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Friday September 22, 2006

How to involve kids

sharon duke estroff

The High Holy Days Hustle, we know the steps well. It starts with a tireless trek to the mall in search of that stylish synagogue suit. Next comes the culinary juggling act, simultaneously preparing Aunt Sophie’s Famous Tsimmes, Bubbe’s Killer Kugel and a 22-pound turkey, dressed and trimmed. The last step is grooming an entire family and shuffling the whole gang out the door and into the synagogue in less than an hour. The entire dance sequence (minus the shopping) is generally repeated the following day.

Scrambling through the better part of September it’s easy to forget that the true meaning of the High Holy Days season can’t be found in Nordstrom’s or Bloomingdale’s or Aunt Sophie’s tsimmes, but in appreciating and giving thanks for life’s sweetest blessings. So steal a few moments from the holiday hoopla to remind the true apples of your eye just how delicious they are. Even the simplest acts can send children a message as loud and clear as the shofar that they’re loved and cherished. The following suggestions will help you show your kids the honey this Rosh Hashanah.

• Take your children to a paint-it-yourself ceramics shop and decorate Kiddush cups, apple plates or honey bowls together.

• Have a family honey cake baking party; distribute the extras to friends and relatives with sweet New Year’s wishes.

• Let your kids design your Rosh Hashanah tablecloths, placemats and challah covers using fabric crayons or markers. For younger children try cutting an apple on its side to reveal a star in the middle, dip the fruit in fabric paint and let your little stars stamp away.

• Make a Rosh Hashanah maze by giving your kids clues that lead to different places in your home (i.e. “Go to the place where you rest your rosh [head] every night”). Have a new clue waiting at each stop and a bag of sweet holiday treats at the final destination.

• Go apple picking. Use your haul to make Rosh Hashanah apple cakes, kugels and other goodies together.

• Log onto www.torahtots.com and www.babaganewz.com where little “techies” can find fun Rosh Hashanah games and activities. 

• Take a Rosh Hashanah family nature hike. Sit down in a shady spot and let everyone share what they appreciate about one another.

• Have a tashlich ceremony by a lake or river so kids can cast their sins away and start out the year with a fresh, clean slate.

• Decorate your home with your children’s Rosh Hashanah artwork, old and new.

• Bake round challahs together.

• Steal some time to read a High Holy Days picture book to your kids (even if they complain that they’re way too old to listen to a story!). Some noteworthy choices are “Gershon’s Monster: A Tale for the Jewish New Year” by Eric Kimmel; “The World’s Birthday” by Barbara Diamond Goldin; “Sophie and the Shofar” by Fran Manushkin, “How the Rosh Hashanah Challah Became Round” by Sylvia Epstein — and for little ones, “Sammy Spider’s First Rosh Hashanah” by Syliva A. Rouss.

• Leave small candies on their pillows on Erev Rosh Hashanah along with a note wishing them a sweet New Year.

Sharon Duke Estroff is an internationally-syndicated Jewish parenting columnist.

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