An old friend of my mother's from college recently lambasted our family's choice to not celebrate Halloween.
What business it is of his remains a mystery, but I'm never one to shy away from answering the hard questions.
So here's why we've always found something else to do come Oct. 31.
1. It poses a conflict for us from a religious standpoint. As followers of the Bible (yeah, yeah, that pesky old tome responsible for the death of more "fun" than anything else in the world), we take seriously the observation that Christians are the children of light and not of the darkness. Halloween has morphed into the darkest of traditions -- death imagery takes up far more space in the costume aisles of Walmart and the front law decor of my neighbors than do the bats, pumpkins, and smiling witches on broomsticks of yore.
2. It poses a conflict for us from a dental hygiene standpoint. We have crappy dental insurance and usually have to pay out of pocket for our kids to receive good care. Most of the candy they'd get going door to door is junk -- not even the good stuff like Hershey bars -- and I don't want them going into corn syrup/artificial coloring/artificial flavoring overload, nor do I want the cavities from the Skittle or gummy bear that got missed by the dental floss.
3. It poses a conflict for us from a financial standpoint. Why do I want to buy candy for a bunch of kids I don't know and who probably don't even live in my neighborhood?
4. It poses a problem for us from a personal safety standpoint. My husband and I are old enough to remember the infamous case in Pasadena, TX back in the 1970s when a guy who came to be known as the "Man Who Killed Halloween" substituted cyanide power (rat poison) for powdered candy in a Pixie Stix and killed his little boy to inherit a life insurance payout. Ronald O'Bryan was eventually executed for the crime, but not before putting a damper on the holiday that lasted well beyond my highschool years. Now some 35 years later, the internet has given rise to even more ghoulish, depraved and dangerous ideas. Who knows who knows what or wants to try it out on little kids going door to door for candy? It's a risk I'm just not willing to take.
So, my mom's friend thinks we're raising our kids in a bubble, unequipped and uneducated enough to deal with the "real world." Somehow, he transitioned his Halloween gripe into a scathing (albeit ignorant) attack on homeschooling in general, but I won't bore you with that nonsense here.
Suffice to say, for anyone worried about whether my children know a ghost from a vampire, a trick from a treat, a tombstone from a flagstone, let me put your worried minds at ease. They do, and they don't care. And my heart sings to know that this little slice of cultural crap registers as merely a blip on their radar screens right alongside Hannah Montana and High School Musical.
May it always be thus.
Wordly discourse on everything from the sad state of public education, politics and world peace to vegetarianism, breast vs. bottle, religious persecution, bad media, and all manner of life's vagaries.
November 1, 2009
October 20, 2009
They're gettin' nothing for Christmas
At least no toys.
Yep, my husband and I have banded together as one big collective Grinch and have decided our four little darlings won't be getting any toys this year. (Okay, the toddler is getting one toy, but he's the exception because he's the baby.)
Oh, they'll still get stuff -- some candy and fruit in their stockings, a few books, some art supplies -- just nothing that will require assembly, a battery or excessive shipping charges. Nothing that will become something cumbersome to step over or move around the play area as the new year rolls in.
They have everything they need now. Why pile on?
I've already talked about this with the three oldest and they were surprisingly willing to go along with it. "As long as we get something, we don't need any more toys," my 7 year-old said.
So here's what's on tap for Christmas 2009:
The toddler gets a toy -- a new toy telephone because we have only one and he never gets to use it since his three older siblings usually have it employed in their pretend play.
Other than that, it's stocking stuffers of the consumable kind;
Sticker books (good for car trips or waiting at the dentist's office)
Home-made coupon books good for things like a trip to the zoo or the natural science museum.
Art supplies like sketch pads, new crayons, colored pencils
The opportunity to pick out "gifts" in the form of charitable contributions to charities like World Vision, the local animal shelter or an ocean conservation society.
A shopping trip to buy toys for the annual charitable toy drive for poor kids
That's right. This year we're buying toys for OTHER kids, kids whose families have lost jobs, health insurance, homes, cars -- and there are a lot of them out there. Some of them I know personally.
And when I look at the ridiculously small amounts of money it takes to support a World Vision project for kids not only in foreign countries but right here in the United States, I cannot help but think that my kids are already heavily blessed and that now is the time to teach them what our faith teaches us about sharing what we have.
Yep, my husband and I have banded together as one big collective Grinch and have decided our four little darlings won't be getting any toys this year. (Okay, the toddler is getting one toy, but he's the exception because he's the baby.)
Oh, they'll still get stuff -- some candy and fruit in their stockings, a few books, some art supplies -- just nothing that will require assembly, a battery or excessive shipping charges. Nothing that will become something cumbersome to step over or move around the play area as the new year rolls in.
They have everything they need now. Why pile on?
I've already talked about this with the three oldest and they were surprisingly willing to go along with it. "As long as we get something, we don't need any more toys," my 7 year-old said.
