Christmas Gifts Teens Friends

By Jim Burns
Dec. 7, 2009 

We have two questions about Christmas and our teenage daughter. When do we stop paying for Christmas gifts our daughter wants to buy for her friends or other family members?

Also, our 14 year old has informed us that she does not want to participate in any of the family, neighborhood, or work related Christmas parties during the holiday season.

She says they are boring and she would rather be with her friends. What are your thoughts?

I remember as a child how simple and non-complicated the Christmas season was for me! My suggestion would be to give your daughter a one time amount of money for the purchase of gifts for the season.

This way you are teaching her the wonderful and often painful lesson of budgeting. Sometimes my kids think that all we have to do is stick a magical card into the ATM machine and there is an abundance of $20.00 dollar bills in there just for me.

You can make the budgeting process an excellent learning experience. Have your daughter write out the names of which she will be giving gifts to and placing the dollar amount beside their names.

Your daughter may find that she doesn’t have enough money and then she may explore an even more meaningful way to give gifts and that is making special gifts for those on the list.

As she gets older, you will probably want to allow her the privilege to pay for her own purchases, its called learning responsibility.

I think your second question is very similar to your first one. Look at all the Christmas activities as a family before the season starts and budget your time commitments.

Discuss the importance of each activity and help her understand the importance or lack of importance for each event.

I would still make the family celebrations pretty much non-negotiable and discuss the others with decisions, expectations, and opinions.

Who knows, if your season is too busy you may decide to shorten or cut out of a couple of those parties as well.

We are spending more time focusing on a few key Christmas traditions and less busyness and I think we are enjoying the season more.

 Source: Home Word

 

Editor’s Note: This first appeared in the “Let’s Talk” column of Campus Life
Magazine, a publication of Christianity Today International.

We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

What Makes a Child Happy?

By Marguerite Lamb
Dec. 5, 2009

We all want the same things for our kids. We want them to grow up to love and be loved, to follow their dreams, to find success. Mostly, though, we want them to be happy.

But just how much control do we have over our children’s happiness? My son, Jake, now 7, has been a rather somber child since birth, while my 5-year-old, Sophie, is perennially sunny. Jake wakes up grumpy.

Always has. Sophie, on the other hand, greets every day with a smile. Evident from infancy, their temperaments come, at least in part, from their genes. 

But that doesn’t mean their ultimate happiness is predetermined, assures Bob Murray, PhD, author of Raising an Optimistic Child: A Proven Plan for Depression-Proofing Young Children — for Life (McGraw-Hill).

“There may be a genetic propensity for depression, but our genes are malleable and can be switched on or off depending on the environment,” he says.

“The research clearly shows that happy, optimistic children are the product of happy, optimistic homes, regardless of genetic makeup.”

What can you do to create a home where your child’s happiness will flourish? Read on for seven strategies that will strengthen your child’s capacity to experience joy.

 

Foster Connections

The surest way to promote your child’s lifelong emotional well-being is to help him feel connected — to you, other family members, friends, neighbors, daycare providers, even to pets.

“A connected childhood is the key to happiness,” says Edward Hallowell, MD, child psychiatrist and author of The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness (Ballantine Books).

Dr. Hallowell points as evidence to the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, involving some 90,000 teens, in which “connectedness” — a feeling of being loved, understood, wanted, acknowledged — emerged as by far the biggest protector against emotional distress, suicidal thoughts, and risky behaviors including smoking, drinking, and using drugs.

Fortunately, we can cement our child’s primary and most crucial connection — to us — simply by offering what Dr. Hallowell calls the crazy love that never quits. “It sounds hokey, and it’s often dismissed as a given,” he says, “but if a child has just one person who loves him unconditionally, that’s the closest thing he’ll ever get to an inoculation against misery.”

It’s not enough, however, simply to possess that deep love; your child must feel it, too, Dr. Hallowell says.

Hold your baby as much as possible; respond with empathy to his cries; read aloud to him; eat, snuggle, and laugh together.

Meanwhile, provide chances for him to form loving connections with others as well, advises sociologist Christine Carter, PhD, executive director of the University of California at Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, an organization devoted to the scientific understanding of happiness.

