We all know about the hustle and bustle of the holidays. But there can also be a little downtime between events like opening presents and preparing dinner. Here are some great "old school" Christmas DVDs that are guaranteed to bring back the warm-n-fuzzies for those of us over thirty and introduce the little ones to new characters. We're not breaking any ground here. These are classic crowd-pleasers.
With the Christmas subject upon us, many parents are preparing to play the role of Santa Claus. But more and more parents are deciding not to include St. Nick in their holiday plans. Let us know what you think? Is Santa just harmless fun? Or is it an unnecessary lie? Or somewhere in the middle? The topic has been heating up message boards around the internet. By now we've all heard about the historical figure behind "Santa".
My 2-year-old son loves music. And we enjoy exposing him to songs from different artists and genres as long as they don't contain any bad language or imagery. Fortunately, he's at the age where any veiled references to bad behavior go right over his head. I'm pretty sure I came out of the womb hearing lots of R&B, which was perfectly fine at the time because music was a lot less sketchy back then. Now, though, just listening to the radio with your kids can be dicey depending on the station and the time of day. That situation alone leads to what we consider a drastic separation in many households: Music for the kids and music for the adults. It doesn't have to be that way. This separation of parents' music and kids' music -while sometimes necessary- doesn't have to be the norm in your house. Believe it or not there's lots of music you can listen to with your little one that isn't necessarily kiddie music, as long as you're willing to broaden your musical horizons. We do a little R&B, old school hip-hop, indie rock, "kindie rock", house music, classical, lounge (is that a category?), music from TV shows, whatever works. Real music is for EVERYBODY. So let's hear it for tunes that are good for the kids and don't make you want to knock yourself unconscious. Here are just a few of the kiddie and non-kiddie selections we have in heavy rotation:
*Also, various old school Hip-Hop tunes - This week it was (Monie Love, UMCs, Stetsasonic)
Other artists/collections I've been told to check out but haven't listened to yet: They Might Be Giants - Amazon actually has a nice collection of TMBG CDs that the band made for children and their parents. Band members say their kids like to "rock" so they made rockin' music for kids. Barenaked Ladies Beethoven's Wig (was just nominated for a Grammy) Dan Zanes Justin Roberts
We would LOVE to hear more options from you! If you have music you like to listen to with your kids, we beg you, PLEASE share by clicking on comments.
Congratulations are in order for Donovan McNabb and family. The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback and his wife Roxie are now the proud parents of twins. The babies were born on Tuesday morning. They join big sister, 4-year-old Alexis.
Tea Collection Keep that head covered! Isn't that what our grandmothers used to say? And it turns out they were onto something. Science tells us that people lose a great deal of body heat through their heads. Fortunately there are lots of colorful ways for kool kiddies to keep covered this season.
Yes, the extra material you now see in our sidebar means our lovely little blog is now part of the Glam Network. This is great news for us, but it's even better news for you! It means more content and videos for parents who like to stay in-the-know and up-to-date. We will keep our quirky style and continue to handpick what we write about because, well... that's just the way we roll. But now we'll have even more toys at our disposal. Stay tuned for more big things to come in 2009.
If you have toddlers or preschoolers who watch even a moderate amount of television, chances are you've seen or heard of the Nick Jr./Noggin show "Yo Gabba Gabba". At first sight, you wonder what psychedelic haze breathed life into this creation. But after catching just a few episodes, my toddler had already absorbed these lessons: 1)Play nice, 2)be polite, 3)get up and be active, and 4)don't bite your friends. Frankly, I love having the "reinformcement" this show provides. Here's a clip showing kids that fruit and vegetables want to go to "The Party In My Tummy."
The show, which is now in its second season, is hosted by DJ Lance Rock. Yes, he may look like the high school drum major who never grew up or a forgotten member of Dee Lite, but he does a great job of infusing the show with hip-hop positivity. He's the steward of the five, uh... dolls? muppets? monsters? who sing, dance and teach each other lessons about things like avoiding danger, making friends, and saying you're sorry.
Here are two things that will hook the 30-something adults right off the bat. The 80's style music and the animation. Some songs created by the cast are so catchy that (and trust us on this) you WILL end up singing them when your kids aren't around. Others are like soothing lullabies cut with indie rock, indie pop, kindie rock, or whatever. Geesh. The more you learn about music, the more labels fail.
One highly anticipated segment from this season was a performance by The Shins. You can see that HERE.
"Train Ride": directed by PandaPanther/music performed by Tahiti 80
The wacky segments also help to make the show highly addictive. Adults and kids alike find themselves looking forward to "Super Martian Robot Girl" and "Biz' Beat of the Day" (led by Biz Markie). "Dancey-Dance Time" and the already legendary "Super Music Friend Show" have featured some very well-known musicians and celebrities. Among the stars who have dropped by are The Roots, the Ting Tings, The Shins, Laila Ali, Elijah Wood, Mya, The Aquabats, Supernova, Smoosh and the Aggrolites.
Here's the NBA's Amare Stoudemire on Yo Gabba Gabba.
Here are The Roots, performing "Lovely Love My Family"
Check NickJr.com to find out when Yo Gabba Gabba is broadcast in your area.
Related links: NickJr.com Lippy Paper Rad Aquabats
With all the excitement of the last week, it's easy to let one important thing get lost in the shuffle: The decisions we make now will greatly impact, not only our futures, but the future of our children. Many voters made their children a part of last Tuesday's election, by taking them to the polls and teaching them about the importance of voting. So tell us, what do you do to teach your children about the process and the importance of civic responsibility? All tips and views are entirely welcome!
One of the things we do in our home is to play music and videos about topics we've been talking about. Of course, being a child of the seventies, I couldn't help but pull out the old School House Rock VHS tapes. (Those still work? Yes, they do!) Although we were playing those catchy vignettes for my son, I was the one who belted out every word to "I'm Just a Bill" and "Suffering 'Til Suffrage".
(Steve from Blue's Clues)
