S2 EP 10 - Thanksgiving Dinner Topics for Kids: Special Episode

Well hello everybody and welcome to another exciting edition of Middle School Mary Poppins. My name is Suzanne M. Swain, EDS, LMSW. I am a master teacher and kid therapist and today I want to do a little Easter egg for you. A little special, you know, a little special. And today is Thanksgiving and I just got done watching the parade and I'm now somewhere in the middle of the dog show which I absolutely can't miss and Steve has been watching it with me so but he's currently sleeping on a pillow under a big chunky blanket so life is good in his world. I also had a wonderful smoked turkey that I got yesterday and so he was very, very happy to have that along with Ralphie. So well today I want to talk to you a little bit about the topic of gratitude and today is that day where we get together with family and friends and we see each other after it's been quite a while usually and we do understand that things can happen when you get a whole big family together depending on the type of family you live in. You may have a really loud family, you may have a really reserved type of family but we all know that, you know, sometimes that can be a little stressful so I wanted to come up with some ideas to help you with your kids during Thanksgiving time and because you know we go around the dinner table and we say what we're grateful for and that, you know, that's great I love that. I think that's fantastic. Showing gratitude is part of mindfulness and that's something that kids really need to learn so much like you know it's the holidays and Black Friday is happening very soon. You know encourage the kids to if they receive X amount of presents during the holidays then they need to donate X amount of presents equal amount or more to you know a needy family or goodwill or something of that nature. So you know if we want to put in some good practices and you know in Iceland they give books on Christmas on Christmas Eve so that's very exciting. No matter what religion you celebrate Hanukkah or any of those it's about you know getting together with family and spending time but we want you all to have a good experience with your kiddos over the break. So I want to give you some alternative questions that maybe you could ask at the dinner table and spark up some good conversations that hopefully won't cause any contankerous aka kind of upsetting and or grouchy behaviors. So let's get to it. So happy Easter Egg Day and happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I am very very blessed to have all of you who took the time to listen to my silly little podcast and I really hope you're getting something out of it. It's been a blast to see where it's traveling all around the world and I can't thank you enough. So today's podcast is Ms. Mary Poppins at Ms.MaryPoppins.com Middle School Mary Poppins MS so come join us. We have a little candy jar if you want to donate anything to the show. We're totally non-profit so help us out and if nothing else if you're on Spotify if you don't mind to throw me some stars I would really appreciate that. All the good reviews I am so blessed and grateful for. I hope you guys are enjoying the show. So all right so let's first talk about some questions that have to do with memories and experiences. Okay so for example you could say what is your favorite things you know start off easy. What's your favorite Thanksgiving memory. What smell makes you think of Thanksgiving. Remember that your sense of smell is next to your long term memory. So this can be very very powerful for children because they can remember the smell of something you know whatever happens to be a Thanksgiving. Mine is kind of a green bean casserole and cranberry and orange relish from Publix so I have that kind of thing with me. So what are your favorite Thanksgiving memories. What is the most naughty thing you ever did that was completely worth it. There's one for you. Whoa so that could be where everybody has to answer. What's your favorite thing to do together as a family. What's the one thing if you had one day to do anything with your family what would you do and what activities would you take part in. What's the most adventurous thing you've ever done in your life and maybe don't talk about. Alright what about something you've learned how to do this year. What is the skill that you've picked up this year that you didn't know how to do before. I will share mine last night I was cutting up the Thanksgiving turkey and I got one of those electric knives which low nose people I should not be playing with but luckily I do have all of my fingers but they popped out a bunch of times and all kinds of stuff so you know we have all kinds of silly stuff like that so in any case we try to do the best we can. But I learned to cut up a turkey and butcher it properly from watching YouTube and Food Network and stuff like that so this is the biggest food network holiday so when in doubt go see Ms. Ina Garten and she can probably help you out. So what's the most adventurous thing you've ever done. Is there something you've learned how to do this year like I just said what skills have you picked up. Main three skills you've picked up. What about who is the best new friend you made this year and what is it about that friend that's made you feel more safe. So there's a few there for you. Now how about some questions on personal growth. So let's talk to kids. I mean if we're going to have good conversations let's try to have meaningful ones so we can actually delve into who they are as people and it will really bring respect and instead of just like you know what's your favorite side dish which is great but you know we can get deeper so some personal growth and achievement type questions you could ask would be something like what is something that is hard for you to do but you know helps the world. Interesting right. What is something that you do really well that you think will be part of your future someday. What are you learning now that you think will benefit you later. What is something that you had to do that was super brave and you were terrified to do it but you made sure you did it anyway. When were you the most brave you've ever been. Or what is the weirdest thing you've learned in school so far this school year. You know write a Thanksgiving some of you had fall break and things like that already we've been in school a little while. So what's something just completely off the wall that you've learned this year that you had absolutely