Happy Thanksgiving/ I’m Thankful…

I’m thankful for many things in 2008. Here is my Top 10 (so far…)

1. Faith: Nothing is impossible with God.

2. Family: I’m so grateful to have a wonderful husband and kids whom I both like and love! I’m also very fortunate to have great relationships with the rest of our family, both immediate and extended.

3. Friends: The older I get, I have fewer but much more meaningful friendships – many acquaintances but a special, few friends.

4. Health (physical and emotional): It’s such a gift that I and my loved ones are in good physical health. Also, I don’t think that I really realized before how much of a treasure emotional stability is!

5. Education: Irregardless of what I choose to do at the various stages of my life, it can never be taken away.

6. Current Career: Being a parenting writer/blogger/speaker is the ideal job at this stage of my life. I basically get paid to live my life and share about it. How great is that?! I’m especially happy about some of the longer term relationships that I have built this year with moms and marketers – especially Nintendo (we’re a Wii family!); method (they’ve helped us to live a little bit more “green” AND they threw my 35th birthday party!; and Disney (they treated me to a fabulous weekend and - more importantly - listened to African American mom concerns regarding their brand).

7. Financial Stability: We’re not (financially) rich, but we don’t have to choose between gas in the car and food on the table. That’s no small thing in today’s economic environment.

8. Home: I’m glad that at the end of the day, there’s no place that I, my husband and our kids would rather be.

9. Learning to Drive: Although, I don’t especially love driving yet, it’s a great skill to have. It “frees” me in new ways.

10. Family Vacations: I love when we get at our destination! Both the family wedding in North Carolina and our off-season Jersey Shore getaways were great. (In addition, with all that there is to do living in NYC, it’s like we’re on “vacation” year-round!)

What Are You Most Thankful For This Thanksgiving?

Walt Disney World: Disney “Insider Tips”

This will be my last post about my AWESOME Disney trip. I thought that I’d have more insider tips, but it turns out that many of the things that we experienced aren’t really available every day. (We all joked that it’s going to be difficult to go back to the Parks as “regular” visitors after being treated so “VIP” for those few days…)

I did pick up a few tips though:

-You can cut the wait time for rides with Disney’s FASTPASS. All you do is insert your Park ticket into the FASTPASS kiosk at the various rides. You’ll get a ticket with a return time when you come back and get in the FASTPASS line (which is a little to no wait time). Best of all, it’s totally free.

-You can leave your camera at home with Disney’s PhotoPass Service. Basically, professional photographers throughout the various parks will take pictures of you that you can claim online later. (You get the PhotoPass card -which has a unique i.d. number - from the first photographer and reuse it for the rest of the day throughout the Parks.) After your visit, you can order prints and/or various photo items online and have them delivered to you.

-September and January are the best (rate-wise) times to visit the Parks. Since there are less people, the rates are the lowest. They also offer various special promotions during those months (i.e. in September, there was a free dining promotion when you stayed at one of the Disney resorts…).

-You can find some of the best offers directly on their website.

-Don’t assume that you can’t afford Disney. A family of four can stay for as little (or as much depending on who’s doing the budget!) as $1700 which includes a Disney hotel, Park admission and airport pick-up.

And my favorite tip…

-Use Disney’s Moms Panel when planning your trip. You can ask specific questions on a wide variety of topics (including budgeting!) and they’ll get you the answers. (Laura S., a panelist who was with our group throughout the weekend, was like a walking Disney encyclopedia!)

In any event, I had a blast at Walt Disney World and I’m looking forward to returning with my family within the next couple of years.

Q&A About Boys (Part III): Michael G. Thompson, Ph.D.

This is Part III of a Q&A with Dr. Thompson, a psychologist, school consultant and author/co-author of eight books including the classic bestseller, Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys and It’s a Boy!: Understanding Your Son’s Development from Birth to Eighteen. (You can learn more about Dr. Thompson and his works on his website www.michaelthompson-phd.com.)

