Stuck inside? Going a little ca-razy trying to keep the kids occupied? I have a solution. Weave science and art together, and watch your kids get tangled up in fun with this web of glue and salt. Oh, so easy. OH so entertaining.
The science: The dry salt absorbs the liquid color until it’s saturated.
The art: A web of glue gives the liquid color a path to follow, creating a new design (and lots of oohs and ahs) every time.
You will need:
A recycled piece of paper board (think: cereal or cracker box)
Shallow box or tray
Table salt (several tablespoons)
An eyedropper or pipette
Set the paper board in the box. Make a web-like design on the board with glue. Create lots of intersections and criss-crossing lines to make the final step more dramatic. Sprinkle the web with salt, making sure the wet glue is completely covered; tap off excess. Mix five drops of food coloring into a tablespoon of water. Use the eyedropper to add color to the web, drop by drop. As the salt absorbs the colored water, you’ll see the color spread along the lines of glue. Watch the intersections as the color travels in several directions at once! Set flat to dry.
A slightly different version of this activity appeared in FamilyFun.
Being a geek is no longer geeky. Role-playing games are being used in classrooms, “graphic novels” are considered literature, conferences about geek pop culture are in major cities with thousands of attendees, and every cool kid is going to see the latest Harry Potter in the theaters. After this movie about magic and monsters, what’s the next most popular thing around? Vampire love. Yeah, times have changed.
Back in my day (creak of my ergonomic office chair) fantasy and science fiction were lumped into one genre: nerd. And that wasn’t a good thing. It was a lonely thing. Years ago there was no Harry Potter phenomenon, The Lord of the Rings had yet to come to theaters, and Star Wars consisted of three movies from the last decade. I would bring novels I was reading into school, and kids would peer at the cover with some fiery demon being fought by a sword-wielding warrior.
“Huh…you’re into that stuff?”
Yes, yes I was. I loved fantasy adventure books, especially if they had some humor. (The Xanth series was particularly amusing in junior high.) Never once did anyone look at my book and reveal that they were into that “stuff” too. Maybe that’s why I kept bringing my books in. Not just to keep me from being bored in class, but in that hopes I would find my geeky tribe. Interestingly, I had friends. They just weren’t geeks. The only two kids in school that, in retrospect, may have been geeky were two Chinese boys that read manga. But at the time, that was considered weirder than my stuff.
I did book reports on The Hobbit and The Illustrated Man. Other students in my class were confused as to why, but didn’t say too much about it. I was more known for my musical ability than the books I read. I never showed anyone the fantasy stories I wrote at home, not because I was embarrassed, but because I didn’t think anyone would be interested in them.
Like many geeks, I was introduced to the culture through my family — mainly my dad’s love of science fiction books and movies. The introduction came early when I hid under the seat at four years old during The Empire Strikes Back. My dad still laughs while telling that story. Amazingly, I wasn’t scarred too much, and grew up with a love of the unexplained and fantastic. When I first met my husband, I was dumbfounded that someone else read the same books as I did. Plus, he had had friends all through junior and high school that did too. His uncle had introduced him to Role Playing Games, he showed the game to his friends, and that was their main source of entertainment. I couldn’t imagine being with a whole group of people that liked fantasy. Is it any wonder I married this man?
Then along came a book about a boy wizard with a scar on his forehead, and now my kids and their friends happily declare, “I’m geeked!” You whippersnappers have no idea how good you have it. No, no, you don’t. And I’m thrilled.
My three year old loves to play with my smart phone and she knows how to use it well enough to pull up her favorite game of Angry Birds. But she also has been known to make calls to her Pop-Pop without getting permission first. So that means limited access to the smart phone since neither my husband nor I want her making long distance calls. But now the new app, Famigo Sandbox, has changed it so she can have access to all her favorite apps.
Famigo Sandbox is a simple app that is a great for parents of tech savvy children. Once you download Famigo Sandbox, it only takes a few minutes to set it up. While your kids are in the Famigo Sandbox, they have access to all of their favorite apps but are locked from being able to access anything else.
I really liked the Famigo Sandbox because it allows me to let my daughter play her favorite games without her being able to make calls or access anything that I don’t want her to have access to. I’ve had other apps that were able to lock my phone while playing the game, but this is the first app I’ve seen where my daughter can pick from different apps while still having the phone locked.
Famigo Sandbox is a free app that is currently only available for phones with the Android OS. I would recommend this app for any parents with young children.
Hug Chair with cover. Photos from Autism & Special Needs Furniture, used with permission.
It seems like the tools available for kids with autism or sensory issues are few and far between. However, there is a business in Eugene, Oregon that provides a unique and affordable product for families in such situations.
My husband and I were introduced to Autism & Special Needs Furniturethrough family. We quickly learned that their furniture would be a valuable tool to have as we helped our daughter cope with hyperactivity issues. We were particularly sold on the support and sturdiness the chairs offered (and that normal beanbag chairs seem to lack). When we watched our kids on the Hug Chairs (pictured above) with other kids, we found that the furniture was durable enough to withstand constant abuse and that the soft microfiber cover comforted the kids.
Robb with his furniture at the Ohio Center For Autism And Low Incidence (OCALI)
Autism & Special Needs Furniture offers a wide array of chairs that are similar to beanbag chairs or Sumo Chairs, but are much higher quality than your standard dorm room beanbag. These chairs are filled with a special foam that stands up to heavy and frequent abuse. In fact, in order to provide the right amount of support to everyone from small kids through to adults, there are several different foams (with varying degrees of resilience) available.
The chairs are a wonderful outlet for kids with sensory issues, autism, or ADHD–not only to sit on, but to use as a piece of physical equipment that can be crashed on, jumped on, folded into, etc. I paid $150 (including shipping and a cover) for a standard Hug Chair. When the foam wears out, the company offers replacement filler for the price of shipping. For a chair my kids will use a ton (and I WANT them to jump on), I think this is very affordable!
Robb Bokich, the man who started Autism & Special Needs Furniture, was left partially-paralyzed in his teen years due to an auto accident. A few years later, he created his first chair with special filler for his own comfort. After several requests for replicas of the chair, Robb started his business under the name Robb’s Pillow Furniture. After almost 40 years, the company has now grown to include several different kinds of chairs and furniture.
Autism and Special Needs Furniture‘s website also offers links to information on autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, fibromyalgia, and other conditions that may benefit from specialized furniture. I found that while ordering from a website can often feel impersonal, this family-owned company offered top-notch customer service and was quick to respond to any questions that I had.
If you are looking for something to help your child (or you, or anyone else!) cope with autism, ADHD, or Asperger’s–or are just looking for a comfortable piece of extremely-durable furniture–I encourage you to take a look at this online store!
Christmas gifts past and future. Freezer paper stencil elephant, crocheted bear, Find It game, and spaghetti sauce. Photo: Cathe Post
Since my husband and I were married in 2003, we started making things for people at Christmas along with purchasing that perfect gift. When we became a one-income household, we cut back to just making gifts. This worked out well because everyone received the same gift and we spent the same amount of time and money on all of the gifts. Here is a list in case you are looking for last minute ideas.
For the adults:
Soap: You can purchase kits, molds, and dies at your local craft store. We are fortunate enough to have access to lavender and made lavender soap with a sprig in the middle for decorative purposes.
