DECEMBER 20, 2019, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A9
This holiday, remind the adults
what it means to spread kindness
BY LAUREN MURPHY
Of No Adults Allowed
Okay kids, gather round,
we’re taking a break from
our
regular
scheduled
holiday fun to have a
serious talk. Don’t worry,
you’re not in trouble. In
fact, it’s the adults I’m upset
with.
This week I was
observing adults, trying to
understand how to be one,
and I was shocked at how
they were treating one
another. I vividly remember
my mother telling me, “if
you don’t have anything
nice to say, don’t say
anything at all,” and
apparently none of these
adults heard the same.
Did none of them have
mothers who told them to
be polite to others? Maybe
they grew out of the dirt,
like a fl ower, and didn’t
have mothers at all.
While the image of
people-fl owers makes me
laugh, I think it’s much
more likely that they
have forgotten the simple
lessons they tried so hard
to teach us. Which is why
I think we need
to remind them.
Now I am
not telling you
to go up to your
responsible
adults (parents,
g ra n d p a re n t s ,
aunts
and
uncles, etc.) and
tell them they
need to wash
their
mouth
out with soap
and apologize
to their friends.
Please don’t do that.
What I am suggesting
instead, is that we show
them through our actions.
Families don’t always
get along with one another
during the holidays. It can
be diffi cult to enjoy being
around each other. When
this happens adults will
sometimes argue and say
things that are defi nitely
not nice.
Why do they do that,
you ask? They argue for
the same reason everyone
else does, because they
disagree.
You’re all very smart,
so I’m sure you know by
now that disagreeing with
someone is okay. And I’m
sure you also know that
just because you disagree
with someone doesn’t
mean you can’t love them.
Armed with this
knowledge we can
now go out and
model
kindness
for our responsible
adults.
For
example,
when your little
cousin refuses to
admit that Frozen 2
was a zillion times
better
than
the
original, or when
your uncle tries to
make you eat your
veggies, or when
your parents start to tell
the most embarrassing
story ever, remember to be
understanding– our adults
are watching.
Maybe your cousin
hasn’t seen the second
movie
yet,
maybe
vegetables are actually
good for you and maybe,
just maybe, your parents
aren’t trying to embarrass
you, they just want to
bring a little laughter to the
conversation.
I don’t want you to
think all adults are terrible
and rude. Because I am
one of them I know
that
sometimes
when
one is trying to “adult”
the
busyness
of
life
overwhelms us.
We get spread so thin,
our tempers fl are so quickly
and often we just forget
to think before we speak.
Adults ask kids to remind
them of a lot of things,
stopping at the store after
practice, the name of
that one song they heard
four years ago, maybe it’s
possible they need us to
remind them to be kind,
too.
Every Christmas goes better
with gingerbread, so make some
Gingerbread men. Inspiration
struck like a bolt of lightning while
I stared at the wall trying to think
of something to write. “Make
gingerbread men cookies,” said the
tiny voice in my head, and who am
I to argue with tiny voices?
Off to the store I went to gather
the needed ingredients for my
latest creation– then I headed
home to cook up a batch of real
journalism.
If you want to recreate this
recipe you’ll need to arm yourselves
with the following:
3 cups of fl our
2 teaspoons of ground ginger
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of baking soda
¼ teaspoon of ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon of salt
¾ cup of butter– softened, not
melted
¾ cup of packed brown sugar
½ cup of molasses
1 egg
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla
extract
And
adult
approval
and
supervision (I know this page says
“No Adults Allowed,” but we’ll let it
slide just this once)
Cue up some music while your
adult preheats the oven to 350
degrees.
In a large
bowl mix the
fl our,
ginger,
cinnamon,
baking
soda,
nutmeg and salt.
Put it to the side,
we’ll come back
for it later.
In
slightly
larger
bowl,
beat the butter
and
brown
sugar together
with an electric
mixer. Add the
molasses, egg
and vanilla and
mix it up.
Ask
your
adult to help you mix the fl our
mixture in slowly.
Wash off a clean place to work,
I used parchment paper to keep
the dough from sticking to the
counters, but sprinkling a little fl our
onto the counter should work, too.
Use a lightly fl oured rolling pen
to roll out the dough. It should
be about ¼-inch think; if it’s not
perfect that’s okay, I won’t tell.
Use a gingerbread man shaped
cookie cutter to cut the dough into
a gingerbread men shape. Then
place them on to a baking sheet (I
could fi t eight to a pan)
Have your adult put them in the
oven for 9-10 minutes. Let them
cool on the pan for a minute or so
and then ask your adult to move
them onto cooling racks until their
completely cool (pro tip: if the
cookie isn’t as cool as you, it’s too
hot to decorate.)
Now here comes the fun
part, decorating. There are tons
of creative ways to decorate
• The same person who sang “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”
was also the voice of Tony the Tiger. His name was Thurl Ravenscroft.
• The national animal of Scotland is the unicorn.
• In the 1870s, a Belgian village attempted to train a fl eet of 37
offi cial mail cats to deliver letters. Sadly, the feline express never
became a thing.
NO
ADULTS
ALLOWED
gingerbread men, I tried to keep
mine simple but I’d love to see
what you come up with.
I used white icing, black icing
for the eyes, red gel for the mouth
and to hold the buttons and white
pearls for the buttons.
Send news tips and pictures of
your fi nished projects to noadults@
keizertimes.com.