Search Results for: blog holiday family bonding around the tv

Do You Use Your TV as a Babysitter?

Don’t be ashamed if you answered “yes.” My BFF in Hawaii pays a TON of money to get Noggin, Nick Jr. and the Disney Channel, which is one of the reasons she unabashedly refers to her satellite provider as Diego, Dora and Kai-Lan’s pimp. What’s more, you won’t catch my BFF cowering in a corner when confronted about her kids’ television viewing habits. She doesn’t flinch when admitting that she uses her TV as a babysitter quite regularly. In fact, she jokes about it all the time. My BFF reasons that if she were to hire a human babysitter, the … Continue reading →

Rich Parents Doing Away with Expensive Holiday Gifts

Did you hear the one about the billionaire parents who plan to give their family members homemade gifts only this holiday season? Actually, it’s no joke and you might have heard of the parents in question… their names are Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Despite Jolie just earning the title of highest-paid woman in Hollywood, and Pitt raking in $20 million for starring in his new flick “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” the parents of six little ones say they won’t be placing pricey presents under the Christmas tree this year. In a recent interview with Hello! Magazine, Pitt … Continue reading →

Holidays and Family Dysfunction

Twas the dinner of Christmas and all through the house everyone was stirring… while visions of food fights danced in their heads. If that pretty much sums up your family gatherings during the holiday season, then you might want to take a cue from Demi Moore and Bruce Willis. That’s right; the famously divorced Hollywood couple is now giving tips on how to avoid conflict during holiday get-togethers involving extended family. According to the actors, there is a way to co-exist with your dysfunctional family members minus the drama and fights. After all, they say, they do it on a … Continue reading →

Keeping Your Kids Safe During the Holidays

So, yesterday my friend calls to ask me if our Christmas tree was up and decorated. (It is.) Then, she proceeded to tell me that after spending three hours trimming her family’s 7-foot Douglas fir the entire thing came crashing down… on her 16-month-old son. Fortunately, he didn’t suffer any major injuries, but since the fall the tree has been banished to the corner of the living room and is trapped behind a wall of child safety gates. Not that it really needs the protection given that her son is now deathly afraid of the fir. My pal’s anecdote serves … Continue reading →

Family Holiday Viewing Traditions

Whether it’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” “Frosty the Snowman,” or “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” we all have our favorite holiday TV classics. I listed some of my family’s must-see Christmas specials in a previous blog, but neglected to include another important part of watching TV as a family during the holiday season—-the commercials. Yes, even the ads are festive this time of year. In fact, besides the Super Bowl, this is probably the only time of the year that I actually sit and watch TV ads. The ones I enjoy the most are family-friendly and stick with you long … Continue reading →

Parental Rewind: Holiday Edition

Now that your Thanksgiving guests are gone and the holiday leftovers are slowly disappearing you can finally kick up your feet and relax for a bit. After all, it won’t be long before you’ll have to get up again to drag out the Christmas decorations, trim the tree, bake cookies, finish (or start) shopping for presents and get the house back in order for round two of holiday guests. But before you get caught up in the countdown to Christmas chaos consider taking a few minutes to see what you missed in the PARENTS blog this week: November 24th—–Desperate Dad … Continue reading →

Holiday Family Bonding Around the TV

If someone is getting paid to write an article about television and children you can bet that the tone of the piece likely won’t be very positive. TV generally gets a bad rap, especially when it comes to children being overexposed to it. However, this time of year I don’t think there’s anything wrong with children spending a bit more time in front of the boob tube—-with their parents—-watching holiday classics like “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “Frosty the Snowman.” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”–these are national treasures as far as I’m concerned and … Continue reading →

There’s a Lesson in Here Somewhere

Christmas isn’t over quite yet… at least in our home. Tuesday we celebrate the Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day (formerly known as the “Feast of the Wise Men’’) or the 12th day of Christmas. Or, in the words of my preschooler: “A day for more presents.” For those of you unfamiliar with the holiday, January 6th basically foretells the visit by the Three Wise Men, who followed a star in the night to bring gifts to the infant Jesus. The Epiphany is a major holiday in Latin America, but in recent years it has been increasingly embraced by … Continue reading →

Santa and Science: What Happened to Just Plain Magic?

When your kids ask how Santa Claus is able to visit every house in the entire universe in a single night, how do you respond? My young daughter could careless how Santa is able to fly around the world courtesy of aerodynamic reindeer, sort gifts, slide down chimneys, snack on cookies and deposit coal in some kids’ stockings, and still get home before the sun rises. All she cares about is that Santa delivers. Period. However, when she does get savvy enough to start inquiring about how the big guy is able to cover 200 million square miles visiting hundreds … Continue reading →

Would You Buy Your Kid a Barack Obama Doll?

Remember the stampedes that ensued when the original Tickle Me Elmo hit the shelves back in 1996? Thousands of parents pushed, shoved and pummeled their way through toy stores to get their hands on the furry red monster. Back then Sesame Street’s most famous resident was the hottest toy around. Elmo was hands-down a mass marketers’ dream come true. But this is 2008 and Elmo (even the newest version) has been upstaged by a truly historic presence. According to reports, the new Barack Obama action figure is flying off store shelves. The 14-inch plastic version of Obama is dressed in … Continue reading →