Author Archives: Christopher Byrne

Recently, I had the opportunity to see an amazing show called “Circus in a Trunk,” performed by The Piccolini Trio, three exceedingly talented young people who are making a living clowning around.

When I was a kid, my family loved word games—Scrabble, Anagrams a now sadly long-forgotten game from Parker Brothers called Probe. We would banter in puns and parody and in our home being quick-witted was the same as being a sports star.

I’m hoping that this is the year we can all start having an honest conversation about toys, gender identity and socialization. It’s certainly a topic that can get people all worked up, but is it real? I don’t think so. Like so much in the media in the “age of outrage,” this is often something that’s cooked up so that people can a) pontificate on talk shows and b) sell books or consulting services. Either way, some people are getting rich making you think that a color (pink) has the mystical power to form the personality of the girls in your life.

You know about renting films, cars, even handbags or bridesmaids dresses. But how about renting toys for your kids? Is this a good idea? Certainly several sites and some news outlets have been buzzing about this as a new trend. While it might seem a good idea, there are some things you’d probably want to consider before signing up for one of these programs.

With Christmas less than a week away, many of us are very concerned about giving as we race around to try to finish our shopping for everyone on our lists. (I know I’m nowhere near finished, and this may finally be the year that everyone gets funny socks.)

Sometimes you just have to laugh. I wonder if there isn’t anything in the media or entertainment world these days that can’t provoke adult outrage from someone seeking—and too often getting—publicity. And it all usually comes from one very popular but horribly misguided practice—adults projecting their unresolved personal issues and political agendas on anything that comes in their sights. It doesn’t matter if their opinions makes no sense or ignores the facts; it’s all about getting attention and shocking.

Were you one of the 212 million shoppers that the National Retail Federation said hit the stores over the Black Friday weekend? Or have you waited for this week to get the Cyber Week deals that are being promised? I was in Los Angeles for the weekend, and visited toy stores all over the area [...]

A mom I know and respect recently talked with me about conversations in her 7-year-old daughter’s class among the kids about how rich their families were. Now before you roll your eyes, understand that this is an age when kids are trying to locate themselves within a peer structure—it’s a natural thing we do as humans—and material status is tangible to kids. So let’s assume that they are not intentionally being monsters but, as kids do when they begin to interact in the world as separate individuals looking for simplistic ways to locate themselves within the social order in which they find themselves. True, these kid interactions can create awkward questions and situations at home, but so can questions about body types, clothing, personal habits and myriad other topics that are new to kids as they first encounter the world outside their homes and realize they are encountering things that are different than what they know. Even as a child blurts out, “Why is that person so like that?” at full volume in a public place, we have to struggle to realize that they are trying to get a grasp on this big, strange world they suddenly find themselves in. They don’t know topics are off limits or inappropriate for a high decibel discussion, even as you, the adult, want to disappear.

One of my favorite things to do at this time of year when toys are top of mind for nearly everyone, is to explain to baffled adults-admittedly most of whom don’t have young kids-the wonder of a toy that does “nothing,” for example, a doll, stuffed animal, or other toy that doesn’t have an electronic chip in it. Second best is the incredulous question/statement, “You mean that’s ALL it does?!”

From a Line Around the Block to the Broadway Stage About this time last year, I had the inspiring and heartwarming opportunity to attend the open auditions for Ballet Girls in “Billy Elliot.” It happened again this year, with nearly 200 girls and their parents waiting for hours outside the Broadhurst theatre in New York [...]