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By Mom Unplugged, November 3, 2007 12:42 pm

OK, so it wasn’t the Candy Fairy exactly, it was Mom. I didn’t think that at ages 5 and 7 they would suddenly start to believe in a Candy Fairy, so I simply said:

“How would you like to trade in your Halloween candy for a toy?”

My daughter said: “Can I trade it all in for a fish?”

My son said: “Can I trade it all in for a transformer?”

I said: “Sure.”

So we did. It was that easy! Honestly, I was anticipating more resistance to the idea. I guess I was lucky.

The fish was OK with me as long as my daughter agreed to take care of it herself. The transformer was not my idea of the perfect toy, but ever since my son played with one at a friend’s house, he has desperately wanted one. I scoured Amazon for the least violent transformer that I could find and finally settled on a Star Wars space ship that he seems to love.

They actually didn’t get much candy this year, so I may be the loser in this particular deal. At least they traded willing though. And they also agreed to the idea of a Candy Bank where all party candy will be put to be traded in for something when enough has been accumulated. Hooray!

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By Mom Unplugged, October 31, 2007 12:31 pm

My daughter’s Montessori class (1st through 3rd grade) does a wonderful thing for Halloween that I thought might interest some homeschool families or teachers out there.

Instead of wearing Halloween costumes to school, or even simply using the day to celebrate fall, the children prepare an oral report about a famous historical person. They must read a book about (or by) that person, then gather facts about their chosen person, most importantly they are not allowed to tell anyone else (except the teacher of course) who they are.

Throughout the week before Halloween, the teacher briefly presents to the class each of the chosen historical figures so everyone is familiar with them.

On Halloween the children go to school dressed as their person. They each give a short presentation to the class about their person, ending their talk with the question: “Who am I?” At the end of each presentation, the class tries to guess who the student is.

I am so impressed with this idea. What a wonderful way to encourage excitement about reading, history and learning…all while dealing with the sometimes sticky issue of how to celebrate (or not celebrate) Halloween at school.

My daughter read Little House in the Big Woods and chose Laura Ingalls Wilder. We had a great bonnet in the dress-up box, but no dress. As a teenager, I used to make clothes, and I actually do own a sewing machine that I have used exactly once since I bought it about 8 years ago, so I decided to go for a Super Mom Award and make a dress!

We went to Walmart (our only local fabric source) to choose a pattern and an appropriate fabric. The pattern was simple. I chose a classic little girl dress and bought an extra yard of fabric to make it reach the ankle instead of the pattern-specified knee length. The fabric choice was a little tougher.

I was thinking “little girl in dainty flowered calico,” my 7 year-old was apparently thinking “trashy bar-maid in seedy saloon.” She kept holding up more and more impossible fabrics beginning with: “Oh look Mom!” (florescent rainbow motif) and ending with: “Would she have worn this one?” (hot pink sequins on purple sparkle background). We finally settled on something resembling more of a calico.

After many hours of work wrestling zippers and gathered sleeves, I was quite pleased with the final result. There are a few flaws that probably only I will ever see, and it might not be 100% historically accurate, but I am pretty proud of it I must say.

The presentations were amazing and the costumes were very cute, and quite clever. For example there was Neil Armstrong (tin foil boots), Abraham Lincoln (fake beard and hat of course) and Mother Teresa (very clever rendition of Mother Teresa’s classic “chura” headscarf made out of a white towel with blue ribbon sewn on!) … as well as a very realistic-looking 6 year-old Sandra Day O’Connor complete with gavel!

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By Mom Unplugged, October 30, 2007 4:37 pm

A good friend of mine just brought my children a whole bag full of these “Witch Hands” treats that she found at a Halloween bake sale. I thought this idea was SO clever and easy (not to mention funny!) that I had to share it!

The “hands” are just plastic food service gloves filled with popcorn “bones” and candy corn “fingernails.” Drop a candy corn into each finger tip, fill glove with popcorn, and tie the wrist closed with black yarn. Too cool!

Comments (11)

By Mom Unplugged, October 28, 2007 9:27 pm

The results: Left to right - ages 21 months, 7 years, and 5 years.

I don’t know about you, but we got messy again! Thank goodness for washable paints.

The kids had fun, especially the baby who seemed way more “into” this project than the last one. She was jumping up and down and squealing, all while adding more and more paint to her pumpkin until it was completely covered in a green, muddy mess (far left).

I hope it all went well for your household too. I look forward to seeing your finished work. Don’t forget to leave your name and link in Mr. Linky! Here are some more photos of our pumpkin painting session:

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I have had a request for a project next week that is “less arty.” That’s fine with me. In fact I called it simply “The Unplugged Project” (rather than the “Unplugged Art Project”) for exactly that reason. How about we try a writing/art project? For those who are more verbally inclined (but there is an art option too) here is next week’s project:

Haiku

1) Write a haiku and illustrate it, either via original artwork or photo

-or-

2) Read (and share) a haiku and illustrate it, either via original artwork or photo

-or-

3) For smaller children, parents can find (or write) the haiku and help their children “illustrate” it

-or-

4) Any other haiku/poetry possibilities that you can imagine! Anything is fine…just go with what you want to do!

(unless you have a newly budding photographer at home, the photo option is probably more one for any older children or adults who want to take part and would rather not illustrate)

Haiku:
- subject: everyday things - often nature, feelings, or experiences
- length: three short NON-RHYMING lines
- form:
1st line: 5 syllables
2nd line: 7 syllables
3rd line: 5 syllables

Click here for some examples.

Comments (5)

By Mom Unplugged, September 18, 2007 10:15 pm

I read on Mama’s Moon (Monday Morning Munchies) that this week is National Eat Dinner Together Week. National Eat Dinner Together Week was inaugurated in 1996 by America’s Pork Producers and the National Pork Board. Despite the meaty sponsor, even vegetarians can participate in this (hopefully) worthy venture.

I started out researching this post thinking I could cite one, or maybe two studies and have the information all there for you. But, apparently there are many studies that each contribute a few small aspects to the big picture.

Being a terminal nerd, I hate it when an article says “studies say…” without giving a citation. What I learned in one hour of research however, is that if I wanted to spend an entire year on this post (which I can assure you, I don’t) I could.

So this time I shall just have to overcome my natural nerdy tendencies and simply say, here are five benefits of kids and parents / parent eating dinner together at least five times per week. It all makes logical sense to me:

1) Better nutrition. In most cases, kids eat better at home (less fast food and junk). Plus they learn better dietary habits.

2) Kids do better in school and are less likely to use drugs and alcohol (for the whole study, click here).

3) Family dinner creates an automatic “check-in” time. Kids must be home and available to talk about their day.

4) Dinnertime conversation helps with language skills (and, on a personal note, I would have to add - table manners, an important, but often overlooked skill these days).

5) Spending time together as a family creates happy memories (hopefully!) and family bonding.

On the flip side: If your family is really dysfunctional, studies show that perhaps family mealtimes might not be so beneficial.

Some good advice for everyone, whether dysfunctional or not, is to focus on open-ended questions and not discuss super sensitive topics at the table. If you ask an open-ended question it is always very telling to see where kids will take it, and can lead to some valuable exchanges of information.

Of course it easy for me, mother of three children age 7 and under to pontificate on the virtues of family meals. Those of you with active teenagers may be wondering how to fit family meals in along with sports, cheerleading, play practice, dance, music and whatever else kids do these days.

I have my own views on the drawbacks of overscheduling children’s lives, but since my children are so young, it is hard for me to provide much practical advice on how to avoid this all-to-common phenomenon. If anyone has successfully managed to escape the vicious cycle of teen activities, please feel free to speak up in the comments or an email. I am eager to take notes for the future!

Some links for further information:

The 5 Benefits-and a Few Risks-of Eating Together at the Dinner Table

Family Mealtimes: More Than Just Eating Together

Eat Better, Eat Together: Background Research on Family Meals

And, on a lighter note, don’t miss this quick post on the perils of dining with three children age 4 and under: The Benefits of Eating Together from the blog Jumping Monkeys.

Thanks to morguefile.com and photographer cohdra for this photo.