This is such a fun time of year for me. Although, I have to admit that with 6 birthdays and four major holidays between the middle of October and the end of the year these last weeks go by like a whirling dervish. It's important to keep our heads on (Halloween pun intended) through it all.
Every family has different traditions for this spooky season. Let me share a few of mine with you. My life basically revolves around food, so it's no surprise that the constants of my Halloween are edible. Like deluxe caramel apples and pumpkin turkey chile. We also love to dress up. When dressing up it's important to keep safety in mind. Beware the candle lit jack-o-lanterns as the sparkly skirts on most princess and fairy costumes is HIGHLY flammable. And even costumes that are labled as flame retardant will still melt and potentially burn a child worse than if it just ignited. May I recommend using glow sticks or battery powered lights in your pumpkins instead. Bonus: those don't blow out in the wind and you can get some fun colors for the glow sticks!
<< I know, right?!Now I am a bona fide panty waist and I simply can't handle scary movies. Like, at all. But I know that some people love to give themselves nightmares. Please act responsibly when it comes to the images you subject young children to though. A few fun facts:
- The younger kids are when they see a scary movie or TV show, the longer-lasting the effects will be.
- Kids who watch scary material often have nightmares or anxiety.
- Kids ages 2 to 7 often can’t distinguish between fantasy and reality.
The last one is particularly important in my eyes--They don't even know it's not real. And you can't unsee something. For more information on media, kids, and teens check out commonsensemedia.org.
It's important as parents that we are being an active filter for the media that is allowed into our homes. It can be a powerful tool for good, but also a toxic source that will rot the mind and spirit. As said before, you can't unsee it, and unfortunately things that are gory/violent or pornographic in nature leave the strongest impression and can greatly effect a child. The ESRB (Electronic Software Rating Board) (<- The ones that say whether a game is rated E,T,M, etc) is good but it is important to know exactly what's being played. Again, commonsensemedia.org is a great site to check out. They rate all the games and have detailed descriptions of what you need to know about the game. You can also browse games by ages it is appropriate for, skills required, etc. They also do this for movies, music, books, and tv shows. It's really a good site!
I'd like to take this time to point out how mild, compared to mainstream, our games are. My sweet little nephews will be playing them. :)
What will you all be doing in honor of "things that go bump in the night" this week?
Have a Happy & Safe Halloween from all of us at Game Crossing Studios!
*Meg
Typically we hit up a local Trunk-or-Treat, where instead of trekking all over the neighborhood you hit a local parking lot and go trunk to trunk begging candy. Its been fun and easy to organize, and it helps as a parent to know who you're treated by as that can be a serious concern these days.
ReplyDeleteHowever, this year we're going a bit more traditional. Grandparents and some people we know and trust. Should be fun.
Oh, and those are indeed EPIC watermelon jack-o-lanterns. Oooo, maybe we should do a spooky game in the near future...