July 19, 2001
O.K. Holiday
by Joshua Carden
In a recent article, I addressed what has now become a national concern: the need for an O.K. (Older Kid) Holiday. I say “national concern” for two reasons. First, because it sounds cool and the news media gets to use the phrase whenever THEY want to sound important. Second, because I got five emails from faithful readers on this very topic within a 24-hour time span. So this clearly a matter of “national concern.” After reading the emails, I was immediately galvanized to action. (Tip to young writers: “galvanized” is another one of those words that makes any sentence sound important. In reality, the only thing I’ve ever seen galvanized is fencing material)
First let me share the emails I received from you.
From Charity:
Thank you so much for your article. I loved it, it made me laugh since it sounds so much like me, considering that I'm another oldest. The only problem is that my 'middle-child parents' didn't agree with it.
Well, Charity, all I can say is: we both know how hard we had to work to achieve the O.K. spot and those middle-children just don’t understand us.
From Renae:
What a great idea that was! I am the oldest of six kids and, as my mother had a lot of health problems, I was often a substitute mom. I am now 21, married, and in college; however, it would have been nice if there had been a holiday for me every now-and-then.
Amen, sister.
From Rachel:
Right on! I just wanted to say I loved your article about Parent's Days and I totally (not partially) agree with you about the oldest kid's day. I think it should be a national holiday. I am the 2nd oldest of eight children (which is almost like the oldest in a family with a few kids) and I have experience as a martyr and guinea pig. ;-)
Rachel, although not a true “oldest” kid, I’m sure you should reap the benefits of this national holiday. Hey, who am I to say who gets to celebrate on the holiday? I’m all in favor of a national holiday with local control of the implementation to be left up to the individual families. (Also a good plan for tuition tax credits…but I digress) In fact, that’s the next email, from Garsy:
As the eldest of six, I understand the need for a "Big Brother/Big Sister Day. That is why my husband and I and our four children have set aside, the fourth Saturday in July as "The Thomas Family Older Sibling Day Off." Currently, only our son, (age 7) is old enough for this "day", but when our eldest daughter (now 3 1/2) reaches the age of 6 she to will be able to take part as well.
We celebrate by making him breakfast in bed and then letting him choose the activities for the day. We usually find a sitter for the youngest two as well. We wrap up the day with ice cream at a local ice cream parlor with the whole family.
It's a fun time for our son and we love to make him feel that we really appreciate all that he does to help us out with the "babies."
Garsy, thanks for a great idea! I see you have set a date that may vary slightly. This is probably a good plan. I had arbitrarily and capriciously pulled August 15th out of my hat for the last column. This led to the next email from Emily:
I enjoyed your recent Parents Days column. I have to point out that August 15th is indeed a holiday or actually a Holy day called the Assumption of Mary(Catholic) or the Dormition of Mary(Eastern Orthodox).
That’ll teach me to pick a day without looking at the calendar! Thanks, Emily. So I’m voting for Garsy’s fourth Saturday in July idea. Well, now that we’ve got the date for the O.K. corralled (you knew I had to go there eventually) we get down to the particulars, like this email from Bethany:
Right on, dude. I've got 5 younger bros and sisters under the age of 7, and I'm 10 years older than them. I want a holiday, blast it all! I want a new iron skillet for grilled cheese and a new pot for spaghetti and cookie dough. Of course I'm sure my parents could benefit from these things too, but me more! :) (PS, B-day isn't mine for much longer, dad wants it back)
Bethany, I have to say that the items you’ve requested might lead to more work. But it’s your holiday. Well, back to being galvanized. I called the White House to make it official, but they told me that President Bush is in Europe and they would have to get back to me on the whole official declaration. It was sort of strange, they didn’t ask for my phone number so he could call me. Oh well, they’re the White House, I guess they can find me whenever they want to. In the meantime, we’ll have to just start celebrating to get the tradition started…hey, the fourth Saturday is coming up! July 28th to be exact! All right you O.K.’s – Get out there and celebrate! Or take a nap.