When is the best time to put boys in full day school? (It seems like the majority of schools aren’t geared to physically active boys.)
There is no formula to help you with this decision. Some boys need more quiet play time at home; other boys are ready to wade into a social and school situation. You can figure that out by watching your son and taking your cues from him. If you have a very active boy and you have some school choice, it is important to choose a school that is tolerant of boys, has plenty of outdoor time and isn’t constantly scolding boys. Such a school is likely to be a hell for boys.

In regards to discipline/setting limits, how much should “let boys be boys” really be applied?
The phrase “letting boys be boys” is an unclear guide to parenting. Obviously, you need to stop boys from doing reckless and dangerous things. However, because boys like creative, challenging play that sometimes involves play fighting, danger is often in the eye of the beholder—the parent. In my book, “It’s a Boy! Understanding Your Son’s Development from Birth to Eighteen,” a Kindergarten mother told me that she and the other mothers learned to turn their backs and NOT watch when their sons were playing in a field after school. She said that the moms had a tendency to intervene constantly when they saw their boys pick up sticks or play a hard-charging form of tag. I don’t believe that you should constantly intervene in boys’ play, because free, undirected play is the purest expression of childhood creativity and imagination.

When it comes to moral matters all children need to learn respect, empathy and good manners. You probably should let some boy shouting or bad language pass because you understand it was impulsive and over-excited; however, rudeness, cruelty and destructiveness must always be addressed.

Why are boys considered to be so much more challenging to raise during the early years than girls?
I think it is the boy activity level that keeps moms on their toes for the early years. When his son was between two and three years old, my friend, the child psychiatrist Ned Hallowell, called him “The Terminator.” His son would walk into or over anything, break anything and listen to no one. There was no way to stop him from danger other than to grab him. These boy behaviors are scary for parents, mothers especially. It is worth remembering that at sixteen years old “The Terminator” is quiet, a hardworking student, a gifted singer and a wonderful friend to his friends. The only sign of his early hard-charging behavior is that he is that he is a good wrestler on his school wrestling team.

(To see the introduction and the first set of questions, please visit Q&A About Boys: Michael G. Thompson, Ph.D.. For Part II, visit Q&A About Boys (Part II): Michael G. Thompson, Ph.D.)

On a side note, Dr. Thompson was quoted earlier this week in the AP article Serious business: Childhood experts step up campaign for more free-wheeling play time. It’s an interesting, informative read.

Mmmm - M&M’S World New York

Walt Disney World Trip: Extra “Magic”

Next week, will be the last (for now anyway) entry about my Disney Parks trip. I’ll be sharing some “Insider Tips” that I learned. Today, I’ll be sharing about some of the other miscellaneous things that I enjoyed during my stay.

-For the weekend, we stayed at Disney’s Boardwalk Inn. It was beautiful. This is definitely the place to go when you’re going all out for a deluxe family trip (currently, rooms range from $325 - $620/night). Here are some of the pictures that I took. I especially liked the Disney touches sprinkled throughout the room.

Did you see how big my bed was? One of the things that I was looking forward to (in regards to traveling alone) was having a bed to myself to stretch out on. Guess what? I didn’t stretch out at all. Rather, I stayed huddled up on “my” side of the bed. Oh well, I’m a creature of habit sometimes.

-Several of the mom bloggers went out to various clubs each night. I’m not a “clubber” – never have been and probably never will be – but I did go to one of the local (not Disney-owned) clubs on Saturday night. I don’t remember the name (which is probably good). It reminded me of why clubbing isn’t my thing. For one thing, you can’t control the music and the club’s dj wasn’t very good. The most notable “song” that he played all night was the theme to The Jeffersons and Good Times (?!) Our group started cracking up, because we were the only Black people in the club. It was one of those, “Did I just hear what I thought I heard?” moments. Secondly, I don’t like people whom I don’t know touching me. There was this one woman who just kept coming over to our group dancing with us (which was fine), but then she just kept touching us – not in a weird way, but in an overly familiar way. Coupled with the fact that she had obviously been drinking, I wasn’t too pleased.

