

-Food (includes recipes)

-Gifts, includes great “alternative gift ideas” and “easy homemade gifts” (as far as I’m concerned, this book is worth buying just for this “Gifts” section alone!)

-Alternative Christmas Activities for Churches

-Making a Christmas Budget

If you feel really energized by the message of this book, you can help enlighten others by buying a Leader’s Guide ($20) and hosting your own “Unplug the Christmas Machine” workshop.

I could go on and on about all the useful, concrete information and encouragement that is in this book. But the main point of my post has to be that if you have any doubts at all about Christmas, try reading Unplug the Christmas Machine: A Complete Guide to Putting Love and Joy Back into the Season to see if you find some inspiration.

You could get it from the library or go all out and buy it. I decided just to buy it and am glad I did, since I view it as a reference book to be pulled off the shelf whenever I need a bit of encouragement or a useful idea.

One thought on buying it: new at Amazon it is currently $10.36 (paperback). I purchased a “Like New” copy from an “Amazon Seller” for about $5.00 (including shipping) and honestly I couldn’t tell that it was not a brand new book! So if you want to buy it, shop around.

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By Mom Unplugged, October 23, 2007 8:53 pm

Henryk Goldszmit was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1878. He is better known by his pseudonym, Janusz Korczak (pronounced “Yanoosh Kor-chock”)

Not only did Janusz Korczak become a well-known writer (Korczak even wrote quite a few children’s books that were apparently extremely well-known in their day, including King Matt the First) but he also became a pediatrician so as to better be able to help sick and poor children.

In 1912 he decided to go a step further and became the director of a new Jewish orphanage in Warsaw. He lived in the attic of the building and accepted no salary. He cared lovingly for the children and had a profound belief (which was not at all the mainstream view at the time) that children should be respected and listened to.

In 1939, the Nazis invaded Poland. In 1940, they ordered Korczak’s orphanage to relocate to the Jewish ghetto, which was a deplorable slum filled with disease, starvation and corpses on the streets.

Korczak made daily begging expeditions to obtain food and medicine for the children. He attempted to maintain as normal a life for the children as possible: teaching and playing with them. He also took over a hospital for sick and dying children in his belief that children should die with dignity.

Although encouraged by non-Jewish friends to leave Poland and save himself, and despite being offered many opportunites to escape, he always replied:

“You wouldn’t abandon your own child in sickness, misfortune, or danger, would you? So how can I leave two hundred children now!” (Loving Every Child, p. 82)

You can all see where this terrible tale is headed. On August 5, 1942 Janusz Korczak lead his two hundred children on a parade through the streets to the train station. They carried the orphanage flag designed by Korczak, and each child carried one favorite toy or book. Korczak and his children were taken away in freight cars to Treblinka where they were all sent to the gas chambers.

This was not meant to be a biographical post about Janusz Korczak, but I don’t believe that one can discuss this book Loving Every Child: Wisdom for Parents, without knowing a bit about this remarkable man.

I stumbled upon this book after hearing a March 3rd NPR story about it: Parenting Advice From a Polish Holocaust Hero. I read it cover-to-cover right away, think about it often, and knew I would write about it one day after I was able to digest the enormity of Korczak and his wisdom, as well as write a post about him without crying.

Loving Every Child: Wisdom for Parents is actually a compilation of quotations from some of Korczak’s other works, primarily How to Love a Child (1919) and The Child’s Right to Respect (1929). It is divided into chapters that each cover a very general subject. For example: “Communication,” “A Child Will Play,” and my favorite - “Adults Are Not Very Clever.”

Janusz Korczak was so incredibly ahead of his time. The advice in this book could have been written yesterday. To think that he wrote these words in the early 1900′s just amazes me.

As I mentioned previously, the main theme of the book is respect for the child. Korczak’s keen observations about the interaction between children and adults really make it seem that this man was able to get inside a child’s head and see the world as the child sees it. His sense of empathy and compassion is overwhelming.

This book has profoundly touched me. Although Korczak’s story brings tears to my eyes whenever I think of it, I have to agree with Ari L. Goldman in his Foreword:

“But what I particularly like about this volume is that it takes Korczak’s wisdom about children out of the context of martyrdom. Most people learn about him through exhibits at various museums commemorating the Holocaust. Korczak, of course, deserves a place there. But he especially deserves to be remembered for what he taught us about children and about ourselves.” (Loving Every Child, p. viii)

This is a book to keep on your nightstand and pick up again and again. Even nearly one hundred years later, Korczak’s words serve as a reminder to us all, to listen to and respect our children.