Bread: We have made bread but it goes stale quickly. So, one year we put together baskets with the dry ingredients for making beer bread, a good bottle of beer, and a handwritten recipe card.
Project bag: Most of the women in my family are into some sort of fiber art. We made project bags one year for the women, and gave beer with the dry goods for making beer bread to the guys. For those who don’t knit/crochet, I crocheted hot pads.
Lavender Sachets: Sachets are SUPER easy to make. If you grow your own lavender, these are practically free, and all you need to know is a straight stitch, or even use fabric glue if you don’t sew. For the guys in your life who wouldn’t be likely to appreciate sachets, why not make a neck wrap with rice, buckwheat, or lavender?
Pickles: Who doesn’t like pickles? It’s an easy canning activity along with jams, jellies, and sauces.
Brag Books and Calendars: We made brag books for the grandparents the first years of the kids lives. But, the company stopped offering a half sheet size book. This year we chose to order calendars from Costco for all of the grandparents. We also purchased School Days picture frames one year so that when we give a wallet and 5×7 at Christmas, the pictures have a frame.
Bonbons and Bark: Bonbons are complicated, messy and had to be refrigerated. They were our first gift, and we won’t do them again. We have also made hard candy, peppermint bark, and cookies for Christmas.
Coupons: I made up certificates for free photography sittings and gave them to the family members who have kids. All I had to do was print them, roll them up and put a bow on them. If you offer a service that is useful, this is a great gift.
For the kids…
Name Frames: I looked up what each child’s name meant and made a framed collage based on the name meaning.
Drawstring Backpacks: We did these as the main gift and put other little stuff in them. A good pattern for these is easy to find.
Soap: Again, you can find kits at your local craft store. We put toys in the soap for the kids to look forward to getting when the soap was gone.
Amigurumi: Last year I crocheted this bear or something similar for all of the kids. I knew what I was doing early in the year, so I was able to pace myself to finish all of the projects (since I had 10 of them to make and I am a slow crocheter).
Find It Game: You can sew one or save clear pop bottles and fill them with rice and found objects. Just be sure to make a list or take a picture of what you put in the game. These are great for car trips or quiet time.
SPOILER WARNING for those family members and friends who read this: This year we are making spaghetti sauce and homemade pasta for the adults and freezer paper stenciled T-Shirts for the kids. You can check out most of the shirts on my Pinterest board. Next year we are already making plans for the adult gift, but that will be for another post (Hint: Wil Wheaton might have some advice for us).
Christmas without your kids is hard. Acknowledging your feelings is important. Image: Jessamyn
Single parenting is hard. Christmas is stressful. Single parenting at Christmas time? Potentially devastating. Even when your co-parent is collaborative, friendly to you and committed to the kids, there is still a sense of loss when you aren’t able to spend Christmas with your children. The joy of seeing gleeful faces on Christmas morning or the connection to family tradition with your Christmas Eve rituals may be lost to your divorce. When you co-parent with a jerk, Christmas can be a total nightmare. It brings up some of the worst feelings: your relationship with your ex, self-doubt, fears that a happy childhood is lost for your kids, financial stress, and family conflict. So what can you do to help yourself and your kids cope? First, grab a box of tissues and hide from the kids. Some boo-hooing is in order.
1. Acknowledge your negative feelings. Ignore, for a minute, the social pressure to be cheerful during the holidays. Admit that you aren’t okay, you don’t feel jolly, and you won’t be having a merry Christmas. After your wallowing session, you can take a step back and sort through which of those feelings are exaggerated and what you can do to make things better.
2. Figure out some workarounds. Does your family traditionally open a single package on Christmas Eve? Skype it. Is there a tablet or iPod at the other parent’s house? Load favorite apps on devices for both you and your kids. Buy two copies of treasured books. You can read and play along together over the phone.
3. Invest in the creative potential of Santa’s power. Santa can do a lot, including leaving presents in the car that are waiting for your kids when you pick them up again, or tucking a hidden present into your kid’s coat pocket. Santa can leave presents when and where he wants. He’s flexible, and he can create magic in nontraditional places at nontraditional times if you’ll only let him.
4. Get your geek on. Make a DVD of your kids’ favorite photos and set it to their favorite music. Audio record yourself reading a story and put it on a CD, thumb drive, mp3 player, or your kid’s cell phone. Post a private video message on YouTube for your kids to watch whenever they want.
5. Connect with other single moms. No one else knows what it’s really like, not even your family. Not even your parents, even if they are divorced too. The family court system is different now, and you need moms who are deep in the middle of it that can genuinely understand and empathize. Make plans to be together and find strength in numbers.
6. Schedule your sadness. Give your grief some space, an opportunity to be treated as a valid feeling that is at odds with what you wish you could feel instead. Then plan a time for those feelings to be set aside so that you can seek out and embrace the joys in life as well. You may not be completely able to fit your feelings into a calendar, but reserving some time to explicitly deal with your emotional pain may help prevent that pain from taking over.
7. Do grown-up things. Make a list of benefits to having your kids gone. Rated R movies! Girls Night Out! All the foods you love that your kids hate! A nice Merlot! A clean house! Sleeping in! A six hour TNG-athon! Take care of yourself.
8. Celebrate Three Kings Day. Trying to celebrate Christmas a couple of days early or late can feel phony, and serve to highlight the difficulties of what you and your kids are going through by pretending that something as socially important as Christmas can just be shifted to another day. Three Kings Day is celebrated in many cultures throughout the world, and there is a rich body of traditions you and your kids can draw on. The twelve days of Christmas? They actually refer to the days between Christmas and Epiphany. Magic presents delivered in the night? Leave out some grass for the Kings’ horse and the Kings will leave presents just like Santa. You’ll get the benefit of shopping for gifts during those after Christmas sales, too. For most moms, this is a holiday you’ll never have to share with your ex. It can belong to you and your kids, and can be just as reliable and full of tradition as you wish your Christmas could be.
Not all of these suggestions will work for everyone. I’ve been single parenting for a long time, and my son and I have only been able to share two Christmases together in the last decade. It’s tough, for both of us. But over the years, we’ve found ways to make it work. Three Kings Day is a huge deal. We’ll stay home from work and school, wake up early to presents under the tree, and then we’re throwing a party for the other single moms and kids we know. We make, and find, our own holiday joy every year. I’ll handle my sadness privately, without letting it take over.
Merry Christmas and Happy Three Kings Day to all the single moms and their kids. We can do it!
I love the holiday season, especially now that my daughter is old enough to start to understand what is going on with the holidays. We celebrate Christmas, but I’d like her to know that there are other holidays that people celebrate during this time of year. The Night Before Christmas DVD set from Scholastic Storybook Treasures has been very helpful when it comes to being able to show my daughter some of the different holidays celebrated during this season as well as how different cultures celebrate.
Like other Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVDs, The Night Before Christmas has several stories per DVD that are animated and narrated. There are classics like The Night Before Christmas and The Little Drummer Boy. There is also a Hanukkah story, In the Month of Kislev, as well as a Kwanzaa story, Seven Candles for Kwanzaa. There is even a story about Chinese New Year called Sam and the Lucky Money.
