Is Thanksgiving Too Stressful?

After writing about whether Halloween is too scary for toddlers, I started thinking about whether Thanksgiving is too stressful for grownups.  Today is the biggest travel day of the year.  People across the country are battling snow and rain to make it home.  Yet, how many people these days have the Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving that they yearn for, especially as they sit in traffic in the snow or their plane is delayed?  

This holiday season has been very stressful for us.  We try to make each side of the family happy.  But how do people really make two families happy, especially when everyone wants to spend time with their gorgeous grandchild/grandchildren?  The other day I talked to some empty-nesters whose son wasn't planning on coming home for the holidays for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  

This year I wanted to rent a beach house at Half Moon Bay and invite one side of the family on one day, and then the other side of the family the next.  It just didn't work out.  Since we are doing some work on our house, we decided to go out to dinner this year.  I hope I can take some time to contemplate what I am grateful for, relax, and enjoy the moment.

Happy Thanksgiving!  Just for fun, I'll be sharing a few ideas I've thought would be fun- maybe next year!

-TC Mama

Is Halloween Too Scary for a Preschooler?

It is almost Thanksgiving, it is getting colder, wetter, and my son is attending "Turkey Camp" for two days starting tomorrow.  

Yet, what he is still talking about is whether Halloween is too scary.  I regret our Halloween plans because he is STILL talking about how Halloween was too scary!  The best part of Halloween for him was passing out candy.  But the actual act of trick-or-treating was too scary.  

Why?  

Well, a few things came up while trick or treating:

- literally at the very first house we went to, our neighbor held out a bowl.  It had a moving electronic hand in it, triggered when you approach the bowl to take out a piece of candy.  It terrified our son.  At every other house on Halloween night, he asked, "Is there a hand in the bowl?"  

-at another house down the street, a woman opened the door with a fake meat cleaver sticking out of her head.  She told my son, "This is why you need to be careful with knives!"  Ever since, he has walked around telling us (and others), "You need to be really more careful with knives!"  When we walk past the house, my son asks, "Is this where the woman with the knife in her head lives?"  He runs past as quick as he can.

-other houses included displays with bats, ghouls, scary music, flying ghosts, shall I go on......?

Next year, I'm going to have my son pass out candy.  For now, I think trick-or-treating may just be too scary!

--TC Mama

Jack-O-Lanterns

Warning:  Your pumkin is going to start to decay about 2-3 days after you carve it.  Plan accordingly!  But don't plan too far in advance...

Lawrence Hall of Science Halloween Event

I wanted to follow up on my post the other day about the Dinosaur exhibit at Lawrence Hall of Science.  This weekend LHS is having a special Halloween event -- "Dinosaurs vs. Robots."

I don't know about you, but when I was a kid THIS is the sort of event I'd get really excited about.

Here are the details, which I'm copying from an email I received from LHS.  I'm including the links to the LHS website and Facebook site.

--TC Daddy

Dinosaurs vs. Robots

Part of the Bay Area Science Festival
Sunday, October 30
11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.
Free with admission

Become a paleontologist and explore what sounds dinosaurs may have made. Then, become an engineer and engage in robotics challenges, led by the Pioneers in Engineering. After trying out both, vote for which is more fun: dinosaurs or robots?

Wear a dino or robot costume and get a free ticket to the 3D film Dinosaurs Alive!

Which do you prefer: dinosaurs or robots? Vote now!
Share why you chose dinosaurs or robots on our Facebook page or tweet @Berkeleyscience and be entered to win a Family Pass to the Hall!

Dinosaurs!

The Lawrence Hall of Science has been hosting a large dinosaur exhibit.  "Dinosaurs Unearthed" will be the main exhibit there through January 1, 2012.

Lawrence Hall of Science is in the hills above U.C. Berkeley.  Whether you are from the San Francisco Bay Area or just visiting, LHS is well worth spending part of a day.