“We know from 50 years of research that social connections are an incredibly important, if not the most important, contributor to happiness,” Carter says. “And it’s not just the quality, but also the quantity of the bonds: the more connections your child makes, the better.”

 

Don’t Try to Make Your Child Happy

It sounds counterintuitive, but the best thing you can do for your child’s long-term happiness may be to stop trying to keep her happy in the short-term.

“If we put our kids in a bubble and grant them their every wish and desire, that is what they grow to expect, but the real world doesn’t work that way,” says Bonnie Harris, founder of Core Parenting, in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and author of When Your Kids Push Your Buttons: And What You Can Do About It (Grand Central Publishing).

To keep from overcoddling, recognize that you are not responsible for your child’s happiness, Harris urges. Parents who feel responsible for their kids’ emotions have great difficulty allowing them to experience anger, sadness, or frustration.

We swoop in immediately to give them whatever we think will bring a smile or to solve whatever is causing them distress.

Unfortunately, Harris warns, children who never learn to deal with negative emotions are in danger of being crushed by them as adolescents and adults.

Once you accept that you can’t make your child feel happiness (or any other emotion for that matter), you’ll be less inclined to try to “fix” her feelings — and more likely to step back and allow her to develop the coping skills and resilience she’ll need to bounce back from life’s inevitable setbacks.

 

Nurture Your Happiness

While we can’t control our children’s happiness, we are responsible for our own. And because children absorb everything from us, our moods matter. Happy parents are likely to have happy kids, while children of depressed parents suffer twice the average rate of depression, Murray observes.

Consequently, one of the best things you can do for your child’s emotional well-being is to attend to yours: carve out time for rest, relaxation, and, perhaps most important, romance.

Nurture your relationship with your spouse. “If parents have a really good, committed relationship,” Murray says, “the child’s happiness often naturally follows.”

 

Praise the Right Stuff

Not surprisingly, studies consistently link self-esteem and happiness. Our children can’t have one without the other. It’s something we know intuitively, and it turns many of us into overzealous cheerleaders.

Our child scribbles and we declare him a Picasso, scores a goal and he’s the next Beckham, adds 1 and 2 and he’s ready for Mensa. But this sort of “achievement praise” can backfire.

“The danger, if this is the only kind of praise a child hears, is that he’ll think he needs to achieve to win your approval,” Murray explains. “He’ll become afraid that if he doesn’t succeed, he’ll fall off the pedestal and his parents won’t love him anymore.

” Praising specific traits — intelligence, prettiness, athleticism — can also undermine children’s confidence later, if they grow up believing they’re valued for something that’s out of their control and potentially fleeting.

“If you praise your child primarily for being pretty, for example, what happens when she grows old and loses that beauty?” Murray asks. “How many facials will it take for her to feel worthwhile?”

Interestingly, Murray adds, research shows that kids who are praised mainly for being bright become intellectually timid, fearing that they will be seen as less smart — and less valuable — if they fail.

The antidote, however, is not to withhold praise but rather to redirect it, Murray says. “Praise the effort rather than the result,” he advises. “Praise the creativity, the hard work, the persistence, that goes into achieving, more than the achievement itself.”

The goal, Carter agrees, is to foster in your child a “growth mind-set,” or the belief that people achieve through hard work and practice, more than through innate talent. “Kids who are labeled as having innate talent feel they need to prove themselves again and again,” Carter observes.

“Whereas studies show kids with a growth mind-set do better and enjoy their activities more because they aren’t worried what people will think of them if they fail.”

Fortunately, Carter says, research has shown it’s possible to instill a growth mind-set in children with one simple line of praise: you did really well on X; you must have worked really hard.

“So we’re not saying don’t praise,” Carter stresses. “Just focus on something within your child’s control.”

 

Allow for Success and Failure

Of course, if you really want to bolster your child’s self-esteem, focus less on compliments and more on providing her with ample opportunities to learn new skills. Mastery, not praise, is the real self-esteem builder, Dr. Hallowell says.

Fortunately, when it comes to the under-4 crowd, nearly everything they do is a chance to attain mastery — because it’s all new to them: learning to crawl, walk, feed and dress themselves, use the potty, and ride a tricycle.

Our challenge is to stand back and let our children do for themselves what they’re capable of. “The great mistake good parents make is doing too much for their children,” Dr. Hallowell says.

While it can be difficult to watch our kids struggle, they’ll never know the thrill of mastery unless we allow them to risk failure. Few skills are perfected on a first try.

It’s through practice that children achieve mastery. And through repeated experiences of mastery, they develop the can-do attitude that lets them approach future challenges with the zest and optimism that are central to a happy life.

 

Give Real Responsibilities

“Happiness depends largely on the feeling that what we do matters and is valued by others,” Murray observes. “Without that feeling, we fear we might be excluded from the group.

And research shows that what human beings fear more than anything is exclusion.”

In other words, people have an innate need to be needed. So the more you can convey to your child that he is making a unique contribution to the family, from an early age, the greater his sense of self-worth and his ultimate happiness.

Kids as young as 3 can play meaningful family roles, Murray says, whether it’s refilling the cat’s dry-food bowl or setting out the napkins at dinnertime. If possible, assign a role that plays to your child’s strengths.

For example, if your little one loves to organize things, give him the job of sorting the forks and spoons.

If he’s particularly nurturing, perhaps his role could be entertaining his baby sister while you get dinner on the table.

So long as you acknowledge that he’s making a contribution to the family, it will heighten your child’s sense of connection and confidence, two prerequisites for lasting happiness.

 

Practice Habitual Gratitude

Finally, happiness studies consistently link feelings of gratitude to emotional well-being. Research at the University of California, Davis, and elsewhere has shown that people who keep daily or weekly gratitude journals feel more optimistic, make more progress toward goals, and feel better about their lives overall. For a child, keeping a journal may be unrealistic.

But one way to foster gratitude in children is to ask that each member of the family take time daily — before or during a meal, for example — to name aloud something he or she is thankful for, Carter suggests.

The important thing is to make it a regular ritual.

“This is one habit that will foster all kinds of positive emotions,” she assures, “and it really can lead to lasting happiness.”

Source: Parents

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Having a Pet Rat

By Adair Lara
Dec. 3, 2009

Grandparents are like grandchildren. Sometimes we do things even when we know better.

For example, there I was at Western Feed, a pet shop in Santa Rosa, Calif., on an errand with my mother-in-law (surprising my husband with a canary) when I saw the glass tank marked “female rats.”

As it happened, I had bought a colorful animal cage at a garage sale that morning (along with an empty bird cage), and it was sitting right in the trunk of my car.

So I bought a furry black-and-white rat, and the backlash started immediately: As the man at the register put my new pet in a cardboard box, he muttered, “I hate rodents.”

I had not, let me say, asked his opinion or brought up the merits of rats as pets in any way.

My mother-in law was dubious too: “A rat?”

“For the grandkids.”

“Where will it live?” she asked.

It was a fair question. My granddaughters, Maggie, 4 and Ryan, 6, with divorced parents and two sets of grandparents, have bedrooms in four different houses — two in San Francisco; another 25 miles north in Fairfax; and a fourth an hour-and-a-half east in Davis.

The rat would have to get a little rodent-size suitcase, lunchbox, and car seat to travel around with them.

But I wasn’t thinking about that. I was thinking about how excited Ryan was about the tadpole in her kindergarten classroom and how much better a rat of her own would be than a tadpole in a school.

So I brought the rat home. Later, my daughter Morgan, Maggie and Ryan’s mother came by with the girls, and I showed her the rat.

She gave me that same look she gives the girls when she is trying to be patient. “Okay,” she said, “but tells them it’s your rat.”

 

Rat Love

My new pet was a big hit! The girls took turns holding the rat, putting it in their pockets (try that with a tadpole) and asking questions about it.

Ryan, wearing her new bathing suit although there was no pool in sight, asked me why I bought it. After I explained, she said, “What does impulsive mean?”

They named the rat Sara; because they name everything Sara (we took the precaution of naming my husband’s new canary Jack before the girls could call it Sara, too).

They particularly liked the black-and-white cloth igloo that had come in the cage I bought at the garage sale. They took off the cage top, stretched out on the floor, and breathed on Sara.

And when Morgan drove off with the girls, there was Sara in her bright plastic cage sitting between Maggie and Ryan in the backseat of the Subaru.

What a sport Morgan is to take Sara home, I thought, especially as there is already a cat named Wolfe at her house….

