Kids VT, February 2015
Need a Night Out? Date-Night Dispatches; Summer Camp Guide; Treats for Valentines Day
2015 Vermont Camp Directory
div#storyBody > ul { margin:10px 0 30px 0 !important; } div#storyBody > ul > li { margin-top: 6px !important; line-height:1.4em; } In Vermont, schools let out in mid-June and start back up again at the end of August. For 10 weeks or so, kids are hanging out at home — unless you can find something…
What’s the Best Date You’ve Gone on Since Your Kids Were Born?
James Henault, Richmond Owner, Harvest Light Design, Daughters Penelope, 3, and Elise, 1 Last spring my wife, Justine, told me to keep a particular date open, but she kept what we would be doing a surprise until the day came. She had arranged for friends to come to the house to watch our girls so…
Art Room
When they moved here from Colorado four and a half years ago, Brenda Baker and her husband, Tom, knew they wanted their new home to have a designated space for creating art. Brenda, the front office manager at Lake Champlain Waldorf School in Shelburne, is a painter and a strong believer in art as a…
One to Watch: Katie Holmes
Katie Holmes didn’t like what she saw in women’s magazines — so she created her own. There are no Photoshopped images of models or tips on how to please your boyfriend in the first issue of Holmes’ Future Game Changers, currently available as a digital publication on issuu.com. Instead, its pages are brimming with stories…
Ice Castles at Stratton Mountain Resort
Artist Brent Christensen takes ice sculpture to a new level. Since 2009 he has created massive, LED-lit ice castles around the U.S. This winter, his spectacular exhibit spans two acres at Stratton Mountain Resort. Explore frozen waterfalls, mazes, enormous archways, tunnels, ice thrones and other formations, all created entirely by hand using icicles and water.…
Children’s Book Based on Real-life Orangutan
A simian escape artist stars in a new children’s book by Shelburne author Laurel Neme. Orangutan Houdini is based on real-life orangutan Fu Manchu, who stymied his caretakers at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska. The book shows Fu bartering for a tool, picking a lock and freeing himself and his pals to romp…
Vermont Public Schools Were More Likely to Suspend Students with Disabilities
Vermont public schools were two to three times more likely to suspend students with disabilities during the 2011-12 academic year, according to a report recently released by Vermont Legal Aid and the Vermont School Discipline Reform Coalition. The report, titled Kicked Out! Unfair and Unequal discipline in Vermont’s public Schools, also tracked suspensions for Native…
Homemade Jelly Candy
When I was a kid, my family took summer trips to the Jersey Shore. My parents were not big on sweets, but they loosened the rules on vacation. At the boardwalk candy shop, they’d let me buy a tiny bag of colorful candied fruit slices dipped in sugar — and I’d make it last as…
How Getting Fitbits Helped Our Family
Last fall, my partner, Ann-Elise, and I wanted to re-energize our marriage. Juggling two kids and two careers had left us with little time to nurture our relationship. After 16 years together — eight of them as parents — we were in a rut. Nothing romantic about it, but in November, we purchased Fitbits, electronic fitness…
Camp Directory
In Vermont, schools let out in mid-June and start back up again at the end of August. For 10 weeks or so, kids are hanging out at home — unless you can find something else for them to do. Luckily, the Green Mountain State is home to a vast array of camps and summer programs…
Making Chocolate Bars
“Do I have to wear one of those bonnets?” my 7-year-old daughter, Mira, asked, eyeing the hairnet-clad participants in our chocolate-bar-making class. When I informed her that yes, hairnets were required, she reluctantly put one on. “I look weird,” she proclaimed. But once the class at Burlington’s South End Kitchen got started, she quickly forgot…
Four Pairs of Parents Reignite Romance on Unconventional Dates
Raising kids is a lot of things — challenging, gratifying, maddening, joyful — but romantic it is not. Parents of young children are sleep-deprived, overworked and run ragged much of the time. They cling to one precious goal: Make it to bedtime in one piece. Under those circumstances, maintaining a loving relationship with a partner…
Just How Dangerous Are Button Batteries and Toy Magnets?
Toys with lights and electronic sounds are tantalizing to young children — but so, too, are their small, disc-shaped lithium batteries. You’ll find these “button batteries” everywhere: in cameras, hearing aids, bathroom scales, fitness watches, calculators and flashlights. But don’t leave them lying around, says Dr. Lewis First, head of Pediatrics at the University of…
Write-Your-Own Contest Winners
Congratulations to these enthusiastic young writers who submitted their creative stories inspired by Ezra Jack Keats’ The Snowy Day. Each wins a $25 gift certificate to Crow Bookshop in Burlington. We loved reading about your cool adventures. We’ve shared an excerpt from one of the winning stories below. “The snow is piling up. Jamie is…
Love Stories
In honor of Valentine’s Day on February 14, Kids VT asked librarians to recommend books with love or friendship themes. Harriet, You’ll Drive Me Wild! by Mem Fox, illustrated by Marla Frazee Spirited Harriet gets herself into one mess after another over the course of the day. Her mother tries to be patient, but after…
Light My Fire
Parenting has brought my husband, Daniel, and me closer in many ways, but it’s also strained our relationship. Couple time has been elusive since our daughter, Joni, was born nine months ago. When she was just 9 days old, we bundled her into the Moby wrap and ventured to Pizzeria Verità in Burlington for my…
Exploring the Timeless Appeal of the Nation’s Oldest Camp
If you loved summer camp, Matt Storey has got your number. Don’t forget to ask about his. Storey spent 15 summers as a camper and later a counselor at the all-boys’ Camp Dudley, on the shores of Lake Champlain in Westport, N.Y. Five years ago, he became the camp’s director. Today, the 40-year-old former camper…
Grappling For Kids
Grappling looks rough. If you were to judge the sport by the photo that accompanies this story — a kid holding another other kid in a leg lock — you might think, Uh-uh, I’m not signing my kid up for this. Too violent. “Give it a chance,” urges Noah Weisman. The 35-year-old father of two…