On the positive side, it was fun hanging out with the other moms and some of the Disney marketing people – they could dance! It was also nice to have a “grown-up” drink. I don’t really like the taste of alcohol, so Midori Sour was my drink of choice. (It tastes fruity, so I have to remind myself not to drink more than two because it does contain alcohol!)

And

-On Sunday, we went to the Gospel Brunch at House of Blues in Downtown Disney. The all –you-can-eat feast was great. (I made certain to not eat anything that morning so that I would have “room” to sample everything!) I especially enjoyed the Macaroni & Cheese, Honey Baked Ham, and Cheesecake.

The music was even more amazing than the food. They sang one of my favorite songs, “I Surrender All”. (It was my “church service” for the weekend.) What I found especially interesting was that people from all faith backgrounds enjoyed the gospel performance. After the concert, we were able to meet the performers. They were so sweet, humble and talented. If you’re ever in the Orlando area, don’t miss this – it’s a special treat!

Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades Giveaway

RedOctane / Activision is giving away five game and grip bundles of their newest Guitar Hero game: Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades which was released yesterday (November 16^th). This game - exclusively for Nintendo DS - is perfect for holiday travel.

“Guitar Hero® On Tour: Decades™ allows gamers to unleash their inner rockstar anytime, anywhere and for the first time ever share their music with friends as they embark on a tour through the decades of rock. Compatible with the smash hit Guitar Hero®: On Tour™, the game leverages the technology of its predecessor and expands the experience with a new progression taking players on a musical journey from the classics of the 1970’s through today’s greatest hits. With a new library of music, characters and venues, the game delivers a portable way for gamers to unleash their inner rockstars while playing through the history of rock ’n’ roll.”

Enter to win one of the game bundles by leaving your name in the “Comments” section below or by sending an email to contests@mominthecity.com with “Guitar Hero” in the Subject line by November 23^rd. (Please note that this is a one week only giveaway!)

(To see other contests & giveaways around the web, visit Contesting Monday.)

Walt Disney World: Disney’s Hollywood Studios

On Saturday, we had the opportunity to have lunch at the Hollywood Brown Derby. This American restaurant is famous for their Cobb salad, but I’m not a salad person. I had a shrimp appetizer, a shrimp main course and pistachio cheesecake for dessert (yum!). While there, we met and spoke with a couple of the Disney Imagineers, Mark R. and Diego P. Diego (whose enthusiasm I have mentioned before) sat at our table and shared various behind the scenes design facts with us. He seemed to be especially proud of the lengths that Disney went in order to make the various areas of the Parks “culturally correct” (i.e. getting plants/etc. that are authentic to the African and Asian regions).

After lunch, I had time to go on three rides – Toy Story Mania!, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™ and the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster® Starring Aerosmith. Toy Story Mania! is a ride that I know my boys would love. Riders wear 3-D glasses before shooting virtual darts in midway-style games hosted by Toy Story characters Woody, Buzz, Rex and Hamm. For the record, the Tower of Terror lived up to its name. The thing about this ride was that I couldn’t brace myself for the next stomach dropping fall. Basically, you’re zooming up and falling down again and again. Sometimes, you have a couple of moments to settle yourself at the top, but sometimes you don’t – (by design) there’s no rhyme or reason to the drops. I don’t think that I’ll go on this ride again! The Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster was much more my speed. It was fast (0-60 mph in a flash) and loud with upside down loops and turns. It didn’t have any steep (stomach churning!) drops though, so I loved it!

Toy Story Mania!

Tower of Terror

After the rides, we went to the Block Party Bash. (I missed a lot of it, because I was on the Aerosmith ride, but the part I saw was fun.) Basically, it was a lot of the Pixar Film characters dancing and parading in the street. Here are a few of the pictures that I was able to take: