WASHINGTON 鈥� School may be out over Thanksgiving, but there鈥檚 plenty kids can learn over the holiday, parenting blogger Leslie Morgan Steiner told 91欧美激情 on Wednesday.
Steiner, who writes for , said kids of any age can learn lessons over Thanksgiving.
Little kids, she said, can pick up 鈥渁 lot of essential manners.鈥� The holiday is a great time to teach and learn about 鈥渉ow to be a good host or hostess,鈥� Steiner added 鈥� 鈥渉ow to take somebody鈥檚 coat, how to offer them something to drink, how to make sure that they are having a good time, how to share your toys.鈥� And if you and your kid are guests, they can learn 鈥渘ot to complain about the house or food or situation in public.鈥�
The holiday may also be an opportunity to talk about how 鈥渃ertain relatives don鈥檛 get along and don鈥檛 like to be with each other and talk about how that鈥檚 negotiated,鈥� she said.
As children get older, the lessons can get more serious.
For one, there might be a lemons-from-lemonade opportunity to talk about 鈥渨hat is going on if somebody is drinking too much, and has a problem with that,鈥� Steiner said. And kids can also learn to stand up for themselves on the question of whether they 鈥渟hould hug relatives who they don鈥檛 like.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 their body,鈥� Steiner said; 鈥渢hey get to make the rules.鈥� Parents can come up with low-key ways to greet relatives differently, including a handshake, a comically exaggerated air kiss or a high-five. 鈥淎nd also 鈥� say to them that you鈥檒l back them up.鈥�
Steiner added that Thanksgiving is underrated as a dangerous time for young drivers: 鈥淲e always think about New Year鈥檚 Eve as being such a terrible time, but 鈥� the whole [Thanksgiving] weekend, is really dangerous as well. Because we have a lot of relatively inexperienced drivers coming home for the holidays, coming home from college. They鈥檙e very excited to see their friends; they鈥檙e out late at night; there might be alcohol involved, or drugs.鈥�
It鈥檚 a good time, she said, to reinforce the basics: No substances before driving and no getting into a car with a driver who has. 鈥淎nd that you鈥檙e always there for them if they need help.鈥�
The final lesson of Thanksgiving: Things go wrong. People spill gravy; someone drops the pie, or someone steps over the etiquette lines outlined above. Steiner鈥檚 solution is to correct the situation 鈥渁t the time with some kind of humor and kindness to everybody involved.
鈥淎nd just remind them that life and family and holidays are not meant to be perfect, that it鈥檚 messy, and it鈥檚 OK if the pumpkin pie falls upside-down on the floor and they dropped it, it鈥檚 all right. That that鈥檚 what makes life really memorable.鈥�
