Kids VT, May 2020
Birth Contemplation: The Uncertainty of Welcoming a Baby During a Pandemic
Things to Do for Families in Rutland County This Summer
Looking for fun family outings and activities in Rutland County this summer? Here’s a list of events and resources to help parents, caregivers and kids to make the most of this sweet season. Find options for free and low-cost fun listed here, and browse through the locations and organizations listed on our site to learn…
An Artisan Mom Pivots to Mask Making For Now
On March 13, the orders stopped. Sophie Kirpan of Fayston had spent the last four years building her brand, Vermont Tribe. The business specializes in baby onesies and shirts emblazoned with patches in the shape of Vermont, flannel bibs, dog bandanas, and plush bunnies with floppy ears — all sewed by Kirpan. Prior to COVID-19,…
Handmade Scavenger Hunts Get Families Outside
Scary and unfair as the pandemic may feel, the thing that has surprised me most is the sweetness that’s arisen in response to it. People seem to have a lot of generosity and creativity pent up inside, just waiting to be unleashed. Here are two recent offerings I’ve encountered that provide families with a socially…
Creating a Visual Schedule to Organize Time at Home
My family has two working adults and two children, ages 3 and 5. Like many of you, we are now under the same roof 24-7. In order to create kind but strong boundaries around snack and screen time, we created a visual schedule that lives in our kitchen to help keep us organized when so…
Make-A-Wish Vermont Still Making Local Kids’ Dreams Come True
Times may be uncertain, but Make-a-Wish Vermont hasn’t stopped working to fulfill the wishes of local children with critical illnesses. The process for the 58 current “wish kids” just looks a little different these days. Typically, volunteer wish granters — the organization has around 60 of them — do at-home visits after a child or…
Demand is High at Vermont Donor Milk Center
COVID-19 has slowed commerce in all corners of the state. But at the Vermont Donor Milk Center in Essex Junction — a nonprofit organization opened in January — the demand for pasteurized donor breast milk is still high. Co-executive director Amy Wenger says that since mid-March, there’s been an uptick in new moms seeking both…
Teen Musician Creates Documentary Series in Northeast Kingdom
When she was in sixth grade, Barnet resident Siri Jolliffe — then a competitive gymnast — broke her back when she fell from equipment during practice. The injury ended her gymnastics career, so Jolliffe, now 14, poured her heart into music. While recovering from surgery, she began writing “Stronger,” a song about her healing process.…
Mom’s Coffee Cake Provides Comfort While Apart
When I was seven months pregnant with my now-17-year-old daughter, my nesting instinct kicked in with full force. No, I did not get the inspiration to purge closets and clean things from top to bottom. Instead, I became obsessed with making the perfect coffee cake, convinced I would not be a “proper” mother if I…
This Mother’s Day the World Feels Different But the Balancing Act Remains
I became a mother three years ago, in early May. On my first Mother’s Day, my daughter was just a few days old, but I had already begun to realize the odd balancing act that motherhood is for me. That balancing act means that I trust the strength of my own child, even as I…
Tips for Eating Healthy at Home from a Local Dietician
Who among us hasn’t eaten one too many homemade chocolate chip cookies or grazed mindlessly on salty snacks while staying at home? Being quarantined means our eating habits have changed, not always for the better. Gina Rancourt is a registered dietician with Whole Health Nutrition in Colchester. She often works with families looking to create…
Local Farms Welcome Cute Lambs, Calves, Chicks
Last April, my teenagers and I took a spring day trip to the Billings Farm & Museum in Woodstock to admire the baby animals on the farm. Even as adolescents, the girls were enchanted with the fuzzy chicks and wobbly legged lambs. We stopped in the barn for a lesson about milking and petted the…
Make Your Own Multi-Media Collage
When my kids were younger, they loved “free art” time, during which I gave them a variety of supplies and let them have at it. The process — finger painting, gluing, cutting and ripping — was always well worth the effort. But the product? It was often a muddy, brown mess. Here’s a project that…
A Photojournalist Captures Family Life Under Quarantine
At first, I wondered whether the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order would be like living inside our own personal snow globe, amid an extensive collection of neighboring globes. My 7-year-old, Remy, and 3-year-old, Bo, immediately embraced the change, donning an impressive rotation of masks, capes, crowns and costumes. They were more prepared for creating their…
Childcare Centers Provide Critical Care for Essential Workers
When Gov. Phil Scott closed schools and childcare centers in March, families were abruptly faced with a new reality. For parents who are able to do their jobs remotely, that has meant trying to figure out how to actually get work done while simultaneously caring for their kids and helping them access online learning. But…
Creative Ways to Connect With Grandparents
While waiting for the toast to pop up so I could feed my children breakfast the other day, I stared at the pile of dishes in the sink. I felt like I had just washed them the night before, and yet here I was, looking at another stack. In the weeks since Gov. Phil Scott…
Hinesburg Neighborhood Gathers for Nightly Noisemaking
Photographing families on their front porches has become a popular way to document life during COVID-19. Jamie Cudney, a pediatric nurse at the University of Vermont Medical Center, was interested in the idea as a way of “capturing this moment in time for my neighborhood,” she said. On Friday, April 3, she and her neighbors…
What Online Education Looks Like for a Kindergartener with Special Needs
Before COVID-19, my 6-year-old daughter Lily’s daily routine went something like this: Wake up at 7 a.m. Eat breakfast. Get dressed. Go to school. Hang up a coat and backpack and say good morning to her kindergarten teacher and full-time paraeducator. Complete modified schoolwork for reading, writing and math with the paraeducator’s help. Go out…
Green Up Vermont Celebrates 50 Years
On April 18, 1970, then-governor Deane Davis ordered all of Vermont’s interstate highways closed from 9 a.m. to noon. The reason? So Vermonters could walk along them safely, picking up trash as part of the state’s first Green Up Day. The idea for one day designated for a community-run statewide cleanup was brought to Davis…
Yoga Pose of the Month: Flower Pose
Try this fun balancing pose this spring! Benefits: Strengthens core muscles and arms Opens hips and chest Improves balance and concentration Steps: Sit down with the soles of your feet together. Bring your hands to the floor behind you for support and engage your core muscles. Lift your feet into the air. Try this challenge:…
North Branch Nature Center Offers Virtual Walks
This spring, staffers at North Branch Nature Center have made it a mission to help families remain healthy and engaged in the natural world — despite the challenges posed by COVID-19. To that end, the Montpelier-based center has embarked on a new project: creating a series of virtual nature walks, intended to offer families guidance…
Losses and Gains
You know that advice, when you’re contemplating a big decision, to make two columns and list pros and cons on either side? I sometimes find myself trying to make sense of this new reality we’re all living in by creating a chart like that in my head — the things we’ve lost and the things…
Barre Play Space Owner Shutters Business for Good
In December 2018, Jackie Scribner of Cabot realized a dream she’d had for years. The grandmother of two opened Romp, a 3,000-square-foot indoor play space in Barre. It catered to families with children ages 10 and under, and offered multiple ways for young kids to burn energy — jumping in a bounce house, tumbling on…
The Uncertainty of Welcoming a Baby During a Pandemic
At 37 weeks pregnant, Teal Chalek of Shelburne is in what some call the “nesting” phase. The term refers to the tendency women in their third trimester of pregnancy often have to stay close to home — cleaning, organizing and stocking up on essentials — in preparation for the baby’s arrival. In Chalek’s case, however,…