My 3-year-old liked all of the stories, but she enjoyed the ones that had to do with Santa most of all. I think these DVDs will become holiday favorites, especially as she gets a little old enough to appreciate some of the other holidays and traditions that people celebrate during this time of year. I would recommend this DVD set to anyone who has young children and wants a great set of diverse stories for the holidays.
Note: I received a copy of these DVDs for review purposes.
Fourth in our series of 2011 Holiday Gift Guides covers toys for the younger kids on your holiday gift list. Babies, toddlers, and possibly early elementary kids will enjoy the items below. What are you giving to the young kids on your list this year? Share your ideas in the comments.
Photo: Gigamic Games
Age: 5+ (Younger geeklings do well while supervised.)
This is a great game to give as a child’s first board game. There are 18 colorful wooden sea creatures that all need to stay inside the tank, its your job to figure out how to not be the first to run out of room. This game encourages visual and motor planning skills in young children as they have to determine which piece will best fit the remaining space. Its quick, colorful and fun enough to keep a young geekling interested.
This portable game is a must-have for those long road trips. No need to worry about losing a small piece in-between the seats, Zingo-to-Go has everything self-contained and attached. Just shake the car, and see if the items are on your game board. The first one to get a complete line wins. Simple, and fun for everyone.
Fisher-Price Kid-Tough See Yourself Camera (in Black and Purple)
Finally, a camera designed to let the youngest child take photos! The lens swivels front to back, making self-portraits easy. This camera has big buttons for little fingers and the controls are so child friendly that no reading is required. It takes stills as well as videos with sound, features 4X digital zoom, stores up to 1,000 pictures, and performs well in low light. Additionally, you can download stampers and special effects. Includes 4 “AA” batteries.
My Pillow Pets
$15.98 to $19.50
My Pillow Pets are 18 inch, huggable stuffed animals made of soft chenille that open to become a full-sized pillow. Pillow pets come in dozens of “species,” including: penguin, dragon, puppy, monkey, turtle, and dolphin. They’re perfect for sleepovers, travel, and quiet time. My Pillow Pets are a hit with teens as well as toddlers.
$5.99 to $24.99
These huggable creatures are a surprise hit. There are dozens of different Sing-A-Ma-Jigs. Every Sing-A-Ma-Jig has three modes of play. They chatter. They also sing their own songs, letting you control the pace of the song as you push their bellies. And they harmonize with other Sing-A-Ma-Jigs. When they sing together, each Sing-A-Ma-Jig joins in with perfect pitch. The more Sing-A-Ma-Jigs you have, the larger the chorus and the better they sound.
KidKraft Fun Explorers Pirate Ship Play Set
This sturdy set comes with all sorts of accessories, making for imaginative play. Perfect for kids who love Peter Pan stories or Jake and the Never Land Pirates. This large wooden ship has lidded storage, a retractable gangplank, cloth sails, four molded pirates (including a captain with a hook), two cannons, two sharks, a gunpowder keg, and more!
Maxim Deluxe TreeHouse with Accessories
This natural wood playset will spark a child’s imagination. The 19-inch-tall treehouse includes ladders, play figures, a bucket, barrel, bendable leaves, doors that open and close, a table and chair set, a boom and winch, a pulley system, and more, for years of creative play.
Haba Building Block Sets
$26.99 to $40.49
Haba block are keepers. Made of natural untreated beech, they come in a variety of standard as well as architectural sets. Due to small pieces, they’re not advised for children under three. You’ll want to take a look at Haba sets such as Baroque, Russian House, Medieval Castle, and Antiquity. You may want to leave a set out on a coffee table so guests of all ages can have a turn. And don’t be surprised if the sets you buy are saved for generations.
Photo: Ellen Henderson
$22.99 for 1000-piece set
STIKITS are small cylinders of cornstarch that look like Styrofoam packing peanuts, except they come in various colors. When dampened, they stick together solidly and can be squished and molded into various shapes and configurations. They’re easy to work with — kids can easily make letters and all kinds of shapes, and they rarely fall apart or come unstuck the way dough sculptures can. They can dissolve if you put too much water on — the key is dampening, not deluging — but that’s actually one of the benefits: They’re totally natural and biodegradable.
Disney Cars 2 AppMATes
Lightning McQueen Single Pack – $12.99
Turn your iPad into an interactive play mat for your kids with these car shaped accessories and a free iPad app from the iTunes store. My geekling was exploring Radiator Springs and driving around the surrounding Cars universe in a matter of minutes. You can help Lightning McQueen and his friends jump, race and complete tasks. This augmented-reality game is perfect for the Disney Cars lover in your life, and is a perfect geekling accessory to the iPad.
Photo: B Chase Photography
Sonic Screwdriver Flashlight (11th Doctor)
When you have a Whovian family, even the youngest Doctor needs his sonic screwdriver! There aren’t many Doctor Who items that hold up to the rugged adventures of a three year old, but this one does just that. It is only a light, so its not a problem when the little Doctor won’t go to bed unless he has his sonic. This is a must-have for a Whovian of any age, but especially for the little ones.
Putumayo Kids Africa Coloring Book
This giant-sized coloring book is full of scenes and animals that come from Africa. Kids can have fun coloring in the pictures as well as learning more about life in Africa. There are even some blank pages near the back so that kids can draw their own African scene.
Putumayo Kids Europe Sticker Collection
This sticker collection gives your child a chance to learn about Europe while playing with stickers. The set includes several sheets of reusable stickers depicting landmarks and musical instruments found in Europe, as well as a map of Europe and a blank background of a countryside where the stickers can be placed for safekeeping.
Octonauts Octopod Playset
The Octonauts have yet to land on US shores, but when they do I have no doubt that the mixture of kawaii cute characters and science/environmentalism-based plots will make a huge splash with US audiences. With their motto of “Explore! Rescue! Protect!” the Octonauts are a sort of underwater Enterprise crew, making contact with new species and helping where they can. This playset is the centerpiece of Mattel’s Octonauts offerings, and includes the good ship Gup-A along with Captain Barnacles and Kwazii figures.
HappyLand Space Exploration Range
£16 – £40
The Early Learning Centre has been making great toys for decades, and the space exploration range from HappyLand is the company at its best. The toys are cute, creative and robust. My son received the space rocket, moon base and Martian house for Christmas 2010 and after eleven months of (very) rough toddler play, nothing is broken or scratched. All the doors are designed to pop off so hinges cannot be broken–although you might get driven a little crazy having to reattach them every two minutes!
There’s just something about the spherical shape and giant size that makes these Squishables so… squishable. Kids will literally and figuratively flip over all of the different choices, including owls, dragons, and octopi. Fabulous geeky options include the Narwhal and the Cthulhu. Skip the minis and go right for the 15-inchers!
LeapFrog LeapPad Explorer
Does your geeklet want a tablet but you’re not ready to hand over the iPad? The Leap Frog LeapPad Explorer learning tablet is a great alternative for little kids (ages 4-9, though the sweet spot is really 4-6). This device goes beyond the Leapster Explorer with a larger screen, camera, video recorder, and accelerometer, while still being backwards-compatible with Explorer cartridges. You can also download games right to the tablet.
