Sibling Support

Over the past couple weeks I've been interviewing moms and dads on behalf of a local startup organization aimed at helping parents connect. Several have mentioned putting a priority on helping build relationships & support between their kids, which I just love.

One family has scaled down extracurricular activities to allow their kids enough time in the yard together. Aware that she and her husband won't always be around, this mom knows how important it is to give the sibs time now to bond, have fun, and learn to share and negotiate with one another--so that later on, if times get tough they'll have a foundation for mutual support.

Another mom re-entered full-time work last year and has four kids at home. The transition has pushed her to insist they help each other with things like homework, even implementing a policy whereby she won't assist unless they've tried more than once on their own, while she's at work, and asked a sibling for help. Depending on the kids' ages and personalities, this could be tricky, but I love the idea of making sibling support a standard operating procedure for homework.

A third parent talked about how the youngest kid in a family is often dragged around to older siblings' sports games and events, then when it's his/her turn on the field, nobody shows. In their family, the expectation is that the boys will attend as many of their brothers' events as possible. This was inspiring to me, as getting our 2 less sporty kids to their brother's ballgames has been a challenge. Something to work on.

(photo: parents.com)

Play-a-Thon for Haiti

Even preschoolers can help their Haitian peers affected by last month's devastating earthquake through Hasbro's Play-a-Thon for Haiti. Hasbro joined forces with youth service organization Youth HandsOn to create a play-a-thon toolkit for kids & families to use. It's a pretty simple concept: Have your kids invite their friends over for a play session (this would make a great birthday party--notice how old-school home/backyard parties excite kids these days, as a novel contrast to the now-dominant Chuck E. Cheese type bashes?). Provide pledge forms in advance, asking them to seek sponsors, just as one would for any other "thon" (bike, walk, dance, etc.). Little ones will need help with this, of course, but kids often are surprisingly comfortable asking for charitable donations, especially in the face of a dramatic, pressing need like Haiti's. For the play-a-thon, adults or teens set up play "stations" for children to rotate through (physical games, board games....can be tailored to age, venue, weather, etc.). The young'uns gather and enjoy, spending 15 minutes or so at each station. The hosting family or group collects pledge funds and submits them to HandsOn by March 31 to earn matching funds from Hasbro. Funds go to SOS Children's Villages for "pop-up" houses (pictured) that give Haitian children dry, secure places to live during the rebuilding process. Get everything you need for a play-a-thon here.