 

A Short Stay

An hour later, Morgan came to her senses. She called on her cell to ask me to meet her halfway between her house and ours (we live 20 miles apart). “I’m wondering if you would mind keeping Sara at your house,” she said.

So I took Sara back. Now, I would keep a pony in my playroom if the girls wanted me to. An elephant.

But Sara produced a musty smell in the bathroom in which I hid her from my husband. She ate that little black-and-white fabric igloo in the cage — which, by the way, turned out to have been made for hamsters, and was much too small for a rat. So I had to move her to a larger plastic box.

]And, of course, the girls only come by here occasionally, while the rat would have to hang her toothbrush next to ours full time.

I gave Sara away a few days later, but was left with the memory of having been an idiot. Again.

I do give my grandkids a lot of stuff. When Ryan was a baby, I met Morgan in the park one day after work. As I pulled toy after toy out of my backpack, a woman who’d been watching drawled, “Let me guess:

This is the grandmother, and it’s the first grandchild.” Recently, I helped Morgan move and found myself having to haul away all the space-swallowing toys I’d given the girls, from a twice-life-size duck, to a drive-in Barbie car, to no fewer than four bikes.

I realized then how patient Morgan is with me, as I arrive with bags in hand, and then say, “Oh, and there’s something else out in the truck.”

I get the hit of delighting the kids with the present, and my daughter? She gets a giant stuffed duck.

Will I stop doing this? I should. I will.

I’ll try.

Source: Grandparents

Editor’s Note:  Adair Lara is the author of The Granny Diaries (Chronicle Books, 2007). An author, writing teacher, and a former San Francisco Chronicle columnist, she and her husband live in San Francisco, three blocks from the grandchildren.

We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Safe Holiday Season

By Safe Kids
Dec. 5, 2009

If you decorate a tree, Safe Kids USA and the United States Fire Administration recommend these precautions:

 

• Never leave a lighted Christmas tree or other decorative lighting display unattended. Inspect lights for exposed or frayed wires, loose connections and broken sockets. Do not overload extension cords or outlets and do not run an electrical cord under a rug.

• Natural Christmas trees always involve some risk of fire. To minimize the risk, get a fresh tree and keep it watered at all times. Do not put the tree within three feet of a fireplace, space heater, radiator or heat vent.

• Decorate with children in mind. Do not put ornaments that have small parts or metal hooks, or look like food or candy, on the lower branches where small children can reach them. Trim protruding branches at or below a child’s eye level, and keep lights out of reach.

• Do not burn Christmas tree branches, treated wood or wrapping paper in a home fireplace.

• Do not put candles on a tree or a natural wreath, or near curtains or drapes, and keep matches and lighters locked out of reach of children.

• Battery-operated flameless candles are an alternative that does not have a fire risk.  Decorative lighting should be labeled with the seal of an independent testing lab and should only be used outdoors if it’s labeled for outdoor use.

 

 

Tips to prevent poisoning:

• Keep alcohol (including baking extracts) out of reach and do not leave alcoholic drinks unattended.

• Color additives used in fireplace fires are a toxic product and should be stored out of reach. Artificial snow can be harmful if inhaled, so use it in a well-vented space.

• Mistletoe berries, Holly Berry and Jerusalem Cherry can be poisonous. If they are used in decorating, make sure children and pets cannot reach it.

• In a poison emergency, call the national Poison Control Center at 800-222-1222.

For in-depth fire safety information, visit the USFA’s fire safety Web site

 

Editor’s Note: About the United States Fire Administration is an entity of the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The mission of the USFA is to provide national leadership to foster a solid foundation for our fire and emergency services stakeholders in prevention, preparedness, and response.

We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com  
Source: Safe Kids

Making the Holidays Personal

By Dr. Laura
Dec. 5, 2009

My husband and I were very disappointed when we learned that we could not be with our military son on Thanksgiving. 

We casually mentioned to some friends that we were just going to have scrambled eggs and bagels for Thanksgiving dinner, because without him there, it just wasn’t going to be worth the effort. 

Well, they kindly invited us to spend Thanksgiving with their family, and we accepted. 

