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Our children are now 11, 11, and 14. If you have older kids like us, that means you might be running out of ideas for ways to make the annual tradition of an advent calendar a fresh and fun experience. We have done everything from puzzle pieces to Lego minifigure parts, from Christmas books to dollar scratch tickets.
Since all 3 of our children are gamers, I thought it would be fun this year to give them a way to earn in-game currency. Usually, I am not a huge fan of spending real life money on virtual items, so I think this will be a real treat for them. Since we have three children, I'll give each child one guess at the answer to one 'game show' question each day. Only one child needs to answer correctly for all three to win the prize, which I have decided to be one dollar per child to go towards in-game currency or a gaming membership. DIY Game Show Advent Calendar Activity . . .
Step 1. Download the PDF below. Then either print out four copies of the blank cards or digitally add text and save four versions with six different game cards on each version. Do not include the answers to the game show questions on the card, but rather keep a list of them in a safe place.
TIP 1:I found age-appropriate Christmas-themed riddles online and used one riddle per card. Other ideas would be trivia questions, math problems, brain twisters, tongue twisters they'd need to say 3 times quickly, etc . . . If this activity is a hit this year, next year I might try Star Wars trivia questions.
TIP #2:If you don't have the dexterity (or the desire) to roll and secure 24 tiny scrolls, other options would be to merely fold the cards in half or into thirds, or to put them in business card sized envelopes.
Step 3. Put one scroll into each day of your advent calendar. I also always include one small piece of candy for each child, but that is certainly not required.
What ideas do you have for making an advent calendar more fun and interesting?
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Visiting King Richard's Faire in Carver, Massachusetts is a fall tradition for our family, like picking apples, except with far more fun, excitement, and laughter. This year, our children are a bit older, with our oldest being just a few months shy of 15. For the first time in 7 years, our children did not ask to go through M'Lady's Shady Maze. It was the dawn of a new era.
For all you Renaissance faire goers who have older children, I've put together a few tips to help ensure a fun time is had by all. Aside from common sense tips, like telling your teens to stay together, to keep their phones on and with them at all times, to not leave the faire, to stay away from axe and knife throwing, and to not take candy from strangers, these are some things we found to be helpful during our family's visit to King Richard's Faire this year . . .
5 Tips for Visiting King Richard's Faire with Teens:
1.Renfaire t-shirts - If your children are getting older and are reluctant to dress-up in costumes, Renaissance faire-themed t-shirts are a great option. They are fun, festive, and comfortable to wear, especially if you plan to stay all day. I purchased custom renfaire t-shirts from The Paisley Hanger Boutique because I couldn't find exactly what I wanted online. It was super-easy to order once I decided what I wanted. The three shirts below were created for me, my husband, and our daughter. My husband received many thumbs ups throughout the day for his shirt.
I really love the way the 'warrior princess' t-shirt came out for my son's girlfriend. The design was perfect for a teenage girl.
2.Enjoy some shows together as a family - Before you let your teens go off on their own, try to catch a few shows together. We made a list of what acts everyone wanted to see and tried to time it so we could see as many as possible. Believe it or not, being organized enough to get to each stage early enough to get good seats is not an easy feat. For example, we missed The Great Cats of the World Show this year because we had to squeeze in a bathroom break. By the time we got there, the audience was packed and we couldn't get near it. Luckily, we were able to get great seats for some very fun, laugh-out-loud shows. Part of what makes these shows great is they always ask for volunteers from the audience.
Our Teens' 3 Favorite Shows at King Richard's Faire 2018 . . . #1:Kevin Armour was new to King Richard's Faire this year with his 'Up in Arms' act. Our usually not-easily-impressed teenage son declared this act to be his new favorite.
Yes, he does put his whole body through a tennis racket. 😮
#2: Although the Washing Well Wenches are a King Richard's Faire classic, it was our first time watching their show. I have to say that I have never laughed so hard in my entire life, and tears ran down my face more than once during the show. Although there was no profanity, the humor is very suggestive and over-the-top. You will need to decide when your children are mature enough for the Washing Well Wenches.
Gerty (pictured above) and Sprout (pictured below) were such animated, charismatic characters. The entire family enjoyed the show immensely.