Photo: Fred & Friends
Fred XYZ Blocks
If your toddler needs blocks that are sturdy, durable, and hilarious, these are the blocks you’re looking for. These large cubes are easily stacked with a nice surface texture, but the alphabet choices are the best part. Q is for Quicksand, R is for Raygun, and J is for Joystick, to name but a few.
Tegu Blocks Pocket Pouch
These simple magnetic blocks made from sustainably-harvested tropical hardwoods feel wonderful in your hands, and the magnets give them endless building possibilities, even in this 8-block travel set. The pocket pouch is a great gift for your preschool builder as well as your office mate.
Photo: Fat Brain Toys
When looking for a stacking toy for your toddler, it’s nice to have one as versatile as Tobles. The colorful weighted pieces fit nicely in one another, but there’s all sorts of other sensory fun to be had. The pieces can spin, wobble, and balance in a variety of different ways.
Last week, I had the pleasure, the very wonderful pleasure, of taking my youngest son Sammy to our local indie theater for a viewing of Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey. The film follows the rise of Kevin Clash, puppeteer and voice of every child’s favorite furry, red Sesame Street character, Elmo. With a lot of documentaries, I expect to be amazed at the amount of turmoil or struggle that the subject had to endure to make it where they are today. Not so with Clash; it was refreshing to see that he had very supportive parents, who instead of making excuses when others ridiculed his hobby of making puppets, they encouraged him and found ways to to help him achieve his dreams, and Kevin Clash was a big dreamer.
The film makers did an excellent job of telling Clash’s story, narrated briefly in part by Whoopi Goldberg. At the young age of nine, Clash had already started making his own puppets, in large quantities no less, giving them names, distinct personalities, and using them to hone his craft. He hoped to someday work with The Muppets or on Sesame Street, and as the years flew by, he moved up to local children’s shows, eventually landing a puppetry and acting gig on then popular and now classic Captain Kangaroo. Through the love and support of his family, not to mention an opportunity to meet famous Muppets creator Kermit Love (thanks in no small part to his mother), Clash eventually attained that life-long goal of working with all things Jim Henson.
Official movie poster via Wiki
The story of how the character of Elmo emerged in the midst of it all is one to only be seen in the film. One thing I will note is that the actual name and puppet of Elmo was in use for awhile on Sesame Street before Clash made him who he is today. The character was so unlikable that the puppeteer that brought him to life couldn’t stand having to do so when the time came. Now anyone who has children, and even a lot who don’t, can tell you what Elmo represents, because of those three little words that he says that define his personality: “Elmo Loves You.” Clash certainly embodies the love that the character of Elmo represents, by using his talent to allow children to have private visitations with him and Elmo, courtesy of the Make a Wish Foundation, which gives children with a terminal illness a chance to live out their biggest hopes and dreams. This was the point in the film where tears started to flow freely from my eyes, and I looked over to my son and saw that same expression of sadness and joy combined on his face, reflected in the glow of the projection on the screen.
The film runs only a little over an hour, and when the credits began to roll, I exclaimed out loud, “No, don’t be over yet!” There were only a few of us in the audience, but my son and I started to clap and the rest of the theater joined in our applause. It might have been the clapping of only a few hands that night, but it was richly deserved. I would recommend that if you have any chance of seeing this movie in a theater, that you don’t miss the chance to do so.
I was compensated two tickets by the Robinson Film Center in Shreveport, LA for the viewing of this film for the purpose of this review.
Michael playing "Hotel California" by The Eagles...the long version.
My oldest son Michael is what I call a bonafide music geek. He has been learning to play the guitar for a little over a year now. His taste in music is quite eclectic, and I definitely know he gets his musical interests from my husband and me. He does occasionally listen to popular music, but his heart lies with classic rock and even some of the tunes I listened to at his age, so it makes me immensely glad that we rarely fight over the radio when riding in the car. He loves Rush, Led Zepplin, Bob Marley, Nirvana, The Beatles, Jethro Tull, The Beastie Boys, and much more awesome music.
Last year, he asked for a guitar for Christmas. He had been taking lessons once a week at an after school art and education center, that he and his brother attend twice weekly, called the Renzi Center. His skills were really starting to bud, but he needed something to practice on at home. Since my husband was still deployed to Iraq when it was time to hunt down a guitar, I enlisted my brother-in-law Sean, the guitar player in the family, to help me find a decent one at a reasonable price. We got lucky and found an acoustic Sigma at a local pawn shop. Sean took it for a few days, replaced and tuned a few chords, cleaned it up and donated one of his old guitar cases for his nephew’s Christmas morning surprise. One of the best gifts we got last year was my husband coming home from his one-year deployment only two days before Christmas, but I digress. The guitar was the second-best gift for Michael, and watching him open it was second-best gift for me. I wrapped the guitar up, in the case, and got really creative with the gift wrap. I left the handle loose and even covered it separately. It was obviously a guitar case, which made it really funny. I couldn’t just put it under the tree though; my parents always tricked me and my sisters on Christmas morning, so I carry on the tradition.
He knew it was a joke...or did he?
I found a really cheap, small kids guitar at a local drug store. That is the one I wrapped up and put under the tree for Michael. The real guitar I stealthily placed in his closet on Christmas morning while he was still asleep. It was quite funny to see him open that little guitar and give me the “Are you kidding me?” look, then later put his new clothes up and find the real thing in his closet.
Hmmm....I wonder what this could be?
Since then, Michael has come a very long way in his playing. He recently turned fourteen, and received a few books of tabbed rock music, which he loved, as gifts. A gift to him from me for his birthday is that he is getting more guitar lessons from Danny Wilder, who happens to be the father of my cousin’s step-daughter (I hope that makes sense). Danny also gave lessons to a famous guitar player from Shreveport named Kenny Wayne Shepard. Michael played a song at the Shreveport Zombie Walk with the band The Moulin Dudes, and he played a few sets at the Texas Avenue Makers Fair. I am very proud of him and love listening to him practicing in his room every night.
How did he get so good so fast? Well…let me tell you. During the school year, my sons aren’t allowed to play video games or get on the computer on school nights, unless it is for homework. They cherish weekends and breaks from school, so they can catch up on gaming. Last year, right after school was out, Michael did something that I can’t even remember, something that got him grounded from all video and computer games for the entire three-month summer break. He spent the whole summer of 2011 learning to play his guitar. I will never forget the joy he felt when he came to me, showing me the newest song he had learned to play. I asked him if he regretted being grounded from all of those games, since had he not been, he wouldn’t have spent so much time practicing his guitar. He actually said that no, he didn’t regret it. Yep, he is a music geek, but I know that deep down, he is still a gamer on the weekends.
First up is an interview with Ken Denmead, Editor and Publisher of GeekDad.com and Publisher of GeekMom.com about his latest book The Geek Dad Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists. Then Nicole Wakelin is joined by GeekMom Rebecca Angel who wrote the show’s theme music! She talks about how to encourage kids in their musical explorations and how it’s never too late to give music a try.
I have two boys in my house and watch as they play video games that they like; the ones where you have to beat a level or find the secrets, beat the boss and save the day. My attention span for those kinds of games fell by the wayside about the same time as the Super Nintendo. There are a few video games I do still like to play, the more recent of those being the Just Dance series of games.