I wanted to do something nice for them to really show them thanks for such a lovely gesture, so I knitted a seven-foot runner for their table.  When it was finished, it seemed so “plain,” that I spent four hours crocheting around the entire runner twice and added a fringe to the ends. 

When I gave it to her, she held it close to her chest near her heart, and her eyes teared up as she expressed her emotion for my putting in that amount of effort for her.  I have to tell you that I’ve never felt so moved by a reaction to a gift in my life.

She and her husband were doing something “personal” for me, and I wanted to return the favor. 

Having Thanksgiving with their adult children and a couple who mutual friends were made for a fabulous evening, with lots of laughs and a yummy turkey….mmmm.

So, I’ve stopped buying bottles of wine and chocolate-filled baskets.  I’ve been working around the clock for weeks knitting, weaving, or sewing Christmas presents. 

I finished my last project for my “peeps” on Sunday (our office holiday party was on Tuesday), so I had a bit of a crunch for time.  While it was exhausting and sometimes frustrating when equipment has a mind of its own, I feel giddy about giving gifts that are so much of me. 

Clearly, it means more to the receiver AND the giver.

To top it off, a few of my dearest friends sent me “Thanksgiving” e-mails, enumerating the reasons they felt grateful for having me in their lives.  It blew my mind.  It is incredibly touching to know that you matter to someone.

I’m writing these stories to urge you all to do the same this Christmas.  Don’t buy a card – write to that person and let them know why they matter to you and what you appreciate about them and how you feel grateful for them. 

Instead of purchasing something generally useless that they might never use and will not cause them to reflect on your relationship, make something or do something. 

For example:  plant some flowers on either side of their front door; make a rocking chair for the back porch; fix something on their property; take their kids for the night so they can have a romantic time to themselves….the list of possibilities is endless.

Make it personal and that doesn’t require ridiculous expenditures for gifts that ultimately don’t matter. 

Oh, and one more thing.  We will see our kid let for Christmas.  The tree is already up.

Source: Dr Laura

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

God is the Friend of Silence

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/YC
Dec. 4, 2009

Do you know what “Joy logy” means? It is the study of caring, sharing, and listening and Sacrifice.

This was written by Mr. Jeineke in 1975

We would like to know what you think: dan@youngchronicle.com

What is a Joyologist? A joyologist then would be one who studies joy logy. Frankly our world could use a great many joyologists whose mission in life is to actively research the effects of discussing and sharing joy.

The research could branch out into how joy affects our careers, family lives, and friendships. The very act of doing the active research should spread jubilation throughout the world and bring about positive results. What a fun job!

All one needs to start with is to share the words joyism, joy logy, and joyologis with others. Use the words daily and make them a part of the world’s vocabulary.

The upcoming year is going to challenge us all. Here is something we need to think, this is from an unknown reader. It is called: God is the Friend of Silence

 

By Mother Teresa

We Need to Find God,
He Cannot Be Found in Noise and Restlessness.

God Is the Friend of Silence.

See How Nature . . .
Trees, Flowers, Grass
Grow in Silence.

See the Stars, the Moon and Sun . . .
How They Move in Silence.
The More We Receive in Silent Prayer,
The More We Can Give in Our Active Life.

We Need Silence to Be Able to Touch Souls.

The Essential Thing Is Not What We Say,
But What God Says . . .
To us and Through us.

All Our Words Will Be Useless
Unless They Come from Within.
Words Which Do Not Give the Light of Christ . . .
Increase the Darkness.

Source: Joyology

Who Were Our Presidents? Part 16

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/GCC
Dec. 2, 2009

Editor’s Note: How many of us along with our children? Know who our Presidents were and what they have done in Office.

Each week we will pick a President and tell you about them and their Accomplishes.

We hope that you will enjoy this series. And let us know what you think? dan@goldcoastchronicle.com

 

Abraham Lincoln

 

Lincoln warned the South in his Inaugural Address: “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war.

The government will not assail you…. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it.”

Lincoln thought secession illegal, and was willing to use force to defend Federal law and the Union. When Confederate batteries fired on Fort Sumter and forced its surrender, he called on the states for 75,000 volunteers.

Four more slave states joined the Confederacy but four remained within the Union. The Civil War had begun.

