Rather than just referring to getting my own little son ready to play in the snow outside, I could have titled this post: Lessons Learned From Working in Childcare in the Winter.  I worked my way through undergad schooling by working in a daycare center and was honored to be promoted to the role of assistant preschool teacher.  I loved getting to work with kids in this way, and I feel like it has greatly influenced my parenting style to this day.

Whatever the actual role, my working with preschool and early elementary aged kids meant that about twice a day in the winter we would undergo the momentous task of taking around 20 kids to the playground, and first dressing them in 2 boots, 2 mittens, a hat, a coat and snowpants each.  Suffice it to say, I have put a lot of mittens on a lot of hands before my own son ever came around.  In my years at St. Michael Lutheran, my fellow teachers and I were able to come up with a pretty good system for efficiently getting everyone ready for playing in the snow, which I have now adapted for my own home.  I know that a few of these ideas may be self- explanatory, but for those who may be venturing out with their kids in the snow for the first time, the process of getting ready can seem intimidating.  It has been used for comedic purposes in countless shows and movies, typically with the child needing to pee the instant that they are fully dressed.

• First, and probably the most obvious is to send everyone to the bathroom. While this was going on we would have one person...
• Set all of the kids' clothes out around the room so that mittens and hats do not end up on the wrong hands.  (An aside-- if you send your child to daycare PLEASE label everything clearly.  It is nearly impossible for your child's teachers to tell one pair of black gloves from 10 others.) This is when I would typically put on my own snow-pants and boots, but nothing else since if I was fully dressed it was harder to move and I would end up sweaty before even entering the playground.
• Put on children's socks, snow-pants, boots and hats.  Then I have would have most kids put on their mittens so that they would be inserting mittened hands into coat sleeves.  This was a lot easier to do to get the mittens under the sleeve cuffs than putting them on later. 
• Put on your coat and head outside.

Black Friday morning, and in some cases Thanksgiving night will find many people fighting off their Turkey coma and heading out to the stores in search of a holiday deal that their kids will love.  Typically Black Friday sales take the shape of an electronic gadget or a plastic toy that will be oohed and ahhed over for a few minutes, mainly while seated or laying down, and then forgotten in a drawer.  Or even worse, the item requires additional purchases to make it work in the way that it is portrayed in a commercial, or to store the 1,000s of little pieces that come with it.  Only very rarely are these items a toy that will involve large motor play, or that will get kids outside and into the open air. 

I admit, we do have a house full of toys-- with my son being the only grandchild on my folks side and a portion of my husband's position in sales comprised with selling toys we do tend to accumulate more clutter than I would like.  However, we have made a conscious choice to limit Noah's toy consumption and to select toys that leave options for open ended play available for him.  Mommie and Dada also try to restrict purchasing items labelled with cartoon characters (a rule which we ourselves and many grandparents have broken.)

How do we as parents fight this?  It seems like every year the sale creeps earlier and earlier, and even now people are lined up to get I know not what at stores around my neighborhood.  As this holiday season begins I don't have an answer for you on how to handle your child's gift giving, but over the next few days I will be offering a few of the insights I have learned, as well as a few picks of my personal favorite possible Christmas presents for your kids that will encourage their imagination, as well as encourage them to participate in active play.