Just Dance 3 was released for Wii, Playstation 3 and XBox in early October. It builds on the already popular franchise by adding lots of hit songs and new modes to extend and vary game play. The best thing about these series of games is that they get you off the couch and moving around. Although I do occasionally play them by myself, I have the most fun when family and friends are visiting and we are all playing together. It seems that Just Dance has replaced our old get-togethers that we once dubbed “Rock Band Parties.”
Just Dance 3 isn’t just for people who have the moves of a professional dancer. Anyone can play and have a great time, no matter if they can really dance or not. It’s easy to start it up and get to the mode that you want to play. If you are so inclined, you even have the choice to “Just Sweat,” which is a training program that does calculated cardio. If not, you can just dance, alone or with a group. Basically, you choose from about 45 different songs, some available as downloadable content, and just follow the moves of the on-screen dancer. You hold the Wii remote (or no controller, if you are playing Kinect) in your right hand and the sensor keeps up with where it is in relation to the dance moves happening on screen. My boys and I had a blast with this game, discovering the new songs and watching the dancers, who are always in funny-looking costumes and doing creative, different dance moves that keep you laughing while you’re dancing.
A screen shot of "Apache (Jump on It)" from the Ubisoft website.
New to this version are the Dance Crew Mode, Smart Shuffle, Flash Mob Mode and Dance Mash-up. I tried out one of the dance crew songs by myself, “This is Halloween,” and although it was fun, it would have been a blast if three other dancers had been in the living room with me. I danced to a lot of the songs so I could get an idea of the new moves and scoring. The scoring doesn’t make you feel too bad if you stink at it; you get a number of stars and a rating like “Energetic,” or “Wild,” or even “Creative.” You don’t get booed, which is nice, especially if you have kids playing who may not do so well at first. I’m interested in trying out another new feature in the Wii version, the “Hold My Hand” mode, where up to 8 players can share 4 Wii Remotes and dance together. It sounds pretty cool, but I don’t know if my living room can hold that many dancers, so we might have to save that for a church youth party with the kids.
We don’t have to have a party or a get-together to play this game; my kids get excited when I want to play any video games with them, even this one. My son Michael has some great moves, so when I convince him to take a turn, it is quite entertaining. It never fails that if we put in one Just Dance game, we will end up playing all of them that we own, Just Dance 1 and 2 and Michael Jackson: The Experience. Ubisoft has released several dance games, like one just for kids, one that features Broadway tunes, and one that features The Black Eyed Peas.
My cousin/best friend Sara and I always play Just Dance when we spend time together.
For myself, when I popped in Just Dance 3 after everyone in my house had gone to sleep for the night, I had an absolute blast playing it. My favorite song to dance to was “Apache (Jump on It).” I couldn’t stop smiling and thinking about Carlton and Will doing their strip-tease on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air years ago. I would recommend this game for anyone who already has the previous Just Dance games, or who has never even played them. If you plan on having a get-together for the holidays this year, this would be a perfectly fun way for everyone to work off all of that yummy cornbread dressing and pumpkin pie!
For a listing of all songs featured in the game, and more information, check out the Just Dance 3 Wiki.
I received a copy of Just Dance 3 for the Nintendo Wii gaming console from Ubisoft for review purposes.
I let my geek flag fly and made a little money at the Texas Avenue Maker's Fair in Shreveport, LA.
Every once in a blue moon I get in a crafty mood; I put my laptop aside and take out the paint, scissors and glue. Occasionally, I take my hand-made wares to a craft market, or in this case, a maker’s fair, and sell them to those who might appreciate them. This past weekend, I took some of my usual; aged gift tags, a few painted signs, and highly-scented potpourri (which has been dubbed “Christmas Crack” by one of my frequent buyers; she says she can’t start the Christmas season without it).
I took my chances and made some geeky wares to sell this time. As a kid, I loved making Shrinky Dinks. While browsing Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago, I found a new product: Shrinky Dinks that you can print on. My imagination reeled with the possibilities. I made earrings, necklaces, book marks, zipper pulls, and cell phone charms. Now many people in my town and the surrounding area are sporting Dalek and TARDIS jewelry, Nyan Cat book marks, and even a few pieces that feature The Goonies, Ghostbusters and lots of other fun stuff you won’t find at your local shops. As proud as I might be of my geeky goodies and the profit they turned, I am even prouder of the fact that both of my sons participated in the maker’s fair for the first time and made their own little bit of money.
My fourteen year old, Michael, played two separate sets on his acoustic guitar, and with permission from the organizers, collected tips in his opened his guitar case. He got a lot of compliments on his playing skills and choice of songs; he is a fan of classics like The Eagles and Bob Marley, and good old grunge-rock, Nirvana.
My son Michael playing some tunes to entertain the shoppers.
Sammy, who is eleven, set up a small area within my booth space and sold his hand-made duct tape items. Most popular were the wallets, which several people had custom-made while they shopped. He turned a pretty darn good profit, and was excited that even our mayor bought a wallet from him!
Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover holds his new duct tape wallet, made by Sammy.
All in all, it was a pretty fun day. There were so many different and interesting makers, so many cool things to see and buy, and lots of yummy food to eat. We are looking forward to being a part of the next Texas Avenue Maker’s Fair, which I am pretty certain will be happening again!
I love costumes, both looking at costumes and wearing them. With Halloween just behind us, there are lots of cute kids in costumes all over the internet. But some of the best and geekiest can be found on Mothering.com.
Mothering.com is running a costume contest where you can post a picture of your kids in their Halloween finery. You can win different prizes if your picture gets enough votes. Apparently there are some geeky moms and kids on Mothering.com from the looks of some of the costumes that have been entered into the contest.
My favorite is the two little Ewoks walking around what looked to be Endor. But there are other geeky costumes like baby Princess Leia, Lego figures, Supergirl and more.
You can go to Mothering.com to check out the costumes and even enter the contest, which goes until November 7th.
When one hears the words “Pumpkin Shine On Line,” they may think it’s a place on the internet to show off shiny gourds. Folks in my parts will know that it’s referring to an annual event, that happens the week before Halloween, on Line Avenue in Shreveport, Louisiana. One of the biggest and oldest parks in town, Betty Virginia Park, plays host to this fun family event, with a local private school facilitating the planning and festivities.
Students from schools in our parish (which would be a county in any other state) paint, carve and decorate their own pumpkins. They enter them into the contest, free of charge, along with any other person who would like to try their hand at decorating. Beginning at about five in the evening, hundreds of pumpkins line the half-mile trail that winds around the park. Families come in droves to marvel at the work that kiddos and artistic Halloween lovers create for this event, which is free to attend. Judges walk around and pin ribbons to the pumpkins that they think are the best designs. In my opinion, the best pumpkins are the ones that were obviously created by a child, with little help from an adult. There is always entertainment, like school choirs or dance teams, performing for the crowd. You could buy some pizza or candy to munch on, for a pretty reasonable price. Most of the time, kids just want to have fun on the playground, and it’s hard for parents to get them to come off the slides and swings to head home for bedtime.
One of my favorite pumpkins, a lion, with a very cool mane.