#3:Jacques Ze Whipper has always been a favorite of the whole family. We always watch his show at least once per visit to King Richard's Faire. My husband secretly wishes to be chosen as a volunteer from the audience every year. Maybe next year . . .
3.Set aside some free time - Be sure to set aside time when your teens can explore King Richard's Faire freely. There is so much to discover between acts they've never seen and the many artisan shops. This year, I feel like we did not leave enough time for exploration because we had to leave an hour before the faire closed for the day. If possible, I recommend allowing two hours for your teens to walk around without being rushed.
4.Make sure your teen has cash - Although most shops take credit or debit cards, some shops only take cash, and some only take cards with a minimum purchase. In addition, all food vendors only take food tickets, which can only be purchased with cash. All games and rides only accept cash, as well.
A new treat at King Richard's Faire this year are the 'unicorn donuts'. They are delicious plain, but can be drizzled with maple glaze or the very special pink and blue unicorn glaze topped with edible glitter.
Some of the rides our teens chose this year, were the Pirate Ship Ride and the Pony Ride.
5.Set a time and place to meet up - Set a time 10 or 15 minutes before you actually need to leave to all reconvene. This builds in a buffer in case your teens lose track of time. Also, set a meeting place that's easy to find, such as at the Remembrance Shoppe or at the SKY Chairs. They can likely ask anyone at the faire how to get to either of these locations.
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Like many parents, sometimes I marvel at the lack of responsibility my children show. This is particularly true with my oldest, who is currently 12. He can be pretty forgetful at times and I can't follow him around for the rest of his life reminding him about this and that. Here are 4 strategies I've employed to help our children become more responsible. Some of them work immediately, but others work over time.
4 Strategies to Help Your Child Be More Responsible . . .
1. Reminders That Go With Your Child - For times when your child is away from you, and does not have you there to remind them to do something important or time-sensitive, such as turning in their permission slip for a field trip by the deadline, try to put a reminder somewhere where they are likely to see it. My son has tried writing things on his hand, but that only worked for him half the time. What seemed to work better was my putting a reminder tag on his backpack. He carries his backpack with him all day at middle school. If he vows not to take the tag off until after the task is done, this strategy works very well.
You could also set an alarm on your child's watch or smartphone, but this should only be done when the alarm is not disruptive. An alarm going off during the school day would likely be frowned upon by teachers.
2.Train Your Child to Be Time-Conscious - This is something I just started doing and shame on me for not thinking of doing this sooner. The first thing you need to do is make sure your child has a clock they can check easily, whether it's a watch, smartwatch, fitness tracker, or a mobile device. Then instead of asking them to stop what they're doing immediately so they can do an assigned chore, you could tell them that they don't need to stop watching TV now, but they need to start the dishes by 7pm. If they start the dishes by 7pm, then they can watch TV for another half an hour when they're done. If they do not start the dishes by 7pm, then there are no more electronics for the rest of the evening. So far, this has worked well with my 9 year old daughter. Her twin brother and older brother are coming along more slowly.
3.Adopt a Pet - Adopting a pet of any kind takes a commitment from the whole family. It does teach children responsibility, but it could take years. I've spent two years teaching our children to care for these two rescued cuties and to put the dogs' needs before their own. Even after two years, they don't always remember to feed the dogs and give them fresh water before they sit down to breakfast themselves, but they do remember more often than not. I've also started to find that they will occasionally notice when the water bowl is nearly empty and will take the initiative to fill it.
4. Use Checklists Regularly - This is something you can start with your children early on. If they haven't learned to read yet, you could use checklists with images instead. Getting ready for school in the morning warranted a checklist at our house. This, again, takes time to develop a habit of using the list and then going back through to double-check that nothing was missed. I'd say it took our children a year and a half to get in the habit of using our morning checklist and not missing anything about 90% of the time. Don't let your children fall into the habit of looking at the list and checking an item off as completed without actually going to check that it is actually done. This was one of my children's biggest challenges.
Do you have tips and tricks for teaching children to be more responsible? Share them with us in a comment here.
