It is what it is

Elmo doesn't love the Jews

Ryan and I were planning to take Quinn to a friend's house in December for a party to celebrate the first night of Hannukah.  We haven't really talked much about Hannukah, so I thought it would be a good idea to pick up a fun book about Hannukah to read with him to get him excited about the party. He's loved the Elmo's Night Before Christmas book that we've been reading to him since before last Christmas, and books have always been a great way to introduce new concepts.

So, I stopped at Borders and figured I'd grab a few fun books. No luck. I'd categorize their offerings for children's books about Hannukah somewhere between just plain lame and incredibly boring.  I went to two more bookstores, and the best book I could come up with was a book about old ladies throwing a latke party. Not bad, but certainly nothing that hit the top ten list with Quinn. With all of the claims that the Jews run the media industry, all I can say is that they really need to work on the Hannukah marketing campaign.

The reality is that to a kid,  at least on the surface, Christmas just looks like more fun. As someone who was raised Jewish, I can tell you that the Christmas decorations, Santa and the reindeer, and the toy, cookie and candy orgy that Christmas brings is really pretty compelling.  In the race for kids attention and affection, Hannukah is starting ten yards behind with a foot tied behind its back and, rather than a bunch of lame offerings, there should be a serious marketing push to raise the fun profile of this holiday.   
A little more creative thinking and marketing could give Hannukah a fighting chance -- the Hannakuh bush and Hannukah Harry really don't cut it.  Better marketing of the draedel games and we've got poker with candy. wahoo!  Latkes? well, they're okay, but since it's really all about the oil, how about focusing on doughnuts, and really really milk the "it lasts seven days! how can it not be better?!?"   A quick search on Amazon for "Elmo and Christmas" versus "Elmo and Hannukah" is a good representation of why Hannukah just isn't getting its props - The first search brings 69 book results (a significant number, though some are probably a bit off the mark), including Elmo Saves Christmas, the latter search yields nothing. Apparently Elmo doesn't even know about Hannukah.

Everyone needs a Shtick

I'm always amazed at how generous and thoughtful our friends and relatives are as Quinn is so often the recipient of unexpected gifts.  Many of the gifts he's received also confirm my long held belief in the importance of having a shtick.

Since Quinn was about a year old, he has been very interested in guitars. When I say that to other parents, some parents note that their child likes guitar too. I usually just smile and nod. Because while I'm sure there are many other children who like guitars, it is quite hard to imagine that many like them quite as much as Quinn. While his interest has mellowed from the all out obsession it was, we went through a period where he would ask us to read to him from the Musician's Friend catalog that arrived in the mail. Or we would read the Encyclopedia of guitars so frequently that he could probably identify 50 different brands of guitars at age two.  He went through a phase where he refused to wear a shirt that didn't have a guitar on it, and had strong preferences on certain days for the double neck guitar, the flying V or the bass with no headstock. 

Quinn effectively branded himself as the kid who loves guitars. And as a benefit, he is the frequent recipient of out-of-the-blue guitar-related gifts. Over the holidays, our dear friend Patricia sent him a great t-shirt with the slogan "One Day I'll be a rock star" and a picture of a kid playing guitar. A friend and band-mate of Ryan's sent Quinn a sweet stuffed bear playing the guitar.  Our house is populated with other similarly thoughtful gifts. Basically, he's set things up so that when people who know him see something sweet involving guitars, they think of him.

Our friend Martin has a similar thing with turtles. Not exactly sure why or how it started, but he had a few turtle statues or figures, people noticed them and he started getting more.  Any time we see something involving turtles, we think of Martin. We bought his wedding present for him years before he got married because we saw an amazing serving piece that involved turtles.

Our less than positive experience with this came when Ryan and I had a few frog items around the house and, though the gift givers were quite thoughtful, we suddenly found ourselves receiving many more frog items than we ever wanted. Clearly, there are many benefits of having a shtick. The caveat to this is choosing your shtick wisely.