My kids have been attending the Pumpkin Shine for years. It has grown so big that this year, we could hardly keep up with all of our family because of the crowds. My oldest son, Michael, wasn’t as interested as he used to be. He spent more time playing with his toddler baby cousins, which I don’t think anyone had any complaints about; he helped to keep an eye on them and make them smile. Sammy, who is eleven, still has a little bit of childhood innocence in him. He ran ahead and checked out all of the pumpkins, including the one he carved for his 6th grade homeroom class. After his quick scan of it all, he ran back to ask me if he could “run around and act stupid.” I took that as meaning that he wanted to find his friends, but since he left his cell phone at home, I told him it was a no-go.
Sammy searches for friends to "run around and act stupid with."
I took lots of pictures of the pumpkins this year. The popular theme every year is always children’s books, especially the entries from elementary schools. The 2011 Pumpkin Shine was dominated by Angry Birds and The Smurfs. I have a slideshow of all of the pictures I took, and it’s worth looking at to see how interesting and creative some got with their pumpkins. It could even give you some great ideas for your pumpkin carving and decorating this year. You can click on the link below to check out the pictures I took. Does your town have a similar event for Halloween celebrations? Tell us in the comments section, I would love to hear about it!
Sammy shows his love for Adventure Time and the many faces of the main character, Finn.
Have you seen this strange cartoon that appears Monday nights, on Cartoon Network? It’s called Adventure Time, and I have to admit, my whole family is in love with it. When I say that it is strange, I mean that it is like no other cartoon you have ever watched before. When I say that it is wonderful, I mean that it is funny and creative, holding the attention of kids and adults equally.
It took me watching a few episodes to understand what the main premise of the show is all about. Jake is a human boy and his best friend is a dog named Jake. The two live in a strange land called Ooo, which I suspect is future Earth after magical creatures have populated it and humans have become extremely rare. Jake and Finn are heroes; their goal is to help anyone that needs their assistance, and protect innocent creatures. In most episodes, the main villain is “Ice King.” Ice King’s main goal in life is to steal a princess and marry her.
Many of the Princesses from Adventure Time. Image from Wikia.
There are so many princesses to choose from in this crazy realm; from Princess Gumball, the Hotdog Princess, to an eerie Ghost Princess. Then there is my personal favorite, Lumpy Space Princess, who has the attitude and accent of a valley girl, but a deep, man-like voice. I can’t help but laugh every time “L.S.P.” gets angry and spouts something like, “Don’t lumping yell at me!”
If I had to list just a few things that make this series stand out, I would have to say they are as follows:
The animation style, which is bright, colorful and clean. It reminds me of other shows like Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and the Miyazaki films.
The clever story lines; they are inventive and different from all of the usual plots you see in shows these day. The writers can do anything in Adventure Time; Ooo is a world of fantasy so the possibilities are endless!
Recognize that voice? A lot of the characters are voiced by famous voice actors, such as Tom Kenny, who lends his vocal talent to the title character in Spongebob Squarepants and in this show, Ice King. John DiMaggio voices Jake in Adventure Time, but you might also recognize him as Bender from Futurama. Minor characters have been voiced by actors such as George Takei, Ron Perlman, Lou Ferrigno and Andy Milonakis.
There are lessons to be learned; yes, there are a few things in the series that parents may not approve of, like the way the characters exclaim their dismay with phrases like “What the stuff!” and “Don’t squeeze me, I’ll fart!” I would recommend that ten-year-olds and up watch it, lest you want your young child to go around making jokes about passing gas that no one but lovers of the show (and bathroom humor) would appreciate. With that out of the way, kids can take away from Adventure Time that the good guys always win, the bad guys always have to face consequences, and Jake and Finn are always great friends who help others in need.
Sammy got bored at work with me one day and built his own N.E.P.T.R. out of spare parts.
If you can find it online or a re-run, my favorite episode is “What is Life?” which features a robot that Finn builds to throw pies in Jake’s face, to be the prank of all pranks. A short clip of the episode can be watched on YouTube. Andy Milonakis voices the robot, known as N.E.P.T.R., which stands for “Never Ending Pie Throwing Robot.”
My advice? Watch for the talking balloons and Ice King’s minion penguin, Gunter. They are the funniest part of the whole episode.
The show is in its third season on Cartoon Network, but season one was recently released, titled My Two Favorite People, on DVD and is available to purchase. New episodes premiere Mondays nights at 8/7 Central Time. Lots of fun games and video clips, including a few full-length episodes, are at cartoonnetwork.com/tvshows/adventuretime.
When I saw the advertisements around my humble town of Shreveport, Louisiana for a production of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, I thought to myself, “Oh, a puppet show. That’s nice; another way to enjoy the story, besides just watching the movie.” After actually experiencing it a few days ago with my husband and 11-year-old son, Sammy, I quickly realized that my previous thoughts on the matter were glaring understatements and didn’t do the production justice at all. In the words of the well-traveled Sammy, “This is the best thing I have ever been to in my entire life; it’s even better than Legoland!” That’s a serious comparison coming from a boy who for three years, before actually spending a day at Legoland, saved up every single free pass to the theme park that came with a new Lego set, even after they had expired.
Sammy gives his review of Fox after the show while hagning out with narrator Caleb Gaston, who is his buddy and fellow Whovian!
After buying our tickets online, I did a little research about the production and the people behind the making of Fantastic Mr. Fox. I found out that it is the brain-child of three totally cool guys (in my personal opinion). Arthur Mintz, who had previously worked on Disney’s James and the Giant Peach, came up with the idea of adapting the story of Mr. Fox’s adventures into such a cool, interactive experience. He got together with pals Jacques and Rene Duffourc, who agreed to help make it all happen. It wasn’t long before Hi-YAH! Productions was started. Fantastic Mr. Fox opened in New Orleans, in late 2010, to rave reviews and eventually sold-out shows. It had to be extended several times due to its immense popularity.
William Joyce, creator of the PBS animated series George Shrinks and the hit Disney cartoon Roly Polie Olie, calls Shreveport his home and is on the Advisory Board for a local art, theater and music exhibition center, not to mention all around amazing place, in our downtown called artspace. I got to chat with Jacques Duffourc after the show, and he told me that Mr. Joyce made them “an offer that they couldn’t refuse” to bring Fox to artspace in Shreveport. Even with a list of demands, like needing to cut holes in walls and take up space on several floors of the building, Jaques told me that artspace has been wonderful and that they couldn’t have pulled it all off without the support they’ve gotten from everyone involved. I have to admit that I am glad it all worked out: I’m about to tell you a little bit about the show, without spoiling it, because if you are lucky, you may be within driving distance. If not, Jacques seems pretty confident that Fox is on it’s way up; several agencies from New York and Los Angeles have shown interest in the production, so it could be headed your way sometime soon, after a hoped-for blessing from the Roald Dahl estate.
The creators of the show, Hi-YAH Productions. L to R: Rene & Jacques Duffourc, Arthur Mintz. Image courtesy of artspaceshreveport.com.
