Ideas for Family Night Activities

Irish Dancers Qualify In Houston For National Competition!

Fourteen local Irish dancers, ranging in ages from 6 to 17 years old, from the Mo Cushla Academy of Irish Dance competed at the Houston New Year’s Feis in Houston, Texas on Saturday, January 9, 2010.

The dancers brought home 52 medals and trophies! Taylor Hatridge and Katy Netti both placed 1st in their Championship competitions and qualified to attend, (along with Paige Lanam and Taylor Stephens who had previously qualified at the 2009 Southern Region Oireachtas in December 2009), the North American National Championships in Orlando, Florida in July 2010.  The Mo Cushla Academy of Irish Dance is very excited to send 4 Corpus Christi dancers to this major competition!

The dancers that attended the Houston News Year’s Feis are: Lameece Al-Akash (5th Grade, Mireles Elm.), Genevieve Cox (1st Grade, Windsor Park Elm.), Julie Graves (5th Grade, Windsor Park Elm.), Grace Hatridge (3rd Grade, Windsor Park Elm.), Taylor Hatridge (9th Grade, Carroll High School), Brianna Hoelscher (5th Grade, Windsor Park Elm.), Isabella Jarvis (5th Grade, CC Montessori Elm.), Paige Lanam (6th Grade, Calallen ISD), Annie Morrow (3rd Grade, Chula Vista Elm.), Katy Netti (Freshman, Del Mar College), Maggie Neuberger (1st Grade, Windsor Park Elm.), Saundra Strickland (7th Grade, Haas MS), Tyler Wilson (5th Grade, Faye Webb Elm) and Victoria Wilson (5th Grade, Chula Vista Elm.).The Mo Cushla Academy of Irish Dance is very proud of all of these dancers!

The Mo Cushla Academy of Irish Dance holds classes in Corpus Christi on Thursdays and Fridays as well as Saturday workshops. Abbey Pride, T.C.R.G. and Joni Muggivan, T.C.R.G. are the dance school directors. Registration is open all year long. For more information on the dance school, please go to their website www.mocushla.com or email info@mocushla.com.

The negative impacts of the media, TV, movies, internet, and video games on our children are not only blatantly apparent, but ever-increasing. Without even going into the much more important effects of immorality, loss of values, violent behaviors, and ingrained selfishness, the reality is that these overly-popular mediums are contributing to the loss of the essential attributes, activities, and abilities that all children need to develop.

Children need to play games much more than they currently are. Why? For their social, emotional, physical, and intellectual well-being - that is why! And it is the parent's responsibility to ensure this happens. Unfortunately, we as parents can all agree that turning on the TV or a movie to act as a temporary 'babysitter' is certainly easier than the time, effort, and creativity required to play games with our child.While I certainly understand there are positive things that do come from TV, movies, the internet, etc. - let's not be ignorant to the fact that the pro's are substantially less than the con's when it comes to the entertainment the world provides. Rather, we as parents need to resolve to make a much greater effort to play games with our children and encourage them to play games instead of idly wasting time on these ever so popular and addictive electronic devices.

Of the hundreds of reasons why parents need to turn off the TV and computer more, and why children need to play games much more often, let me suggest just 15 of the most important reasons:

1) To develop the creative and imaginative ability within all of us.

2) To be active, exercise, run around, and thus be more fit and healthy.

3) To learn how to interact, communicate with, and work and play with others.

4) To spend time with siblings, parents, and friends - to build relationships.

5) To learn how to appropriately act when you win or lose a game - being a good winner and loser.

6) To enhance their social skills, develop team-work abilities, and how to cooperate with others they like or dislike.

7) To learn how to control their temper, practice self-discipline and self-restraint, and realize that life sometimes is not fair.

8) To learn how to share, take turns, and give.

9) To learn how to follow rules, make decisions, and think logically.

10) To increase their educational and intellectual abilities: colors, shapes, numbers, reading performance, and verbal and communication skills.

11) To increase self-esteem, positive confidence, and give the child a sense of identity.

12) To develop athletic ability, hand-eye coordination, dexterity, and visual perception.

13) To teach the importance of playing fair, not cheating, sharing, and being a good sport.

14) To laugh, have fun, smile, relax, and benefit from all the other psychological pro's that result from playing.

15) It is important to remember that the real reason why children must spend more time playing games actually has nothing to do with games at all.

This is about ensuring that the negative influences of the TV, movies, internet, and video games do not diminish the physical, mental, social, psychological, and spiritual health of our children. This is about being a parent, not allowing electronics to be a babysitter. This is about developing character, not only about having fun. And just as important, this is about spending time with family, strengthening relationships, and developing necessary life skills through wholesome entertainment.