So here's what's on tap for Christmas 2009:
The toddler gets a toy -- a new toy telephone because we have only one and he never gets to use it since his three older siblings usually have it employed in their pretend play.
Other than that, it's stocking stuffers of the consumable kind;
Sticker books (good for car trips or waiting at the dentist's office)
Home-made coupon books good for things like a trip to the zoo or the natural science museum.
Art supplies like sketch pads, new crayons, colored pencils
The opportunity to pick out "gifts" in the form of charitable contributions to charities like World Vision, the local animal shelter or an ocean conservation society.
A shopping trip to buy toys for the annual charitable toy drive for poor kids
That's right. This year we're buying toys for OTHER kids, kids whose families have lost jobs, health insurance, homes, cars -- and there are a lot of them out there. Some of them I know personally.
And when I look at the ridiculously small amounts of money it takes to support a World Vision project for kids not only in foreign countries but right here in the United States, I cannot help but think that my kids are already heavily blessed and that now is the time to teach them what our faith teaches us about sharing what we have.
October 15, 2009
The list grows -- terrorists, silly people, and now . . .
Racists.
Apparently that's what those of us who still don't like the government's health care proposal are now. We are racists.
Why?
Because our president is half black and half white and because. . . because . . . because critics of the critics can't find anything else to hurl at us so they hurl the most inflammatory accusation they can find.
If you are opposed to anything President Obama says or does you must be a racist. Period. Now that should shut down all further discussion and dissent.
Enter the pesky Constitution.
This crusty old rag of a document is still in force and it guarantees the people our right to criticize our government at any time for any reason. It doesn't say we get to criticize only white politicians or black politicians or Greek or Latino politicians. It just says we have the freedom of speech and the right to petition the government for redress of our grievances.
When George Bush goofed up, I complained and no one labeled me as anything but a disgruntled taxpayer.
SoI wish Obama supporters would go on and get over the fact that President Obama is partly black and let me gripe about him, too. He's not black first and THEN he's the president. He's the PRESIDENT and as such he must not be put upon a pedestal and criticism of his performance deferred.
Apparently that's what those of us who still don't like the government's health care proposal are now. We are racists.
Why?
Because our president is half black and half white and because. . . because . . . because critics of the critics can't find anything else to hurl at us so they hurl the most inflammatory accusation they can find.
If you are opposed to anything President Obama says or does you must be a racist. Period. Now that should shut down all further discussion and dissent.
Enter the pesky Constitution.
This crusty old rag of a document is still in force and it guarantees the people our right to criticize our government at any time for any reason. It doesn't say we get to criticize only white politicians or black politicians or Greek or Latino politicians. It just says we have the freedom of speech and the right to petition the government for redress of our grievances.
When George Bush goofed up, I complained and no one labeled me as anything but a disgruntled taxpayer.
SoI wish Obama supporters would go on and get over the fact that President Obama is partly black and let me gripe about him, too. He's not black first and THEN he's the president. He's the PRESIDENT and as such he must not be put upon a pedestal and criticism of his performance deferred.
The blessing of an ordinary day
A Colorado family found itself in a big panic this morning when they thought their six-year-old son had found his way into the gondola of an experimental balloon, managed to untether it, and then floated 10,000 feet above the earth.
For several hours the cable news channels followed the story, their cameras trained on the silvery, lopsided object that looked more like an inflated chefs hat than the hot-air balloons of old.
When the balloon finally came to rest, rescuers found no boy inside.
Turns out he'd been hiding in his family's attic the whole time.
I watched this saga play out on a TV mounted high up in the corner of a local deli where I went with my mom and my children for lunch before running some errands. My heart was heavy as I thought about the mother of this boy and how worried she must have been. When my own four-year-old son came around the table to give me a hug, I hugged him just a little bit tighter than usual.
There we were, I thought to myself, sitting solidly on terra firma, our stomachs content from a lunch of soup and fruit and sandwiches, with a beautiful day outside and the possibility of stopping by a local church's pumpkin patch to pick up some live autumn decor.
A perfectly ordinary day. Perfect in its ordinariness. Extraordinary in its perfection.
We ran those errands and we did visit that pumpkin patch. As I watched my kids cavorting among the pumpkins, picking them up, turning them over, hollering to each other about this one or that, I couldn't help feeling blessed and sorrowful at the same time.
Blessed, because my children were all there and well and happy and fed and I was with them to witness it. Sorrowful, because I knew that just like that mother in Colorado there were many other mothers who, for one reason or another, were separated from their children and that there was nothing I could do about it.
For all the mothers who read this 'blog entry -- but especially those who homeschool their children and who sometimes feel like they haven't done enough, their kids aren't brilliant enough and their houses aren't tidy enough -- I hope it will encourage you to think of the most mundane of days as the greatest gift you've ever received.
If you got to be with your children today and everyone was alive and well, you were richly blessed.
Praise God for ordinary days!
For several hours the cable news channels followed the story, their cameras trained on the silvery, lopsided object that looked more like an inflated chefs hat than the hot-air balloons of old.
