SHOWTIME!

Dec 282012
 

 by Esther Jantzen, guest poster

Children love to show their parents or others what they’re doing and learning.  This activity is a way for family members, including the grown-ups, to demonstrate what they are interested in or enjoy. It helps kids become confident when they talk or perform in front of others. It’s wonderful to see the light in their faces when they feel successful! Here is a way to do this activity:

1) Plan a Family Show & Tell evening. Decide the date and time in advance so each person can prepare something to show. Make a big, fun deal of this occasion. You might want to order pizza or make special food, and invite relatives or friends.

2) All family members (even the adults) get time on ‘stage’ and everyone’s undivided attention. Here are some show ideas. You and your children may think of others:

Show a school paper, a drawing, a toy, or something you made. Sing a song or dance to your favorite music.  Show how to crochet, knit, or do origami.  Show how to build or cook something.  Show how to do karate, judo or martial arts. Tell a joke or story, do a comedy routine, an impersonation, or a short skit.  Play a musical instrument. Read a short-short story or a poem or even a rap.

3) Find a space in your house where everyone can sit together. Decide where the ‘presenter’ will stand or sit, and who will go first. (Sometimes you may need to go outside for a presentation.)

4) Let the show begin! If someone is very afraid to do this, let them ‘pass’ and encourage them for the next Showtime! This is intended to be fun. Laugh together and enjoy! Rules for Showtime!

  • Everyone has to listen to or watch the person presenting.
  • Only positive comments are allowed.
  • Everyone claps after each person’s presentation. Make this a family tradition that you do once or twice a year, or even more often!
  • Take a few pictures.

Showtime! supports the English-Language Arts Content Standards related to oral communication, speaking applications, and oral delivery strategies. 

Esther Jantzen, Ed.D, is a mother, an educator and the author of Plus It! How to Easily Turn Everyday Activities into Learning Adventures for Kids available at www.plusitbook.com and the Way to Go! Family Learning Journal available through www.jantzenbooks.com

Giving “the Right Stuff”

Dec 272012
 

Day 28 - Unwrapping Christmas gifts

Day 28 – Unwrapping Christmas gifts (Photo credit: PictureWendy)

Have you ever met a parent who did not what to do the best they possibly could for their children?  Unfortunately, sometimes that beautiful wish gets translated into massive piles of consumer goods.  Stuff.  And it might not be the right stuff.

 Our intentions may be good, but over-spending, “over-gifting” behavior can teach our children a number of things we might not want them to learn.  I don’t think, for example, that any parent wants our children to define our love for them by the gifts that we buy for them.

 What other messages can we send when we repeatedly overindulge our kids’ material wants?  Are they learning about the difference between “wants” and “needs”?  How about saving versus “buy now, pay later”?  And, if everything they want just “shows up” are we teaching them to expect “something for nothing?”

 We all love to give our children nice things, but the things we buy for them can never replace the pride that comes with earning their own money and making their own decisions about how to spend it.  Things they are given without work or personal effort have little lasting value for them.  When children purchase something by contributing at least a portion of the cost with their own hard earned money, they learn valuable lessons in money management and the self-esteem that comes from realizing that there is a relationship between their work and the result.

 And those are gifts that keep on giving.

Spoiled Rotten

Dec 272012
 
English: Altricial (helpless) young birds of a...

English: Altricial (helpless) young birds of an unidentified species. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In this great Elizabeth Kolbert article called Spoiled Rotten she asks, “What values do we convey by turning our homes into warehouses for dolls? By assigning our kids chores and then rewarding them when they screw up? By untying and then re-tying their shoes for them?

It almost seems as if we’re actively trying to raise a nation full of “adultescents.” ”

Where is the boundary between”caring” and “creating helplessness”?  Between letting our kids know we’ll always love them and preventing them from living as independent adults?

It’s a conversation that’s long overdue and I’m delighted that others are adding their voices.

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How do parents define success and what DO kids need to succeed?  Get your electronic copy of What Kids Need to Succeed: Four Foundations of Adult Achievement.   Take your place in this important conversation.

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