It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown + Corn Maze = Kids Off The Couch

Good Grief, It's Halloween!

Our kids' faces lit up like Jack-o-Lanterns when we told them we were upping the pumpkin ante this year by letting them loose in a Corn Maze. After sampling the delicious produce, we set off into plants that reached high above our heads. We bonded together over a map, trying to figure our way out from beneath the stalks and laughed ourselves silly every time we got lost -- our kids triumphant that the adults in the group steered them wrong plenty of times. Later that night, we popped up some corn and plopped on the couch for It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Charles Schultz's magic pulled us back to our favorite believer, Linus, who waits in a pumpkin patch for the arrival of The Great Pumpkin. Given the current economic crisis, it's nice to know that hearkening back to simpler times can be so reassuring. Click here for more to learn about the corn mazes near your city, and to find a YouTube link to the old television special.

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HOT TOPIC: How Does Your Family Deal with Princess-Mania?

With this week's much heralded re-release of Disney's Sleeping Beauty, Princess Aurora is sure to win over another generation of little girls, just in time for the Halloween costume rush. What's a parent to do? We know that most of our kids just can't resist the allure of those Disney dames strutting their stuff, so we developed our own Princess Counter-Programming, which we share with you this week.

Click here to visit our website and find a book list that serves up a batch of princesses whom reject daft suitors and ditsy life goals. Please share what you do in your houses to make sure your princess-wanna-bes have girl power goals.

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Introducing Paul Newman to Your Family

We shed real tears at the loss of Paul Newman, whose legendary looks and powerful screen presence dominated the movies for years and whose charitable work (through the Hole in the Wall camps for seriously ill children and Newman's Own) set an elegant example of how one man can make the world a better place.

The easiest way to introduce your kids to one of our greatest movie stars is to show them Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Starring Newman at the height of his confident power and featuring Robert Redford in his breakout role, the film is a giddy love-poem to the vanishing ways of the West. Cool, even vintage cool, always translates... The kids were immediately grinning along with the comedic relationship between the two stars and can quote the film's most famous lines ("Who ARE those guys?").

Butch Cassidy has plenty of gun play -- the two heroes famously head out to their deaths in the last frame of the picture -- and shows the men with prostitutes and drinking alcohol. But, we think this classic is fine for kids over 10, as long as parents get on the couch and discuss the racier scenes (fast forwarding works, too.) You'll remember the plot turns -- it's just like riding a bicycle, which is exactly what Redford and Newman do with Katherine Ross to the tune of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head". (Rated PG for violence, Directed by George Roy Hill).

The Sting reunited Redford and Newman as two card-playing con men in a beloved and complicated film which won 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Don't try to explain (or even understand) the plot. Just sit back and enjoy the Joplin rags as you watch these two movie stars win over a new generation. (Rated PG, also directed by George Roy Hill).

Paul Newman played the voice of Doc Hudson in Cars, a great film for younger kids. We happen to have covered this film last week - for more, please visit our website. Kids get a charge out of knowing Newman was a race car driver in real life, placing second in Le Mans in 1979. (Rated G, directed by John Lassiter and Joe Ranft).

If your kids know Newman only because they've seen his face on Newman's Own popcorn bags and salad dressing bottles, that's okay, too. Be sure to let them know that Newman's Own gives every single penny of profit to charity. For more about Newman, click here to last month's Vanity Fair article (the photos alone are worth five minutes).

Diane and Sarah
Founders, Kids Off The Couch

Kids Off The Couch

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Life is a Highway: Cars + Automotive Museum = Kids Off The Couch

Instead of grumbling while you fill up your tank, why not rev up your engines by watching Pixar's family-friendly Cars? This animated tale about a race car named Lightning McQueen who pulls off the fast lane and learns to slow down in order to get where you need to be in life offers a full tank of humor, and nostalgia. Inspired by the adorable, personality-driven cars that race around for the sake of driving (forget this carpooling stuff!), we headed off to our local Car Museum and brought our kids face-to-face with relics of the road. We brought grandparents along on this adventure, who shared memories about driving the cars that are now preserved in the exhibit. It's hard for kids to imagine life without car seats or DVD players, and the very notion of a rumble seat blew their wheels off. We stood back and watched as Grandpa and Grandson bonded, and soon found ourselves in the mood for a road trip -- if only the price of gas would continue to tumble downwards! (Click here for a great kit to build a car at home and great places to visit car museums all over the USA!)

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HOT TOPIC: Managing Your Kids Media Diets - Gossip Girl!

As our kids have grown up, so has their taste for trendy television shows. Although we can hardly believe it, our sweet little girls have started high school (gasp!) and want to be in on the latest chat around campus. For our girls, that means the "MIND-BLOWINGLY INAPPROPRIATE" Gossip Girl series, airing Monday night at 8 pm, just when they should be focusing on their homework.

For us, it means a weekly battle: should we let them watch a show that we think is loaded with poor role models, early sexuality, plenty of alcohol, parties and very little parenting. Put another way, should we let our daughters watch a show that is common cultural currency in their school community, recognizing that if we say no, they are likely to watch it anyway at a friend's house? Or, are we as parents better off and getting on the couch with them, so at least, we can act as a media filter and discuss what they're seeing on the screen?

Please tell us what you do in your home: An adamant NO? Or get on the couch with them? A free pass to watch? Want more information before you decide? Take a look at this article in Time Magazine that talks about the impact of titillating media on kids, that claims "The real problems arise when the media unanimously suggest that hotness is the only identity worth trying on.

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