Plus, how baby pandas grow, what to tell kids when famous people get sick, from girl to Nobel Prize winner
|  | Sunday, October 11, 2020 | | | | |
 | PHOTOGRAPH BY ARTMARIE, GETTY IMAGES
| | By Rachel Buchholz, KIDS AND FAMILY Editor in Chief
Halloween in my neighborhood is a big deal. The fun goes way beyond the strobe lights and two-story spiderwebs you might see elsewhere. I’m talking witches flying across the street on broomsticks, cemeteries with only-in-DC headstones, and grown-up ghouls on balconies talking eerily into a microphone urging children to enter their yard. (I’ve seen more than a few kids say, “Um, no thanks.”)
The sidewalks are packed. The candy flows freely. The children are screaming—both in delight and delightful terror.
And this year, I’m not sure any of it will happen.
It’s something parents are grappling with, especially with recent CDC guidelines that list traditional trick-or-treating as a high-risk activity. Some communities have already decided for parents: Many cities have canceled annual Halloween events or restricted trick-or-treating hours; Springfield, Massachusetts, suspended trick-or-treating altogether.
But in a country in which kids start planning their costumes before school even starts (and grown-ups spent $8.8 billion on Halloween fare last year), it’s unlikely 2020 will become the year that Halloween was canceled. It’ll just look a little different.
Think get-ups that have masks incorporated into the costume, or a friends-and-family Halloween pod. Instead of candy handouts, candy chutes sliding treats to kids. “I jokingly said to a child, ‘You can hold out a little fishing net,’” says Aaron Milstone, professor of pediatrics and infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins, in this article about how to have a safe Halloween this year. “Kids can collect their candy in so many fun, clever ways.” (Tell us how your Halloween will look this year!)
No one’s suggesting that you forget about the pandemic safety rules for the evening: Families still need to mask up, socially distance, and wash hands—a lot. But fun can still be had. (Get more ideas at the Nat Geo Kids Halloween Hub, or check out our book Weird But True! Halloween.) “We’re teaching our children to be flexible, and sometimes different is even better,” says therapist and pediatric clinical consultant Jacqueline Rhew. “It’s about creating new traditions.”
I’m definitely looking forward to one new tradition: a neighborhood full of tiny doctors, nurses, and first responders—all, of course, wearing masks.
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| | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY COURTNEY HALE, GETTY IMAGES | | Back to school. Just kidding. No, wait. Most parents have stories of on-again, off-again school announcements from back in the summer. Once classes finally got under way in some form, they figured their kids could finally get some stability back. But with New York City once again shuttering some schools, and Washington, DC, announcing that students—but only some—would return to school, parents are realizing that stability is about as real as all those unicorns kids are doodling in their gratitude journals. You might not be able to control your school district’s decisions. But you can help children deal with the whiplash of change. “The key is to be mentally flexible, be able to problem solve, and accept change as a challenge rather than an obstacle,” says psychologist Mary Alvord in this article about building resiliency in your children.
When do baby pandas get cuddly? At the beginning, they’re pink, blind, and about the size of a stick of butter. That’s the case with a seven-week-old cub at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. But give baby pandas three or four months, and they’ll start chomping on bamboo and showing more signs of the adorable giants they will become, Nat Geo’s Amy McKeever writes. Want an immediate check-in on the still-unnamed cub? Just show the fam this webcam.
Make time for Mars: Family stargazers, unite! On Tuesday, Mars becomes its biggest and brightest in Earth’s sky, reaching what is known as opposition—rising in the east just as the sun sets in the west. If skies are clear, that will make the orange colored orb visible, and super-bright, all night long, says author Andrew Fazekas, who writes weekly on astronomy for us. Mars makes a close pass by Earth every two years and on Tuesday it will be at its closest, 38 million miles away. If your family has a small telescope, use high magnification and you’ll see features such as its distinctive ice-covered, southern polar cap. Amateur astronomer Gregg Ruppel sent us this stunning Mars image that he took from his backyard. (Thanks, Gregg!)
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 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY THE PALMER, GETTY IMAGES | |
Famous people get sick, too: Kids have a tendency to believe that grown-ups are invincible—and that goes double for famous people. They also might believe that they “know” people like Donald Trump or the Black Panther actor Boseman Chadwick, and that connection could bring home the realities of illness more than simply being told what COVID-19 is. “That celebrity might be their closest experience to an illness,” says Lindsay Mallory, associate psychology professor at Ontario Tech University. Help children deal with confusing emotions when these “friends” become ill by listening openly to their concerns and talking to them honestly on their level about illness. Here’s another article to get the basics about explaining COVID-19 to your child.
Family discussion: Have you ever been told that you can’t do something for a dumb reason? That happened to Andrea Ghez growing up. “I grew up hearing the word no. All the time. You’re a girl. You can’t do it,” she told us in this four-minute video on her exciting work tracking black holes in our galaxy. “I think I developed a passion for proving people wrong.” Last week, Ghez was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for her work. Don’t tell her what she can’t do. | | | |
| TRY THIS: BOREDOM BUSTERS FOR KIDS | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY THE WHITE HOUSE, SIPA USA, NEWSCOM | |
Kids want to vote? Well, they can’t. But you can still help them feel empowered by educating them about the process. Start with some smiles by looking through pics of presidential pets (above, the Obamas’ Portuguese water dogs, Bo and Sunny) or reading these wacky Commander in Chief facts. Then explore presidential profiles to discover more about the country’s fearless leaders. We’ve even got kid-friendly explainers on how we get a president and the three branches of government, plus a glossary of civic-minded terms. (You might even figure out what the heck the electoral college is.)
Meet an Arctic explorer: This week’s Explorer Classroom features ecologist Gergana Daskalova as she shows kids her adventures at the top of the world studying plants and animals on the tundra. Register your child now to hear her totally true stories and interact in real time.
Every day is International Day of the Girl! Also, it’s today. Inspire your children—sons and daughters—with the amazing achievements of women daredevils, activists, and lifesavers, or these adventures of real-life lady scientists working today. For kids who want a deeper dive in confidence and pursing goals, check out the new Nat Geo Kids book Girls Can!
This newsletter was edited and curated by David Beard and Rachel Buchholz, who are trying to stay away from the early Halloween candy. Have a healthy and a sane (as possible) week ahead!
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