Kid Olympics

My six year old son asked me what the Olympics are. Once I explained and visited the Internet with him, he was so excited. He wanted to know if there is an Olympics for kids. He was perplexed when I told him NO. Then we proceeded in creating one for him and his friends.

• We decided on how many 'events' to have. We decided on 6.
• We planned out how many kids and what ages were going to attend. (Our games are for ages 3 to 8)
• We will have three adults for judges.
• 1st event: the tight rope walk: We place an 8 foot length of rope on the ground and the kids, one at a time, must walk forward and then backward on the rope. the one that can do both ways without stepping off the rope wins 1st and so on.
• 2nd event: Jump rope: For the older kids, whoever jumps the most times in 2 minutes wins. For the younger kids, lay the rope on the ground and the kids jump back and forth over it for 1 minute and the one with the most jumps wins.
• 3rd event: bean bag toss: We got a 3 by 8 foot piece of wood and one of the dads cut varying sized holes at various heights all over the board. We placed a line one third of the way up and the lower part was for the younger kids. A different colour outlined the holes for varying degree of difficult. The one that put a bean bag through all of the holes or got the highest before missing was the winner and so on.
• 4th event: Name that Character: the kids are shown pictures of various cartoon or whatever pictures you choose and the one that names the most or all wins.
• 5th event: Keychain making: The kids have all they need to assemble a keychain. A keyring, pipecleaner, 8 coloured beads and a charm. They are shown how to assemble the keychain and the start is sounded.
• 6th event: triathlon: choose 3 different activities suited to the ages of the kids. We chose 10 situps, running backward the length of an 8 foot rope, then bike or trike back to the beginning.

we assembled award ribbons from cupcake papers and ribbon to look like rosette awards and pickup up small prized from the dollar store for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.

then we will end it with a water balloon fight!

Let us know how your event goes and what ideas you have for your own 'Olympic' events.

How did we survive to be adults?

Well, my husband and I spent an hour trying to put our kids car seats (the ones that support them until they are 80lbs, and can be made into a booster chair). We ended up with language that could make a sailor blush and a trip to Wal-Mart for booster seats.

How is it that we lived to adulthood? I remember going on trips with my family. I have 4 siblings and my mom and dad. My dad converted a raised roof van into a camper. My siblings and I would 'surf' in the middle of the van while my parents chatted in the front without seatbelts. When we were tired, we slept in the bunks, while the vehicle was in motion.

We all learned not to talk back and how far we could 'push our luck' with our parents. My mom had a wooden spoon and my dad would put his hand on his belt and give us the warning 'look'. Now as adults we do the '1...2...3' as our kids just stare blankly at us. Or we send them to their room for a punishment of a TV and game system, toys carpeting the floor and a 'you can come out in 8 minutes because you're 8 years old and you get a one minute time out for every year of age'.

And don't get me started on the manners of todays kids. We always addressed adults as Mr. or Mrs. Nieghbour, or Sir. My brothers learned to open doors for ladies and we all knew that 'please and thank you' were needed if you wanted to actually recieve that snack or gift.

I am teaching my kids manners. My six year old son opens doors for ladies, my three year old daughter says 'thank you' when she gets a compliment. And both my kids know that out in public they must say 'please' and 'thank you'.

Yes, I understand that this new way is supposed to reduce abuse of children and be the new and accepted way, but I turned out pretty good. I'm not a serial killer, abuser of substance or people and I know how to conduct myself socially. I wonder what our kids will have to deal with when they have kids?

I would love for you to share how you get your kids to behave, or use their manners or even a story from your childhood. Don't be shy.... you can use a fake name....