march30–april12, 2020 | newyork 33
TILL KEEP YOUR KIDS BUSY
Over a dozen
New York parents
offer suggestions.
BY RAVEN
SNOOK
very old episodes of Reading Rainbow. “You can
watch them on YouTube. Our absolute fave is
when LeVar Burton visits the crayon factory.”
12.
Bring Sports
Indoors. Even If
They’re Made-Up.
Mary of Woodside says she’s cleared space in
her kitchen so her sons Colin, 6, and Thomas,
8, can play soccer with a squishy ball. “We
call it La Liga Cocina—the Kitchen League.”
Meanwhile, Ken on the Upper West Side
plays “slow-motion indoor football” with his
son Jacob, 7. Things are even more unusual
at Joanna’s home in Sunnyside, where her
daughter Imogen, 8, and her stepdad have been
doing “ninja training.” “It’s basically Fight Club
if it had been about an 8-year-old girl trying
to beat up a 46-year-old man,” Joanna says.
13.
Create Your
Own Classes
Maureen of Flatbush hosts “Tool Time
With Mama” for her twins, Ivy and Abe, 8.
“Yesterday’s tools were Google Docs and Google
Slides. The day before, the tool was a hammer.”
14.
Trust the Allure
of a Stopwatch
Timing is everything—especially to little kids.
“Odysseus loves to be timed,” says Dawn of
Windsor Terrace, about her 7-year-old. “He
runs from the kitchen to his bedroom and
back, and we time him. He runs to get his pj’s,
we time him.” Shima (of Morris Heights) has
turned running up and down the stairs in her
townhouse into a competition with Rhys. “We
time each other to see who can do ten sets the
fastest. Great cardio and great motivation.”
15.
Teach Them Your
Favorite Card Game
From Nine Years Ago
Remember how much fun we had during the
year of Cards Against Humanity? Joanna in
Sunnyside found a more appropriate version
for Imogen called Kids Against Maturity.
Expect “lots of fart jokes,” Joanna says. “It’s
been great for taking breaks (and having a
few giggles) throughout the day when I don’t
have long stretches of time to interact.”
How the ‘Veep’ Writers’ Room
Is Entertaining Them
An email chain among former colleagues.
David Mandel:
We did Splash on
night one—holds up
and John Candy is
even funnier than
you remember. Night
2: Frozen 2—eh.
Alex Gregory:
Midnight Run went
over HUGE. Now
in Kaitlyn’s all time
top 5. Opened the
Pandora’s box of
South Park. Blew
their minds.
Gabrielle Allan:
We’re watching
Midnight Run
tonight. I let them
watch South Park.
Is Team America too
much for 13 and 16?
Or not enough?
Dan O’Keefe:
Team America is
pretty hardcore,
even for 16.
Jennifer
Crittenden:
[Waiting for]
Guffman went
over well but I had
disastrous results
with 2 movies that
I thought would be
winners: Defending
Your Life had a much
slower pace than I
remember and the
charms of Albert
Brooks were lost
on Maisie and PJ.
And we shut down
Roxanne within the
first 10 minutes.
DO: To wit, we
tried the animated
Watership Down
from ’78, that I
recalled really
liking. Made it
halfway through.
Nikos said it is the
worst movie ever.
Billy Kimball:
Everything I loved
as a kid is either
muuuuuuuch too
slow for my kids (The
Sound of Music) or
nowhere near as
funny as I thought
it was originally
(Monty Python) or
you gotta be kidding
me (How Green Was
My Valley). Austin
watched a glass-
blowing competition
on Netflix for a
minute or two and
I found it kind of
amazing. They all
still like Survivor.
AG: Wes Anderson
stuff like Moonrise
Kingdom and
Rushmore played
really well with my
kiddos. Mean Girls
also worked. John
Mulaney & the
Sack Lunch Bunch
was a big hit, as
was New in Town.
Ted Cohen: Look
at you all with
your well-behaved
TV-watching
children. Sylvie
won’t watch TV
since she saw the
Steven Tyler Skittles
football commercial
a few years ago,
which permanently
scarred her.
Lew Morton: The
kids walked in as I
was watching Raising
Arizona by myself
and they stayed and
enjoyed it! Either
their tastes are not
so different from
mine, or they’re so
happy to be allowed
to watch TV in the
middle of the day
they’ll enjoy anything.
AG: Our girls loved
Raising Arizona.
For SNL, the Jack
Black episode
(“King Kong Song,”
“Spelling Bee”) is a
favorite. Olivia and
I are watching the
Eagles documentary,
her request.
DM: Oh, to be young
again and get to
watch the Eagles doc
for the first time!
