10 Tips For Helping Kids Enjoy Thanksgiving

When I was growing up, Thanksgiving meant schlepping to the house of a distant geriatric relative, having my cheeks pinched, sitting for hours listening to them complain about life, watching them chain smoke, then eating, and schlepping home while my parents told me how I hadn't sat quietly enough or tried some gross dish like Aunt Rose's succotash pudding. EVERYTHING about this day was out of my control, full of “musts” and “should haves.” It was not my favorite holiday.

Thanksgiving can be tough for kids - help them enjoy it!

When I had my own kids, I was determined that they would not suffer on Turkey Day as I had. Since our family has shrunk to only two elderly family members, the schlepping is no longer a factor because our house is the default location for all celebrations. Sure, the main event still centers around eating, but I've found ways to give the kids a voice, and thus some control, in the day's festivities.


Here are 10 of my favorite activities and strategies for helping kids enjoy this day:

• Challenge the kids to find new ways to express gratitude. Sure, you can go around the table and give thanks. But why not ask the kids, ahead of time, to draw a picture or make a collage of what they're grateful for? This is also a great way to keep the smaller ones busy while you're cooking. Older ones can take a photo on their phones and then pass it around just before dinner or they can compile a slide show to show before or after the meal.

• Get the kids involved planning and cooking the meal. Yeah, I know every website is recommending this, but getting children involved also increases the chance that they'll eat something on the menu (my daughter has been known to ignore the turkey and ask for mac and cheese for the Feast).   Kids can also tear lettuce, help bake dinner rolls, or pull grapes to put in a fruit salad. My son took Family Consumer Science (formerly Home Ec) and some of his recipes are amazing!

This took all of 5 minutes to make!

• Ask the kids if they'll help craft decorations. Diva and I whipped up this sweet little candle holder
  (battery-operated candles only) in about 10 minutes this weekend using a water jug, scissors, and crayons. It will welcome our guests when they arrive. You can find more free, printable Thanksgiving decorations here at Freebies.About.Com.

• Kids love knowing things adults don't!! Guide the kids toward Thanksgiving trivia they can share with the family during dinner. Buzzle.com has a fascinating online trivia quiz and Celebration Ideas Online offers a free printable trivia quiz.

• Enlist an older child to interview and record an older family member. Have them come up with questions to ask the senior. This could become a family heirloom!

• Give the kids an opportunity to choose some during-dinner music.  Just retain the power to veto any rowdy tunes.

• Invite the wee folk to come up with a list of topics and questions for dinner conversation. 

Don't forget to let the kids help clean up after Thanksgiving dinner!

• Allow the kids to have input into after-dinner activities. Little ones may enjoy putting on a show or playing a musical instrument. Perhaps an older child can show Grandma what video games she's playing. Or have the kids select a few movies for the family to watch.

• Have a younger child pick out a few books for a guest to read to them. Better yet, pick out a few books they might want to read TO the guest!

• Make post-guest clean-up a competition. Whoever can put away 10 items in a minute gets first crack at leftovers later.

Again, giving children choices empowers them, reducing frustration and allowing them to have some control over the day's festivities.  It also helps them enjoy the holiday more.  In my house, anyone who chooses not to help out automatically forfeits any right to complain later and is invited to spend the day in their room sans electronics.


Also, don't forget to say “please” and “thank you” to your children! What you model is what they'll pass along.

Please note that this a re-posting of something I wrote about the same time last year.  Just thought you should know...  

Happy Housewife's Day - So What DOES A Housewife Do?

With today being Housewife's Day, granted an archaic term because no one is the wife to a house, I thought I'd touch on what exactly a stay-at-home spouse and/or parent does. 

A housewife does NOT watch soaps & eat bon-bons all day!

As the mother of two, with both children in school, I can attest to the fact that the image that we do nothing but watch soaps and eat bon-bons is a load of crap! 

I'm busier most days that many people with office jobs. Some of what I do is:

• Clean the house
  
  
• Organize the house (closets, basement, store room, etc.) and KEEP them organized in spite of my family
  
  
• Cook (or in my case, burn food)
  
  
• Shop for food, run errands for the family (go to the pharmacy, pick up birthday gifts, go the dry cleaner, take the car in for maintenance etc.), and call/wait for contractors
  
  
• Research purchases and family-related matters (diet, medical conditions, contractors, etc.)
  
  
• Phone and argue with insurance companies over legitimate claims that are disallowed

• Volunteer at the school
  
  
• Prepare my lesson plan for the lessons I teach at Sunday school
  
  
• Visit elderly relatives
  
  
• Catch up on the kids' scrapbooks (I'm only 1 year behind now)
  
  
• Do home repair (painting, masonry, etc.)
  
  
• Am on-call for sick kids
  
  
• Patch clothes/turn stain garments into wearable ones
  
  

Once the kids arrive home, there's making sure homework is done, scheduling/supervising playdates, chauffeuring them around (to playdates, activities, doctors'/dentist appointments, etc.), making snacks/lunches for the next day, filling out school forms, and supervising chores. Oh, and obviously there are no sick days or personal days in this job.

Sure, I take care of myself and exercise and, yes, I occasionally sit down to read a book, but most of what I do is for the family. Add to that “looking for a part-time job” (we can always use the extra money) and the fact that I write two of my own blogs while contributing to two others, and I'm darn busy. When my daughter was home, as any stay-at-home parent knows, the task of caring for another human being was all-encompassing and exhausting.

I am not the wife to a house - I am a stay-at-home spouse

Could I do all that stuff if I worked outside the home? Yes, but like those of you who do work, I'd be rushed and wind up doing many of those tasks on the weekend. As it is, because I do stuff during the week, my family is able to spend quality time together without scattering to do errands on Saturdays and Sundays. (Honestly – my undying admiration is with all working parents!)

All of us get one shot at raising these kids and I'll be damned if I'm going to screw it up! The Teen is growing up waay to fast and will soon be in college. When my kids come home, I relish the time I have with them, even as I get one ready for gymnastics and chauffeur the other to his own activities. I want to be home for my son as he struggles through puberty. I want to SEE who he's hanging with, where he's going, and what he's doing.  I want to be on call for when he finds himself in a situation he cannot handle.  Similarly, I love volunteering at the school and catching a glimpse of my daughter. She lights up when she sees me because she knows I'm there purely for HER.

The Teen needs more supervision NOW when the temptations to get into trouble are at their peak!

Being a stay-at-home spouse is certainly undervalued by society. Those of us who don't earn money are often paid lip service (“Oh, I could never do what you do” people say condescendingly) by those who do. “Money” equals “value” and those who don't make money are seen as being of less value. I even had one guy call me a “freeloader” for not working! 

Those of us who stay-at-home DO work and what we do is important.

We are busy, productive members of society. It's time to be proud of being a “housewife.” Happy Housewife's Day to all of my fellow stay-at-home spouses! 

Read more about “What A Mom's Work Is Worth” here (http://www.salary.com/mom-paycheck/) at Salary.com.

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Thank you for reading!