YOU KNOW IT'S COMING!
Sabe Ud. Que Va a Venir.
by
Mary Hunt Webb
Posted Friday, August 30, 2019
At harvest time, there are often autumn festivals. [Photographer: Paul Brennan. Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com.]
School has started in most places. Although the temperatures may still be quite warm, autumn is coming. Harvest of many vegetables and fruits has begun with others soon to come. If you preserve food in jars or freeze produce, you may have already begun this process.
Many areas celebrate harvest with a fall festival of some sort for which they dress in costumes. Whatever the celebration is called in your area, the need for costumes of various sorts arises. Since you know it's coming, why wait until pressure grows to buy some flimsy one-use manufactured article? If you prepare something ahead of time, you can withstand the pressure from your children and from others to buy something they will only use once.
This child is clearly wearing a one-of-a-kind creation of his mother's imagination and having fun with it. [Photographer: Kris White. Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com.]
If a child says, "I won't wear it! I want to go as a super hero!", then the parental reponse is, "Fine. If you don't want it, then you can stay home and help me pass out treats to other children because this is what is available." No child wants that!
Most of us have been down this road with our children. In moments like these, I did not back down but remembered that the Bible said, "Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the LORD." (Psalm 31:24, NKJV)
I always provided a homemade costume because it was what we could afford, and I didn't want our child thinking he could have his own way all the time. On various occasions, he dressed as a cat, a large green insect, and a hobo, to name a few. You might set an example with a homemade costume for yourself, as I did when I dressed as a gypsy. I had a peasant blouse that I had made myself along with a skirt in a patchwork pattern that I had also made. I tied a bandana as a scarf on my head and wore large canning jar rings as earrings on my ears. Another time, I wore a bright orange dress that I already had and put bright green ribbons in my hair to resemble a stem and called myself a pumpkin. In a similar effort at imitating something edible, one of our son's teachers found a big, light brown plastic bag to which she attached large brown circles that she had cut out of dark brown paper. She cut holes for her head and her neck and wore a brown turtleneck sweater and brown slacks underneath it. She told the children she was a chocolate chip cookie.
Imagination along with items you already possess can yield a variety of costumes such as a bear, a ballerina, a robot or anything that you can imagine and that fits items you already possess or can obtain easily and inexpensively. In doing so, you will set an example from which your child will learn how to use imagination and creativity to produce something memorable and fun.
And don't forget to take photos of your creation! You will treasure them in years to come.
BIBLE VERSE FOR THIS POSTING
Psalm 31:24 — Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the LORD. (NKJV)
Salmos 31:24 — Esforzaos todos vosotros los que esperáis en Jehová, Y tome aliento vuestro corazón. (RVR 1960)
I'm not sure what this young girl is supposed to be dressed as, but she and her mother knew, and that's all that matters. [Photographer: Petra. Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com.]
