Jumpstart 2013 with these Kid Friendly Programs and Services!
Celebrating the Chinese New Year
This year, the Chinese New Year falls on February 10 and 2013 is the year of the Snake!
by Minette Riordan
Do your children ever ask why the Chinese don’t celebrate the New Year at the same time we do? I love the opportunity to teach my children about how and why other cultures celebrate different traditions and the Chinese New Year is always a popular one with children. Who doesn’t love colorful costumes and amazing dancing dragons?
What your children may not know, is that the date of the Chinese New Year changes every year, according the lunar calendar and that the celebrations can last from two weeks to a month. This is considered one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture. Like so many of our own traditions, celebrations were based on agriculture. Laura Young, editor for Kaboose.com, writes “Originally the celebrations lasted for lengthy amounts of time because China was a very agriculture-based country so farmers took the whole month off to rest since crops couldn’t be planted during the winter. Nowadays most families celebrate the New Year for about two week’s time, says Ng, starting on the first day of the new year and end on the 15th. “
Family Friendly New Year’s Eve Celebration
Turn Back Time the Ball Drops at Nine! New Year’s Eve Celebration
December 31st from 6:30-9pm at Fairview Farms
Families today are struggling just to survive. Social, economic and time pressures have robbed parents of the ability to slow down and invest the time needed to create healthy relationships with each other and their children. This missing foundation of “intentional quality” family time has huge implications for children, marriages and the community at large.
The holiday season is no different. The holidays should be about family connection, but instead this is a time where stress, hurry and tension are more top of mind than love, relationships and purpose.
This Side UP! Family Center (a local family-strengthening non-profit) and The City of Plano’s Police and 9-1-1 Departments have teamed up to provide a solution to holiday over-stress!