We first entered downstairs, to a normal looking basement-type of room, decorated with the artwork of children who had drawn their own “wanted” posters for Mr. Fox. A television played a loop of a short preview of what was to come. It wasn’t long before Jacques greeted everyone and lead the audience of about 25 kids and adults (the maximum per show is 30) to an elevator that we we all rode up one floor, ten at a time, to a seating area where the show would begin. The first thing I noticed was the curtain; it was sewn together with bits of fabric and various clothing; most recognizable was a pair of khaki-colored corduroy jeans. “Neato!” I said, pointing them out to Sammy. The curtain parted and the very exuberant narrator, wearing two different-colored Chuck Taylor All Star tennis shoes, began telling us a little of the back story of Mr. Fox, the main character. He imparted a few gags that the kids got quite a kick out of, but I won’t ruin it here, in case you are ever an audience member. One in particular got praise from Sammy, considering that the narrator that night happened to be one of his older classmates from kung fu class, a young man named Caleb, and he gave a little extra attention to my son, who was sitting on the front row.
Over the Hill, image courtesy of artspaceshreveport.com.
The audience didn’t sit long; we were soon given headlamps and adults were offered knee pads (which I later wished I had taken advantage of) so that we could literally crawl into the story book! Our head lamps lit the path as we found our way through dark tunnels, pieced together quite creatively from pieces of cardboard boxes, and came out into the first of many wonderful sets, called “Over the Hill.” Being inside the set like that, crawling around and sitting on the cardboard-covered floors, looking around in wonder at all of the great detail and artistry that went into making it all so wonderful and elaborate, made me feel like I was a kid again. I was back in my own bedroom, an eight-year-old little girl, playing house inside of a shelter that I had carefully built with the sheets and blankets confiscated from all of the beds in my home. It was magical, without a doubt.
We moved into different sets, by means of more tunnels, a ladder and even slides. Some parents opted to take the “back way,” and I even did that a time or two, to save my knees a little grief and to get to see what the outside of the set looked like. It was amazing! Overtaking the stairwell and several floors of the building were the tunnels and slides, covered in up-cycled cardboard that had been torn apart and pieced back together again. Jacques later told me, after the show, of the “cardboard parties” they hosted in order to build the set, inviting volunteers to come and piece it all together, with the promise of a little food or drink in exchange.
Mr. Fox and his puppeteer for our performance, Cazes Verbois.
The audience never sat back and just “watched a puppet show.” We were actually in the show. The puppeteers were in the sets with us; they wore clothes that blended into the background and although it was obvious they were there, after awhile, you just didn’t notice or care that they were. At times throughout the show, the narrator encouraged us to shout, to yell, to tell the characters what they should do. We all formed a bond and were very comfortable with one another; we were are in this experience together and we were having a great time! A few of the younger kids got a little frightened at moments, like when scenes went dark or a rather large puppet would come into a scene unexpectedly. The show is recommended for ages four and up due to the “athletic nature of the performance and crawling and sliding required,” but I think that is a good age to judge its appropriateness by also, considering the few screams and whimpers I heard from the under-four crowd when a few thematic elements got underway. It seemed so real at times that a few toddlers wanted to leave, but to me, that just shows the high quality of the production itself. I also noticed that towards the end, some of those same kiddos showed a little more bravery and were no worse for the wear. When I asked him what one of the most rewarding parts of putting on the performance was, Jacques told me that for him, it was watching the transformation of the children, going from unsure and a little bit frightened, to brave and ready to take on whatever the next tunnel would bring. I would have to agree with him on that; after reassuring a few kids that it was all going to be just fine, I noticed them later cheering and exclaiming about how much they loved it and wanted to come back.
The puppeteers of Fantastic Mr. Fox, showing for a limited time at artspace in Shreveport, Louisiana.
In today’s day and age, our children are over loaded with digital devices and electronic entertainment. It’s rare to find a kid who doesn’t own an iPod, iPhone, Nintendo DSi or other hand-held device that keeps them from ever having a dull moment. Even in taking our children out of the home for entertainment, we all usually just sit and watch, depending on someone or something else to dance, sing or make bright colors interesting enough to take us away from something else that could possibly be even more interesting and engaging. It is truly refreshing to be a part of an event — yes, I will call it an event, because it is not just a “show” in my opinion — that makes the audience feel like they are right there in the story, and the only way they will find out more is to get on their hands and knees and crawl to the next scene. Instead of just absorbing moving images on a screen, we were participants and we had to be engaged. The children got to touch, jump, slide, climb, crawl and even at one point, snack, right there in the performance.
Sammy hangs out with Cub, who is a little geekling, much like he is!
Parents in today’s society, as a whole, seem to have gotten away from letting kids really have fun. We’ve all heard of “helicopter parents,” the kind that constantly hover over their children, fearful that something bad may happen to them if they don’t watch over them all the time. Kids need to just be kids; they need to jump, run, crawl, slide and get dirty sometimes. I did it when I was a kid and I seemed to have turned out okay (for the most part!). How else can children learn to rely on themselves and figure things out on their own, if their parents are always making every little decision for them? Fantastic Mr. Fox at artspace is a wonderful example of good ideas, creative interactive theater, great fun, and a great way for kids (and parents) to let go and have a good old-fashioned fun time, while leaving the television and video games systems at home for a night. I truly hope that a lot of GeekMom readers are within driving distance; it is well worth whatever number of hours away you have to travel to see it. It is only showing until the end of November, and there are plenty of other great things to do in the area, so it would be well worth it to make a day, or even a weekend out of it.
I never thought this would be the way I'd have the "Don't Do Drugs" talk with my kids!
After signing myself up for Glitch, I decided to let my kids develop characters of their own (under my e-mail addresses and with my close supervision). Over the weekend my oldest son took a trip to the dark side of Glitch: “Glitch Hell“.
Simply put, you visit Hell by dying. You can visit Hell several times, and there is even a separate set of achievements you can earn from multiple trips to Hell. Those who are experienced in the game might think that my son simply walked away from the computer, forgetting to “Exit the World.” But in my son’s case, he was mining rocks with another character who offered him a substance called “No-No Powder“.
No-No Powder is Glitch cocaine, my friends. You sniff it, get high, and then encounter this horrible crash that can only be saved from death by another “hit” of the No-No Powder. I have some in my backpack, picked up from someone who left it on the ground. I haven’t used it, but instead was planning to sell it for money.
His avatar sniffed the stuff, experienced the 6 minutes of maximum mood and energy, and then crashed HARD. The avatar died, went to Hell, then resurrected upon completing a task (my son crushed grapes). Upon resurrection, you have zero mood and near-zero energy and are very close to dying again. My son had very little food, very little currants (money) and no skills to make anything.
Sounds like a textbook drug addict…rehabilitation time!
This was not something I expected to have to do so soon, but I grabbed my arsenal of inspirational, lesson-teaching messages and quickly took over the computer control of my son’s Glitch character. We got Mace Windu fed, educated and built up his account a little under my direction. Then we had to discuss drug use, Internet chatting, the existence of hell and responsible gaming all at once on Saturday night.
“What did we learn?”
“Don’t sniff the no-no powder….”
“When is it a good time to use drugs?”
“When a doctor says so….”
“Will we ever sniff no-no powder again?”
“Do we take stuff from strangers?”
This whole experience — which took about an hour of our Saturday night, also got me thinking about how family-friendly this game might actually be. There’s a lot of…um, sophomoric humor scattered throughout the game that my sons probably won’t understand, but I feel nervous just the same about exposing them to it.
My feelings about my kids seeing Glitch are becoming similar to my concerns about my sons watching The Simpsons, by the way. They really enjoy the humor, but (a) Mom and Dad have to be nearby when they’ve watched it and (b) it has to be a rerun that Mom and Dad are already familiar with so they know what adult themes to expect.