When the balloon finally came to rest, rescuers found no boy inside.
Turns out he'd been hiding in his family's attic the whole time.
I watched this saga play out on a TV mounted high up in the corner of a local deli where I went with my mom and my children for lunch before running some errands. My heart was heavy as I thought about the mother of this boy and how worried she must have been. When my own four-year-old son came around the table to give me a hug, I hugged him just a little bit tighter than usual.
There we were, I thought to myself, sitting solidly on terra firma, our stomachs content from a lunch of soup and fruit and sandwiches, with a beautiful day outside and the possibility of stopping by a local church's pumpkin patch to pick up some live autumn decor.
A perfectly ordinary day. Perfect in its ordinariness. Extraordinary in its perfection.
We ran those errands and we did visit that pumpkin patch. As I watched my kids cavorting among the pumpkins, picking them up, turning them over, hollering to each other about this one or that, I couldn't help feeling blessed and sorrowful at the same time.
Blessed, because my children were all there and well and happy and fed and I was with them to witness it. Sorrowful, because I knew that just like that mother in Colorado there were many other mothers who, for one reason or another, were separated from their children and that there was nothing I could do about it.
For all the mothers who read this 'blog entry -- but especially those who homeschool their children and who sometimes feel like they haven't done enough, their kids aren't brilliant enough and their houses aren't tidy enough -- I hope it will encourage you to think of the most mundane of days as the greatest gift you've ever received.
If you got to be with your children today and everyone was alive and well, you were richly blessed.
Praise God for ordinary days!
September 5, 2009
First we were terrorists, now we're just silly
Name calling. It's usually the stuff of playgrounds and of badly behaved children whose parents haven't taught them the Golden Rule.
For any athiests or those from non-Christian backgrounds who may be reading this post, the Golden Rule was spoken by Jesus and says, in effect, don't do something to someone else if you don't want it done to you.
It's so simple even a child can understand it, and around here my children are not only expected to understand it but to demonstrate it in their daily lives.
I guess our Speaker of the House must have slept through this part of her Catholic elementary school class since she saw fit to call folks protesting the proposed healthcare legislation, "terrorists."
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, also a Catholic, apparently slept through his Christian religious instruction, too. He's quoted on the Drudge Report as saying he thinks we've "reached a bit of the silly season" in reference to parental protests nationwide over the plan to air a speech by President Obama to students during the regular school day next Tuesday.
Silly? Really?
I'm working overtime to understand how thousands of American parents, many of whom are raising their children on one income or no income but who still trust in the government schools to do the right thing deserve to be indirectly referred to as "silly."
It's "silly" of parents to NOT want their kids' precious instructional time taken up by some asinine worksheets that ask questions such as "What do you think President Obama is trying to tell you?" or that queries kids about ways in which they can help the president and then submit their answers for later review and discussion with their teachers?
It's "silly" to think that teachers have a million better things to do than probe the minds of children light years away from being able to vote much less use their still-developing thinking skills to contemplate ways they can help the president?
And what sort of "help" does the president really need from school-aged children? See, that's the part that creeps me out. Anyone with half a working brain can find the stories online about the various youth groups nurtured by leaders in such sunny places as Maoist China or 1940s Berlin.
I'm still waiting for the White House to tell us what it took OUT of the speech and the accompanying lesson plans after the s@$# hit the fan last week. Betcha we'll never know.
For any athiests or those from non-Christian backgrounds who may be reading this post, the Golden Rule was spoken by Jesus and says, in effect, don't do something to someone else if you don't want it done to you.
It's so simple even a child can understand it, and around here my children are not only expected to understand it but to demonstrate it in their daily lives.
I guess our Speaker of the House must have slept through this part of her Catholic elementary school class since she saw fit to call folks protesting the proposed healthcare legislation, "terrorists."
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, also a Catholic, apparently slept through his Christian religious instruction, too. He's quoted on the Drudge Report as saying he thinks we've "reached a bit of the silly season" in reference to parental protests nationwide over the plan to air a speech by President Obama to students during the regular school day next Tuesday.
Silly? Really?
I'm working overtime to understand how thousands of American parents, many of whom are raising their children on one income or no income but who still trust in the government schools to do the right thing deserve to be indirectly referred to as "silly."
It's "silly" of parents to NOT want their kids' precious instructional time taken up by some asinine worksheets that ask questions such as "What do you think President Obama is trying to tell you?" or that queries kids about ways in which they can help the president and then submit their answers for later review and discussion with their teachers?
It's "silly" to think that teachers have a million better things to do than probe the minds of children light years away from being able to vote much less use their still-developing thinking skills to contemplate ways they can help the president?
And what sort of "help" does the president really need from school-aged children? See, that's the part that creeps me out. Anyone with half a working brain can find the stories online about the various youth groups nurtured by leaders in such sunny places as Maoist China or 1940s Berlin.
I'm still waiting for the White House to tell us what it took OUT of the speech and the accompanying lesson plans after the s@$# hit the fan last week. Betcha we'll never know.
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