The son of a Kentucky frontiersman, Lincoln had to struggle for a living and for learning. Five months before receiving his party’s nomination for President, he sketched his life:

“I was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families–second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks…. My father … removed from Kentucky to … Indiana, in my eighth year….

It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up…. Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher … but that was all.”

Lincoln made extraordinary efforts to attain knowledge while working on a farm, splitting rails for fences, and keeping store at New Salem, Illinois.

He was a captain in the Black Hawk War, spent eight years in the Illinois legislature, and rode the circuit of courts for many years.

His law partner said of him, “His ambition was a little engine that knew no rest.”

He married Mary Todd, and they had four boys, only one of whom lived to maturity. In 1858 Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas for Senator.

He lost the election, but in debating with Douglas he gained a national reputation that won him the Republican nomination for President in 1860.

As President, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization. Further, he rallied most of the northern Democrats to the Union cause.

On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy.

Lincoln never let the world forget that the Civil War involved an even larger issue. This he stated most movingly in dedicating the military cemetery at Gettysburg: “that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain–that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom–and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Lincoln won re-election in 1864, as Union military triumphs heralded an end to the war. In his planning for peace, the President was flexible and generous, encouraging Southerners to lay down their arms and join speedily in reunion.

The spirit that guided him was clearly that of his Second Inaugural Address, now inscribed on one wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C.:

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds…. ”

On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre in Washington by John Wilkes Booth, an actor, who somehow thought he was helping the South. The opposite was the result, for with Lincoln’s death, the possibility of peace with magnanimity died.

Learn more about Abraham Lincoln ‘s spouse, Mary Todd Lincoln.

 

Source: White House

Editor’s Note: Today’s homework: We would like to know some of President James Buchanan’s accomplishments as President.

If you can give us some, you can win a prize. You can contact us at dan@youngchronicle.com

We Must Find Room for Jesus

By Jim Burns
Dec. 2, 2009

And Mary gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the Inn. -Luke 2:7

I love this story about a second grade boy named Wally. I can’t
remember where I got it from but I remember it being told to me
that this actually happened in a small town in the Midwest.

Wally was 9 and in second grade. He should have been in 4th
grade. Wally wanted to be a shepherd or an angel in the Christmas
play but Miss Lumbard assigned him the “important role” of the
innkeeper. I think it was because of his size and it had very few
lines.

And so it happened that the usual large audience gathered for
the town’s yearly extravaganza of beards, crowns, halos and a
whole stage full of squeaky voices.

No one on stage or off was more caught up in the magic of the night than Wally.

They said later that he stood in the wings and watched the performance with such fascination. tTat from time to time Miss Lumbard had to make sure he didn’t wonder onstage before his cue.

Then the time came when Joseph appeared, slowly, tenderly
guiding Mary to the door of the Inn. Joseph knocked on the door.
Wally the innkeeper was there waiting.

“What do you want?” demanded Wally, swinging the door open with
a brusque gesture.

“We seek lodging.”  “Seek it elsewhere.” Wally looked straight
ahead. “The inn is filled.”

“Sir, we have asked everywhere in vain. We have traveled far and
are very weary.”

“There is no room in this inn for you.” Wally looked properly
stern.

“Please, good innkeeper, this is my wife, Mary. She is heavy
with child and needs a place to rest. Surely you must have some
small corner for her. She is so tired.” 

Now for the first time the Innkeeper relaxed his stiff stance
and looked down at Mary. With that, there was a long pause, long
enough to make the audience a bit tense with embarrassment.

“No! Be gone!” the prompter whispered from the wings.

“No!” Wally repeated automatically. “Be gone!”

Joseph placed his arm around Mary and Mary laid her head upon
her husband’s shoulder and the two of them started to move away.
The Innkeeper did not return inside his inn, however. Wally stood
in the doorway, watching the forlorn couple.

His mouth was open, his brow creased with concern, his eyes filling unmistakably with tears. And suddenly this Christmas pageant became different from
all others.

“Don’t go Joseph,” Wally called out. “Bring Mary back.” And
Wally’s face grew into a bright smile. “You can have my room.”

This season let’s make room for the Reason we celebrate
Christmas.

Source: Home Word

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Happy 40th Birthday Sesame Street

By Laura Linn
Nov. 30, 2009

Big Bird, Elmo, Oscar the Grouch . . . is there anyone reading this article who doesn’t recognize these characters? Sesame Street has been around so long many of your parents probably have fond memories of the show.