This Sunday evening, the AMC channel will premiere the second season of its hit television series The Walking Dead. I will be sending my sons to their rooms a little earlier than normal on that night because I don’t allow them to watch the zombie-infested spectacle that I and millions of other viewers love so much. This might not seem like such a big deal to most; although it is shown on a cable network and not HBO or Showtime, it does have gag-inducing moments of gore that are comparable to major box-office productions and a “restricted” rating. The fact that I don’t allow my sons, aged eleven and thirteen respectively, to watch The Walking Dead or any other zombie-related films, may come as a surprise to some, considering that here in my hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana, I am known to some as the “Zombie Queen of Shreveport.”
The 3rd Annual Shreveport Zombie Walk 2010. I'm ready for for the undead to hit the mall!
In 2008, I started a very different kind of annual food drive event called the Shreveport Zombie Walk. Motivated by the success of over fifty cities around the world, I decided it was time for Louisiana to have a zombie walk, on World Zombie Day, no less. The first and subsequent two walks were held at a local mall, which graciously donated the space and support for such a weird and wonderful event. Each year the number of attendees has increased; year one’s zombie count totaled exactly one hundred.
The 2011 zombie walk, which was on Saturday, October 8, saw zombies in my community come out in record droves; we estimate over five-hundred attended. Over four hundred actually signed in, but my volunteers assured me that not everyone that actually participated did the same. The number of participants was staggering to me. The zombies seemed to just keep pouring into the closed-off street of downtown Shreveport that we used to stage the event.
More impressive was the amount of non-perishable food that the zombies brought with them. I advertised the walk all over town and in any part of the state that I could. The main goal was to let people know that the event was free and that the only thing attendees were asked to bring was non-perishable food to donate to the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana. Some brought numerous bags of canned goods; a few pulled wagons behind them, toting their tiny zombified-offspring as well as their generous donations. A local band called The Moulin Dudesentertained the infected masses, door prizes and best costume prizes were awarded, and a few vendors sold their wares. It all accumulated into one, massive two-block procession of the undead around the sidewalks of downtown Shreveport, in an effort to raise awareness of hunger issues in our community and the world.
My genre-mixing son as the 10/11th Doctor Who Zombie at this year's zombie walk. Photo courtesy of Christopher Jay.
My family and friends gladly attended and helped out in whatever ways they could. My children enjoyed the festivities; Sammy dressed as a mixed-up zombified version of the tenth and eleventh Doctors from the Doctor Who series, complete with brown dress coat and red fez.
My teenager, Michael, decided to be a survivor/zombie hunter. He sure made his geek mom proud when he made his public debut on guitar playing “Re: Your Brains” by Jonathan Coulton, accompanied by The Moulin Dudes, to lead the crowd in a “zombie sing-a-long.”
The local Barnes and Noble set up a table at the walk, selling only books that featured the living dead. Not only did they sell copies of The First Days by Rhiannon Frater, an award-winning horror author and friend of mine who attended the walk as a special guest, but they also sold copies of the book that I co-edited with author Joe McKinney and have a short story in myself, Dead Set: A Zombie Anthology.
Michael plays to keep the zombies at bay. The Moulin Dudes are an all-male band that dress as ladies. Michael wouldn't wear a dress for some reason.
So am I “talking out of both sides of my mouth” when I say that I don’t allow my children to watch zombie films or television, or play zombie-killing video games? I would say no. As mothers, and parents in general, we have to know where to draw the line when it comes to our kids. What may be okay for another child to watch or play may not be okay for our own children. I don’t keep them away from the zombie genre completely; how could I with so much living dead activity going on in our home? I’ve heard the complaints from Michael and Sammy of how it’s not fair that they don’t get to play “rated M” video games or watch movies that are “rated R.” My husband, in an attempt to help me better explain it to the boys, has said to me, “Come on, Mom! You are the zombie queen of Shreveport and you don’t even let your own kids play Resident Evil!”
I explained it to Sammy and Michael like this, “I’m not worried you will have nightmares. I’m not afraid you will want to grab a gun and shoot someone because you think they are a zombie. I know you better than that. I know that you know that certain things are real life, and certain things are fantasy.”
What I don’t tell them is what I am thinking: I want them to keep a certain amount of childhood wonder and innocence. I don’t want them to watch movies or play video games that have adult content in them that their minds cannot understand. When they are older, and their brains have matured a little more, with raging hormones not being the number one priority in their life, we can discuss hot topics more thoroughly, and I don’t mean the hipster store in the mall where we already spend too much money. Once I feel that they are mature enough, I will have no problem with them watching horror films and playing mature games, if they choose to do so. My parents never restricted what I was exposed to and that was fine for me, but I believe my children would suffer negative effects if I didn’t. They usually do get to watch PG-13 films, including fantasy and sci-fi, which come packed with action and violence a lot of the time. It’s not really the violence that compels me to restrict certain forms of media; it’s the adult situations, grown up decisions, and the harsh consequences of them all. I truly believe that most children cannot wrap their minds around some of the situations that they see on television or in films today, even when they say that they do.
If a film seems to be one that my child may not completely comprehend, I will research the storyline and plot-points before making the decision to let them watch it, no matter what the rating may be. I learned that lesson a few years ago when I took them, at ages six and nine, to see the 2005 version of War of the Worlds in theaters. It was very hard to see the look of confusion on Sammy’s face as the little girl in the movie was almost stolen away from her father by desperate people who wanted to drive away in the mini-van where she was trapped, crying for her father to save her. Even worse, I had to explain to Sammy what happened to a crazy man, when the same little girl’s daddy told her to close her eyes and cover her ears while he shot the man, to protect himself and his daughter girl from being discovered by the invading aliens.
I expose them to more and more in small doses. For example, I will allow Michael, who will be fourteen in a few short weeks, to read zombie-themed books, as long as I have read them first and know there is no graphic sexuality or uncalled-for violence in them. Books by my friend and author Joe McKinneyand author J.L. Bourne have seemed to fit that bill well, and have made Michael feel as if he is crossing over into new territory and growing up a little. I even allow both of them to watch the original 1968 George Romero classic Night of the Living Dead. This was another unavoidable consequence of me playing the lead, Barbara, in a live on-stage production of the film, for two years in a row in a local small theater.
They're coming to get me, GeekMom!
I thoroughly enjoy all of the perks of being a grown up: getting to watch whatever I want on TV, like The Walking Dead season 2 premiere this Sunday, even though I can say with the confidence of someone who owns and has read them all many times over, that the comics are much better than the show; getting to play zombie-themed video games if I choose to do so, although I would rather watch my younger sister play an avatar that tromps around Raccoon City, decimating the undead; and making sure to not over-expose my children to the pop-culture phenomenon that is the zombie.
Even though I have a passion for it myself that borders on obsessive, as they grow into bigger, better geeks and gamers, I want them to have something to look forward to. I want them to know that when they turn seventeen years old, there will still be something out there that is new to them. I will have so much fun watching them watch the films I love, like Dawn of the Dead and Army of Darkness, and in turn, getting to discuss important philosophical questions with them such as, “Which is better, slow zombies or fast zombies?”