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Although our oldest is son is still a year and a half away from officially becoming a "tween", he is extremely computer-literate and has been using a laptop since the age of two. Needless to say, I already have my eyes peeled for a safe social network for kids. Some may think I am being too proactive, but since he has already asked for a Facebook account, I would have to disagree. He also enjoys chatting online, but sooner or later, he is going to realize that chatting with his parents is just not going to be enough anymore. When that time comes, I will most likely register our son on a site like Kidzworld rather than Facebook.
Kidzworld offers tweens and teens free online games, news, trivia, videos, and more about their favorite celebrities, shows, movies, sports, . . . you name it. This site even has a whole section devoted to school-related topics. There are also boards for posting about anything from food to jokes and riddles to extreme sports. The Kidzworld Zone tab conveniently gives you a summary of the most recent activities sitewide.
What is wonderful about a social network for kids is that there is some anonymity, so kids are more comfortable to be themselves and speak their minds. On the same note, you just never know who is really behind each screen name. This brings us to the topic of chatting, something that concerns parents the most. Direct chatting or chat rooms allows a child to really put themselves out there. Although it can be fun, it also makes the child vulnerable to strangers. Kidzworld protects their users by prohibiting harassment, discrimination, spamming, swearing, rude, gross, or offensive comments, sexually explicit comments, and yelling (i.e. typing in all caps). Most importantly, there is a reminder on each page warning kids not to give out any personal or identifying information. The chat room is only open during set hours so that it can be closely moderated. There is also an "ignore" feature if one member no longer wants to hear from another.
As a parent, I would feel comfortable to allow my son to become a member of Kidzworld when he turns 9. There seems to be enough rules in place to prevent bullying and other things that can negatively affect a child. Of course, I would need to pay attention during my son's first few sessions in the chat room until I am satisfied that the moderators are doing their jobs well by keeping the environment free of bullies and predators.
To learn more about the Kidzworld social network, visit Kidzworld.com and Kidzworld on Facebook.
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It is that time of year again . . . time to nominate a child you know for the Build-A-Bear Huggable Heroes scholarship! The main requirement is the child you nominate must have given back somehow to his or her own community or to another community worldwide.
Ten children will be selected to each receive $7500 in an educational scholarship plus $2500 to go to the 501(c)(3) charity of the winner's choice. Each winner will also be invited to St. Louis for a 2-day, 1-night stay, where they will be honored for their achievements in community service.
To qualify, the child must be between the ages of 8 and 18. Anyone age 8 and up can nominate another child or themselves. You can either download and print a Huggable Heroes nomination form or pick one up at your local Build-A-Bear Workshop store location. You can also submit your Huggable Heroes nomination online.
The 2009 Huggable Heroes
All nominations must be received by February 26th, 2010. Please visit the Huggable Heroes website to read the official contest rules.
Thank you to Build-A-Bear Workshop for providing the information to help me with this article. I did not receive compensation for sharing this information with my readers.
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You may or may have not heard recent talk about cyber bullying and cyber stalking. This is something real that is happening to adult bloggers. If it is scary for an adult, then you can imagine how it must feel for a tween or a teen to be a victim of such a thing.
Here are ten tips offered by Ellen Ohlenbusch, a mom who also happens to be President of McGruff Safeguard, on how to protect your child from being a victim of cyber bullying . . .
1. Keep computers in an open area – not in a child’s bedroom
2. Tell kids to keep passwords safe, private and difficult to guess – no pet names as passwords!
3. Don’t allow your child to maintain multiple accounts with alias names
4. Teach children to respect others online, as they would in person
5. Discuss bullying and the emotional impact it creates
6. Discuss what content is and is not appropriate to share online
7. Tell kids that what they post online is “out there” forever – they can’t control how other people will use their photos or information
8. Discuss how ‘piling’ on is not appropriate. That while they may not start something, if they see cyber bullying happening, they should not contribute.
9. Set a clear standard/example for your children to follow
10. Install a parental monitoring software that sends email alerts if cyber bullying is detected.
As a tool to assist parents, McGruff Safeguard offers a FREE parental monitoring software that analyzes emails, chats and IMs, and social networking websites. To learn more about this software, visit GoMcGruff.com .
Thank you to McGruff Safeguard and Middleberg Communications for providing the information shared in this article.
