Kids VT, August 2018
Holding on to Summer; A Train Trip to Brattleboro; Keeping Kids Safe Around Water; A Family’s Garden Paradise; The Vermont Teen Running for Governor
Mom Takes Notes, August 2018
For me, summer is a season of nostalgia, filled with memories of growing up in Finland. This year, my sense of nostalgia has been mixed with an urge to introduce my 1-year-old daughter, Saga, to my own childhood memories, as if it were possible for her to inherit the experiences of another person. As a…
Renaissance Kid: Creativity and Curiosity Fuel a Young Artist
Name: Connor Byam Age: 11 Town: Burlington Connor Byam is a fast talker. Within a few minutes of speaking with him, a plausible theory emerges as to why this is the case: His mouth is simply trying to keep pace with his very active, creative and curious mind. The rising sixth grader is an avid…
Back in the Saddle: How Indoor Cycling Helped a New Mom Regain Her Confidence
On a cold morning last winter, I found myself pedaling a stationary bike in a dimly lit room, surrounded by a half dozen other cyclists, all of us sweating along to “Malibu” by Miley Cyrus. Although I wasn’t covering any actual ground, I was making progress: 18 months after my daughter, Virginia, was born, I…
Finding Their Voices
On January 20, 2017, the day of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, I flew to New York City with my then-9-year-old daughter, Mira. We traveled there so that we could participate in the following day’s Women’s March, in which people of all ages gathered peacefully around the world to show support and solidarity for women’s rights…
Bring on the Cousins! Why Connecting With Extended Family Matters
Every summer of my childhood, our family piled into our station wagon and traveled 700 miles from Burlington to Pittsburgh to visit our extended family. We’d drive for 12 hours straight, stopping only for bathroom breaks and sandwiches. We entertained ourselves by doing Mad Libs and looking for the letters of the alphabet in road…
A Fantastic Find
In 2006, Erin Rounds, a teacher at Union Street School in Springfield, took her third grade class to Dinosaur Footprints in Holyoke, Mass., to check out the fossilized tracks left by prehistoric creatures 190 million years ago. “Vermont doesn’t have anything this cool,” some of her students complained. Searching for an archaeological find in the…
How Can Adults Keep Kids Safe Around Water?
Splashing around in pools, lakes, rivers and swimming holes is one of the best parts of summer in Vermont. Swimming is great exercise for kids — and lots of fun, too — but it requires vigilance on the part of adults. On average, about 800 kids die from drowning nationwide each year, making it the…
Destination Recreation: Montpelier to Brattleboro by Train
Four summers ago, my family traveled by train from Albany, N.Y., to Santa Fe, N.M., and home again. With more than two-and-a-half days of travel — one way — that’s a heck of a long journey. But I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Traveling by train eliminates the When are we going to get…
Celebrating Civics: A Sampling of Entries From Our Good Citizen Challenge
Can you name the three branches of government or the five freedoms specified in the First Amendment? Do you know the Vermont state motto? Answering all three correctly earns 15 points in Kids VT’s Good Citizen Challenge, a summer civics project we created with support from the Vermont Community Foundation. Open to all Vermont K-12…
Habitat: Gardeners’ Paradise
Good parents, Dr. Jonas Salk famously said, give their children roots and wings. Stacy Fraser and Nate Carr can most definitely check the first box. They have surrounded their Charlotte home — and their children, 12-year-old Sawyer and 8-year-old Mavis — with plants. Flowers and bushes grace their front yard and wind around their 19th-century,…
Family Flicks
Calling all film-loving families! The Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival has added a prequel. The day before the 4th annual festival opens, Kids & Family Day will give cinephiles of all ages the chance to screen three family-friendly films and participate in kid-focused programming. The festivities, based at downtown Middlebury’s Marquis Theatre, begin at 9 a.m.,…
Shoot for the Stars
The Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for world’s largest astronomy lesson this month with a galactic gathering in downtown St. Johnsbury. The current record — 1,104 participants — was set in 2015 in Kalamunda, Australia. Fairbanks hopes to attract between 1,500 and 2,000 stargazers to its event, said…
Making Magic
For the past decade, the Nature Museum, which celebrates the natural history of northern New England, has drawn visitors to Grafton for its Fairy House Festival. Located in the gardens, fields and woods that surround the museum, the two-day celebration offers an array of whimsical activities. After entering through a fairy gate and being greeted…
Italian Garbanzo Bean Salad: An Easy, Colorful Summer Dish
On some summer days, it’s just too hot to cook. But everyone still has to eat! Though it might be tempting to just dig out a pint of ice cream for dinner, I’d like to offer a more nutritious option. This dish is inspired by an Italian salad called insalata di ceci. You can modify…
Rising Freshman: Meet Ethan Sonneborn, the Bristol Teen Running to be Vermont’s Next Governor
Ethan Sonneborn has never run for elected office before — assuming you don’t count his stint on Bristol Elementary School’s student council. He’s never been employed, other than mowing lawns and walking neighbors’ dogs. And, he’s never even voted, though in fairness, Sonneborn isn’t eligible to do so for another four years. But none of…
