Kids VT, August 2019
Playing It Cool: Sweet Places to Swing, Slide, Climb and Explore; Artful Fairy Houses; Nature Activities to Beat the Heat; Rites of Passage in Underhill
By the Numbers: Summer in Vermont
This article was originally published in Seven Days’ monthly parenting magazine, Kids VT.
How Do Kids Benefit From Nature-Based Counseling?
On a steamy July afternoon, licensed marriage and family therapist Christian Dymond splashes through the ankle-deep stream that meanders across his property, not even trying to keep his feet dry. We stop at a large metal culvert that runs beneath a road where many of his young clients like to play. Dymond, who looks to…
Destination Recreation: Barr Hill Natural Area
While, for some, the name Barr Hill conjures top-shelf Vermont-distilled spirits, it also belongs to a family-friendly hiking area in the Northeast Kingdom. Earlier this summer, my husband, Jason, our 16-month-old daughter, Jimi, and I checked it out while vacationing in the area — a summer tradition for my extended family. We rented three neighboring…
Family Portrait: Ted, Winnie, Charlotte, Russell, Josephine & Desi Looby
Kids VT: You have older kids and younger kids and you all still live together! Ted: We do! At the Rose Street Artists’ Co-op. We’ve lived there since Charlotte was about 3. We love it, and it also just makes sense economically. Winnie: We’re really used to being in the same space. A while back…
Natural Builder: A Longtime Treehouse Designer Reflects on His Lofty Line of Work
For most of us, treehouses are just a fun place to play. But for Warren resident James “B’fer” Roth they’ve also provided a career path that included a stint as a reality TV show star. Roth, 61, goes by B’fer — a shortened version of “B for Burton,” his middle name. Like the branches of…
Safe Passage: On 80 Acres in Underhill, Teens Reflect on Who They Are and How They Want to Change
On the South Pacific islands of Vanuatu, boys mark the passage into manhood through land diving, jumping off a wooden tower with two tree vines wrapped around their ankles. A coming-of-age ceremony among the Ticuna, indigenous people of the Northwest Amazon, involves girls spending three months to a year living alone in a small dwelling…
Beat the Heat: Nature Activities For the Dog Days of Summer
Swimming, vacation, creemees and everything bursting with lush green life; I like summer as much as the next person. However, I don’t always love the heat. When it’s particularly humid, or when it doesn’t cool down at night, I find myself wanting to hide in the basement. Since my son, Jesse, was born 11 years…
Kids in the News: Out of This World
Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first humans to walk on the moon after their lunar module, Eagle, landed there on July 20, 1969. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the momentous Apollo 11 mission, many Vermont venues hosted space-related activities in July. Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium in St. Johnsbury put on Astronomy…
Screen Time
The Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, a five-day celebration of films made by first- and second-time filmmakers, will include a full day of films and activities geared to young cinephiles. Kids & Family Day takes place on Wednesday, August 21, at the Marquis theater in downtown Middlebury. Festivities kick off with a screening of Storm Boy,…
Safe Sleep
Seventh Generation aims to replace every potentially harmful nap mat in Vermont preschools and childcare centers in the next five years. Chemicals in flame retardants used in mats have been linked to cancer, obesity, early puberty and nervous system harm, according to Toxic-Free Future, a Seattle nonprofit. Children are exposed when the chemicals break down,…
Roses for Rosie
In July, Vermont became the 25th state to have a Rosie the Riveter Memorial Rose Garden. The Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains helped to install the garden — commemorating the contributions of women who joined the workforce during World War II — at Camp Farnsworth in Thetford Center. It contains two rose…
White Gazpacho or Ajo Blanco: Chill Out With This No-Cook Soup From Southern Spain
This summer has certainly served up some hot, humid days — the kind of days we know we have to eat something, but little appeals. In my house, we’ve had our share of charcuterie platters and sandwiches for dinner, but a chilled soup is another, more interesting option for unpleasantly warm weather. Many people are…
Delicious Summer: There’s No “Right” Way to Savor the Season
“We get 18 delicious summers with our children. This is one of your 18. If that’s not perspective, I don’t know what is.” These words, which circle widely round the interwebs, are attributed to a person named Jessica Scott. The first, and the second, and the third time this quote worked its way into my…
Yoga Pose of the Month: Down Dog/Double Down Dog for the Dog Days of Summer!
Susan Cline Lucey of Evolution Prenatal and Family Yoga in Burlington and Essex recommends this perspective-changing inversion pose to strengthen shoulders and arms while stretching hamstrings and spine. Steps: Come to hands and knees. Plant hands and balls of feet firmly on the ground and lift up your hips. Relax your shoulders away from your…
The Art of… Fairy House Building
Sally Smith spent her “wild and free-range” childhood roaming Shelburne Farms and camping in the woods with her father, nature photographer Clyde H. Smith. Those early rambles inspire her work as an artist and architect of fairy houses. Twenty of her whimsical creations are on display at Middlebury’s Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History through…
The Wonder Years
When I think back on the summers of my youth, the one that stands out as the most formative is the summer after eighth grade. In July 1991, I embarked on a trip called California Adventure, along with my closest childhood friend, Lexy, and around eight other young teens from around the country. With two…
Trail Tales: Take a Stroll on the Wild Side With These Story Walks
The idea behind a story walk is simple — take apart a picture book and post its laminated pages along a trail. Families then enjoy an outdoor saunter, paired with reading enrichment. The Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier hosts a loaning library of more than three dozen StoryWalks, created and trademarked by Montpelier resident Anne Ferguson…
Not Your Parents’ Playgrounds: Sweet Spots to Climb, Run and Explore
Playgrounds today offer more than just swings and slides. Here are three community-created spaces that provide endless opportunities for fun. Find 10 more stellar play spaces here. If You Build It In just three days last fall, community volunteers and Norwich University cadets built a playground in the center of Northfield Falls. A lime-green house…
