For most families, the holiday season is still about good
will toward others, family gatherings, and time-honored
traditions. But over the years, with the help of advertisers,
the holiday season has also become a celebration of over-eating,
over-spending, and over-indulging on entertainment media.
Even worse, every other ad on TV encourages us to stuff
our faces and run up the credit card bills. Every year,
a lot of us come down with a bad case of the gimmes.
This year, with the economy on all families' minds, it's
probably a little easier to resist giving in to impulse
and overindulging on fattening foods and big-ticket gadgets.
Nobody thinks a troubled economy is a reason to celebrate,
but you can make it an opportunity to reclaim the holiday
season for healthy family togetherness.
Of course, if you stay home to save a buck, you may be tempted
to plop down in front of the TV. All the more reason to
plan your family fun ahead of time. In fact, the holidays
are a perfect time to show our kids how discipline and sensible
planning can lead to a lot of fun.
Here are a few tips for enjoying the holidays together,
with and without media:
Rent a holiday DVD and watch it as a family. You can
even turn it into a game. Pop a bowl of low-fat popcorn
and watch It's a Wonderful Life. Every time Jimmy
Stewart appears in a new scene, eat a kernel of popcorn.
Or watch the Wizard of Oz (a holiday favorite in my home)
and stage a sing-along, assigning each family member a
character. Afterward, start a family discussion. What
would you do differently if you made the movie?
In addition to presents, give each other home-made gift
certificates. Give your daughter one that says, "I
will play one board game of your choice," and give
one to your son that reads, "I will read you one
extra story at bedtime." Your kids can give Dad a
gift certificate that states, "We will help you do
two loads of laundry." The one for Mom can say, "I
will help shovel the front steps." Make up your own.
Get creative. You can even make silly ones like, "I
will do a funny dance to wake you up in the morning."
Get a holiday-themed book on tape or CD from the library
and listen to it in installments in the car on way to
school or sports practice. You can get your local librarian
to help you choose a good one.
Start a new family tradition. Make a brand new healthy
holiday meal or start a holiday decoration contest. Pick
a story to read out loud every year, or spend a night
sipping hot peppermint tea and looking at old photo albums
or slide shows on the family computer.
Most of all, make sure the season is more about giving than
getting. Make sure your family understands the best gift of
all is getting everyone together, happy and safe.
David Walsh, Ph.D. is the founder of the
MediaWise Movement, a program of the National Institute
on Media and the Family (www.mediawise.org).
His latest book, No: Why Kids - of All Ages - Need to
Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It (Free Press) is
available in bookstores.
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