This month, the classic children’s television show that stars furry Muppets alongside human actors celebrates its 40th anniversary.

When Sesame Street first went on the air in November 1969, kids and parents had never seen anything like it.

What was so different about it? Believe it or not, no one had ever heard of educational television before. The idea that TV could be used as a teaching tool for children was brand-new.

The show was originally aimed at children who did not have access to preschool. The show’s creators wanted to help them learn basic skills, like the alphabet and counting, as well as values like friendship and respect—all while having fun.

Forty years and 4,187 episodes later, Sesame Street has not only made learning fun for millions of American children, but it also now teaches children in 125 countries.

 

The First Lady Helps Celebrate

First Lady Michelle Obama appeared on the episode marking Sesame Street’s 40th anniversary on November 10. In the episode, she joined characters Elmo and Big Bird along with a group of children. Together they planted vegetable seeds to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and carrots. Mrs. Obama has emphasized the importance of healthy eating since the start of her husband’s presidency.

 

Muppets Past and Present

If you visited Sesame Street in 1969, you would see plenty of familiar faces. Big Bird, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster, and Bert and Ernie are some of the Muppets—the puppets created by puppeteer Jim Henson—that have been around Sesame Street since the very beginning.

But you wouldn’t see some of the characters you remember from your own preschool days. Big Bird’s friend Snuffleupagus first appeared in 1971, and the number-loving Count in 1972. Elmo, the superstar of today’s Sesame Street, arrived in 1979. At first, he was known simply as Little Monster.

Abby Cadabby became the newest Muppet on the block in 2006. The fairy in training is also the most modern Muppet: beginning this season, she is a digital creation, rather than a physical, fuzzy puppet.

An Ever-Changing Street

The Street has changed in other ways too. Initially aimed mostly at urban, or city, children, the show had a more gritty, big-city feel in the early days. Graffiti was visible, and the colors on the set were not as bright as they are today.

In 1969, children who rode their bikes on Sesame Street did not wear helmets, and Cookie Monster ate nothing but cookies. Today, he knows that cookies are a “sometimes” food, and that he needs to eat fruits and vegetables as well. The show has evolved, or changed, constantly over the years to keep its learning current for kids.

 

Did You Know?

The first episode of Sesame Street was sponsored by the letters W, S, and E and the numbers 2 and 3.

Creators of Sesame Street were thinking of calling the show “123 Avenue B.”

Big Bird is 8 feet, 2 inches tall.

Oscar the Grouch was orange during the first season, before being changed to green.

Actor Caroll Spinney, now 75, has played Big Bird since the first episode. He also plays Oscar the Grouch. 

Kermit the Frog made his last appearance on the show in 2001. He is the only original Muppet no longer on Sesame Street.

77 million Americans have watched Sesame Street as children. You are probably one of them!

 

Source: Scholastic News Online

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Tree Safety to Protect Our Kids

 

By Parents
Nov. 27, 2009 

Though fire-resistant artificial trees in general are safer than fresh-cut trees, some families find it’s just not Christmas without a real pine or spruce, no matter what its size.

If your family insists on the real thing, be sure to follow these tips from the National Christmas Tree Association and the National SAFE KIDS Campaign. 

Choose a healthy, fresh tree. Here’s how: Grasp a branch between your thumb and forefinger, and slide your fingers down the branch. If the tree is fresh, very few needles should come off in your hand.

To ensure that your tree stays a vibrant green, make a cut straight across the bottom of the trunk (about a quarter of an inch above the previous cut) before placing the tree in the stand.

Keep the tree stand filled with water. As a general rule, a fresh tree will absorb more than a gallon of water in the first 24 hours and one or more quarts a day thereafter.

Place the tree away from household sources of heat, such as fireplaces, radiators, television sets, and vents.

Inspect lights for exposed or frayed wires, loose connections, and broken sockets before placing them on the tree.

Don’t overload extension cords — no more than three strings of lights per cord is the rule.

Never leave your tree unattended while the lights are turned on.

Source: Parents

 

Editor Notes: Tips 4 through 7 apply to artificial trees too. We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

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