no idea or maybe did a cool science experiment but what's an experience that you had that you've never had before. So let's do some fun and creative ones how about that. Let's try this. If you can invite anyone in the world to your Thanksgiving who would you pick it's sort of like my cul-de-sac question of if you had your own cul-de-sac what people would you have live on the cul-de-sac. So Melissa McCarthy your permanent you know request to live there. So many people I can't even imagine how big my cul-de-sac would be but if you can invite anyone in the world to your Thanksgiving dinner who would you invite and why would you choose that individual. And what do you think they would actually eat first. That is the one food that most people eat first at your dinner table. So notice that. If you had to make Thanksgiving all over again or even by yourself how long as a child do you think it would take you to create a Thanksgiving dinner and what would you make. And this kind of goes along with that Charlie Brown Thanksgiving episode so that's a good one after that. If you could start a new Thanksgiving tradition this year something for your family something that you can do each year what do you think it will be. I know mine I got that smoked turkey I think I may start doing that every year I just it was awesome just awesome. So little traditions I know at Christmas time my grandpa used to give me black olives and a can. I don't know why but that's okay. So you know little traditions that you know they can be weird traditions can be very very weird and that is okay too. So alright and then just questions about some other people. What is something that your friend or family member has done that has made you feel really special in the past week. Month year how are you going to do it or who would you like to say thank you to today for something that they have done other than a Thanksgiving thing. What is something that you saw recently that you thought you should have helped like for example maybe you saw an elderly person opening a door and you could have gone over there. And so how can you be better today than you were yesterday by knowing these things. And what is the one core emotion that you feel like you know best. So out of the inside out characters which one do you think you could be the best friends with and which ones could you get along with. So even more stuff lots of good questions to think about and we just want to promote you know engaging and good bits of advice. If you would give okay how about this so what piece of advice would you give to adults as a kid about Thanksgiving and what's about to be happening in the world and getting ready for the holidays. If you could invite any fictional character to Thanksgiving who would you bring. If you were a gigantic balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade what character or thing would you be. What float would you be. And I was so excited about strangers and Pac-Man and they had the micro float. Did you see that with the goldfish they had like those I love goldfish crackers. But it was goldfish crackers and they had a little tiny truck that was pulling a little beady tiny parade float that held 14 pieces of little goldfish crackers. So so yeah if you could design or you could walk with or use or whatever one of the giant balloons which one would you do. And I do hope at some point you know you take the friend of my right now took her children to New York City and she's there right now and she got to watch the balloons get inflated and everybody getting ready for the parade so if you have the means to do that I mean gosh that seems like such a great opportunity can you imagine being in the parade and being there for that and it's so cool. Would you rather only eat mashed potatoes or pumpkin pie for an entire year. Okay so there's that. If you were to make a dip to dip chips or veggies in that could be made with anything you want in it what would be what would make the perfect dip. If you had a pet turkey what would you name it. If you had a superpower that could help you on Thanksgiving day what would you have. What is your most unusual or unexpectedly delicious food combination you've ever discovered. I'm going to give you one chili cheese Fritos if you dip them in Pepsi or Coke preferably Pepsi because it's sweeter. It's really good. Also I tried fried cheese curds with caramel sauce the other day. Oh my goodness that is it's just it's it's it's wow. Oh my definitely do that. Alright and so lastly we'll do a few more and we'll call it quits for today and wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and get back to the dog show or whatever exciting things you're doing watching football. You know just just enjoying this relaxing peaceful awesome holiday. I will be watching stranger things and probably a Christmas story because you know you'll shoot your eye out if you don't. So last few questions how about what's your favorite Thanksgiving memory from past years. What was something that you guys did as an activity after Thanksgiving so like Black Friday. So the question is like when was the most fun you had going out for Black Friday and what did you do. If you could create a new family tradition again for Thanksgiving obviously what would that be but make the tradition for the animals. What would be the animals new tradition like do they always get a piece of turkey and some mashed potatoes or something. So what tradition could you start for the pets in your life. So and what's one important thing about living in in your home. What's your favorite favorite thing about living in your home that's not in your bedroom but where is somewhere that makes you really happy at your home. And what is the very best way to use up Thanksgiving leftovers. Folks Hawaiian hamburger buns with stove top stuffing some helms mayonnaise some sliced turkey maybe a little bit of like sweet onion teriyaki sauce or something like that but you don't even need it but stuffing mayonnaise and also cranberry orange relish from Publix. Loud is that good sandwich the Earl of sandwich would be very very proud of that. So alright everybody have a wonderful wonderful turkey day I appreciate all of you for who you are I am so grateful for everything that you've brought into my life this this podcast has been so much fun to make and I'm glad I can do something to help out the community in a charitable charitable sort of way. Wishing you all a very blessed and happy Thanksgiving and as always stay clever little foxes take it easy.