Here are some of my favorite passages from Loving Every Child: Wisdom for Parents (actually, they are ALL my favorites, so it was hard to choose just a few):

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“We plunder the mountains, cut down the trees, and exterminate the animals. More and more the forests and marshes are being replaced by buildings. We are planting human beings in ever new territories.

We have subjugated the world and have made use of the iron and the animals; we have enslaved other races, we have organized international relations in a cursory way and appeased the masses. Injustice and ill treatment prevail. We do not really consider childhood worries and apprehensions as very serious matters.

Any child is an unequivocal democrat and does not recognize any hierarchies. Whether it is another child’s hunger or the agony of a tormented animal, it causes him pain. Dogs, birds, butterflies, and flowers are equally close to his heart, and he feels kinship with each pebble and shell. He does not believe that only humans have souls.” (p.45)

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“The child is small, lightweight, and there is just less of him. We ought to stoop and come down to his level.” (p.20)

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“When is the proper time for a child to start walking? When she does. When should her teeth start cutting? When they do. How many hours should a baby sleep? As long as she needs to.” (p.8)

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“The child never begrudges the time spent reading a story, having a conversation with the dog, playing catch, carefully scrutinizing a picture or retracing a letter.” (p.34)

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You can also read an excerpt from the book at the NPR website.

Photo is of Janusz Korczak circa 1930, courtesy of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. (USHMM - Photograph #65010, courtesy of Międzynarodowe Stowarzyszenie im. Janusza Korczaka)

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By Mom Unplugged, October 11, 2007 8:57 pm

At the end of September I wrote a post entitled How to Get By Without the Electronic Babysitting Box, inspired by the frequent questions I get along the lines of “how do you make supper without a TV to keep the kids occupied?” In the post I mention that for me, the1 to 2 year-old range is the most challenging one to keep independently busy when necessary.

This evening I was going through one of my bookshelves and I happened upon a little book that has very simple and creative ideas for keeping 1.5 to 3 year-olds busy. It is The Toddler’s Busy Book by Trish Kuffner.

I was given this book as a gift when my oldest was just a baby. Honestly, at first I was completely underwhelmed by it. Not knowing much about little ones, I had no idea what challenges I would face when my sweet infant became an active young toddler. Activities such as “Car Wash” (p.128 - child washes riding toys) or “Pasta Sort” (p.184 - child sorts different shapes of pasta into small containers) sounded pretty boring and unimaginative. After all, wouldn’t my little one be creating art masterpieces and reading War and Peace by age 2?

Well, several years and several children have taught me that activities such as “Car Wash” and “Pasta Sort” are, in fact, the absolute height of brilliance! I think that for adults, well for me anyhow, it is much easier to come up with projects and ideas for older children because they are more physically capable and think on a level closer to our own.

As I said in my Babysitting Box post, I do not believe in being my children’s entertainment committee, but there are times when they just mope about bored. So, especially being without TV, I find it useful to have a few ideas to throw out there for them to try. Older kids can do art, or origami, or crafts, or make books, or any number of things that adults can relate to.

Little ones are more of a mystery. Plus, they rely more on a grownup to play with them, or at least supervise a suitable independent project for their age. I find it challenging to think of appropriate ideas. Since most grownups would find pouring dried beans incredibly boring for example, it might not occur to us that something so simple can be a mesmerizing project for a 1.5 year-old!

This book has 365 such projects. Some are more complicated or require a bit more parental involvement than others, but all would truly be entertaining for a child in the 1.5 to 3 range. When I read these simple ideas now that I am on toddler number three, I often have a reaction of: “A ha! Why didn’t I think of that?” For example, the “Car Wash” idea would be a great toddler distraction on a warm day while Mom tries to garden. Or why not have your little one sort pasta shapes in the kitchen while you make dinner?

The 365 ideas in this book are organized by theme to make it easy to find just the one you need for any particular situation. The themes are:

• Rainy Day Play
• Kids in the Kitchen
• Water Play
• Outdoor Adventures
• Out and About
• Nursery Rhymes and Finger Plays
• Early Learning Fun
• Music and Movement
• Arts and Crafts
• Birthdays and Holidays

There are also sections on what to keep on hand in your craft cupboard, craft recipes (playdough, homemade paint, etc.) and other useful tidbits.

Trish Kuffner has written a series of other “Busy Books” too. We have also recently acquired The Children’s Busy Book : 365 Creative Games and Activities to Keep Your 6- to 10-year Old Busy, but have not used it yet. Leafing through it, I must say that the projects look really interesting. We’ll have to try a few of them soon. I’ll report back!

Here are links to all the books in the Kuffner “Busy Books” series in case you feel like browsing.