Kids will be amazed (and little ones might be a bit frightened) by the audio-anamatronic-style dinosaurs right in the lobby at the Hall.  Spend some time preparing your child so they know what they're going to see before you go so that they won't be frightened.  "We're going to see some really big dinosaur puppets that move and look real."

The exhibit includes a simulated archeological dig area, where kids can see what it is like to have to carefully  brush the dirt away from fossils in the field:

There's an entire room filled with more of the large audio-anamatronic dinosaurs, which are really impressive.  In the museum's backyard, which features a large exhibit on fluvial systems (kids can manipulate small walls in a large fountain to direct and dam up the current of the water), there's a huge T-Rex that moves and roars every few minutes.  This is a big hit for the kids who are prepared to see this sort of thing.

Two caveats if you have never been to LHS just to be prepared:  First, you'll have to drive up into the hills, which can be an adventure if you're used to driving in the flat-lands.  Second, LHS is part of U.C. Berkeley and so you'll have to pay to park using one of the kiosks at the exit of the parking lots.  If you arrive mid-day on a weekend, that may mean you have to park at one of the lots high up on the hill, walk down, get a parking permit at the automated kiosk, and then hike back up to put the permit on the dashboard.

--TC Daddy  

Sid the Science Kid Beats Up the Little Einsteins

You already know that I'm not too impressed with Little Einsteins.  Connoting genius, the series has virtually nothing to do with science.

If you want your preschooler to watch a show that has something to do with science, I think Sid the Science Kid rocks.  A typical episode begins with Sid encountering a situation that poses a question.  Example:  At breakfast, he gets a rotten banana and doesn't want to eat it.  The question:  what happened to the banana?  The answer:  It decayed.

Sid then goes off to school (in a sequence repeated in every show, his mother drops him off in front of the school, and she lets out a laugh that seems to me to be both extremely happy and perhaps a bit maniacal (as if she is thinking, "I get a break from Sid!!!")).  In the playground, Sid greets his friends and discusses decay and what it might mean with his three kindergarten buddies (this has got to be the school with the best teacher-student ratio in the United States; but hey, it is television after all).

The kids head inside for school, where "Teacher Suzie" discusses the big question of the day and has the kids perform experiments relating to it (like observing a fresh versus rotten pumpkin and drawing a picture of them), which is mirrored by a video sequence of actual kids and not just the animation kids performing the experiments.  The kids head outside for playtime and discuss what they've learned while playing.  When they head back inside, "Teacher Suzie" sings a song related to the issue of the day.

Next, Sid's grandmother picks him up from school and takes him home, where Sid discusses what he learned with his parents.  Finally, Sid gets ready for bed, where he comes up with a "Super Duper Big Idea" relating to the topic of the show.  The "Super Duper Big Idea" is usually some kind of invention, and is the sort of "invention" that a kindergartener would come up with.    

Why is this so great?  The show focuses on a key concept.  It teaches the concept in a range of different ways.  It is funny.  It is interesting.  It gives kids a chance to think about observation and experimentation.  It lays out at least one experiment that a child can do at home with a parent/caregiver.  And it is just plain fun.

Fleet Week and the Blue Angels

San Francisco's Fleet Week is this weekend!  On Friday October 7, Saturday, and Sunday, the Blue Angels will be roaring over San Francisco.  If you live in SF, then you already know about this, since you heard and felt them practicing today.

Visit the Fleet Week website for a detailed schedule.  The big Parade of Ships begins at 11am on Saturday.  The Blue Angels are a huge highlight, and you can see them flying from 3-4 each day.  You can also see the Canadian Snowbirds perform from 1:30-2.  All of these events will be memorable to your kids.  You don't easily forget the Blue Angels.  

You can get tickets to see the air show from down on the Marina Green.  That said, you can see the show from many vantage points around the City.  Based on past experience, the waterfront near Ghiradelli Square is a good spot, as is the top of Larkin (on Russian Hill above Ghiradelli).  The jets buzz the buildings downtown, and if you know someone who works in an office tower downtown then it might be worth heading in to the office over the weekend.