Kids VT, November 2016
20 Ways to Give Back; Local Gift Guide; Navigating Family After Parents Separate
A South Burlington Teen Sets Her Sights on Changing the World
NAME: Kiran Waqar AGE: 16 TOWN: South Burlington In the last year, Kiran Waqar has collected blankets for Syrians, made activity bags for hospitalized children and helped start a local chapter of Results, a nonprofit that works to end hunger and poverty. So it’s fitting that during a family vacation to Pakistan last summer, she made time…
Language Lessons: A Montréal-Born Mom Reflects on Learning — and Teaching Her Kids — French
Last year, my oldest daughter, Dahlia, dared me to take her to Paris, suggesting we leave her three younger sisters behind. After years of resisting, she’d developed an interest in learning French, which surprised me. It also got me thinking about my own conflicted feelings toward the French language. I was born and raised in…
A New State Park for Vermont Families
Exciting news for outdoor enthusiasts: There’s a new Vermont state park for families to enjoy. Last month, the Carson Davidson Revocable Trust Fund donated 204 acres of land in Hubbardton to the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. The Taconic Mountains Ramble State Park was the vision of documentary filmmaker and author Carson “Kit”…
350Vermont Gets Kids in on the Action
350Vermont, a nonprofit devoted to solving the climate crisis, has organized campaigns to divest the state from fossil fuels, stop the Vermont Gas Systems proposal to construct a fracked gas pipeline across Hinesburg’s Geprags Park and provide financial incentives to make Vermonters’ homes more energy efficient. Now it’s hoping to spur families to take action…
A Cat Tale: Did Tiger Take the Rain?
As an anthropologist, Burlington resident Charles Norris-Brown traveled the world doing fieldwork related to conservation. While in India in 1999 with Project Tiger, he asked locals how he could help promote forest and tiger preservation. Their answer? Write and illustrate a children’s book. Fast-forward 17 years: In October, Norris-Brown’s first picture book, Did Tiger Take…
Librarian Wins Humanities Educator Award
People rarely go into the teaching profession for the glory. Nevertheless, recognition seems only fair. Last month, the Vermont Humanities Council selected Joyce Yoo Babbitt, librarian at Browns River Middle School in Jericho, to receive the Victor R. Swenson Humanities Educator Award. Created in 2003, the award honors an educator in grades 6 through 12…
The Art Of… A-Frame Building
On a warm October day, six kids tromped up Pancake Hill at Moretown’s Pony Farm toward a half-built A-frame structure they’d worked on over the last month. The 7- to 12-year-olds gathered in a circle, discussing their accomplishments and what they still needed to do. It was the fifth session of Sculpture School, a six-week…
Be the Change
My son and daughter are 6 and 9 now — big kids who strap on their backpacks and walk into the school building on their own. I can no longer rock them to sleep or scoop them up in my arms when they scrape their knees. I feel sad sometimes, watching them grow up and…
No Spare Time: An International Pair on Running a Bowling Alley While Raising Kids
When Rachel van den Berg moved abroad, she always planned to return to the United States someday. She grew up in Stowe, then studied in the Netherlands during college, where she met her husband, Mark. They married in Vermont and settled in Utrecht, where Rachel did development work for a nonprofit and Mark was employed…
Family-Friendly Cookbooks
Whether you’re baking sweet treats for holiday gifts or preparing savory dishes for family feasts, there’s a good chance you’ll be doing a lot of cooking in the coming months. We asked two locals in the know — Courtney Contos of Chef Contos Kitchen & Store in Shelburne, and Sandy Scott of the Galaxy Bookshop…
What Should Parents Know About the Seasonal Flu Shot?
Flu season is officially upon us. Medical experts can’t predict how serious it will be this year or exactly when it will affect Vermonters. But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics agree that one of the best protections against this serious respiratory ailment is for everyone over…
Warehouse Wandering at Ikea Montréal
When it came time to get my 2-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Joni, her first big-kid bed, I had what turned out to be a brilliant idea: We’d go to Ikea in Montréal. We could have found a suitable bed closer to our Middlebury home, but it’s hard to beat the prices at the Swedish retailer. And I…
Keep it Local: Support Vermont Businesses With These 10 Holiday Gift Ideas
Looking for the perfect one-of-a-kind gift for your kids? Want to support craftspeople and entrepreneurs from the Green Mountain State? We’ve got you covered on both fronts. Our holiday gift guide features 10 fun items from Vermont-based companies sure to make your holidays a little happier and brighter this year. Cozy hats ($32) and neck…
Parting Ways: Navigating Family After Parents Separate
The decision to leave my partner didn’t come after one massive fight. And if our separation was waiting in the wings, I wasn’t aware of it. Just last year we were raising a then-2-year-old, all bubbly, inquisitive and joyful, and had entered the summer with ambitions of sharing our love of the outdoors with her.…
Aerial Dance
When my sons were toddlers, they loved to tumble on mats, flip over parallel bars and balance on beams at our local gymnastics studio. But by the time they went to elementary school, they didn’t know any other boys their age who did gymnastics. Eventually, they decided to drop out. It made me sad because,…
Preschool Playground
Davis Studio’s new preschool program follows an arts-based curriculum, but that’s not the only thing that makes it unique. Nestled behind its new home — a stately colonial on Shelburne Road where the studio relocated last spring — is an elaborate play area. Highlights include a mud/snow kitchen, Daisy the bright yellow sailboat, a claw-foot…
A Sweet Family Tradition: Pennsylvania Dutch Shoofly Pie
As a young bride, my maternal grandmother — who grew up in Pennsylvania — once asked her new mother-in-law what she should make for her sweet-toothed husband for dessert. The answer? Shoofly pie. My grandmother didn’t know how to make this particular dish, but her mother-in-law assured her it was simple: Just pour molasses in…
Do Good, Feel Good: 20 Ways Families Can Give Back to Their Communities
November isn’t just for giving thanks — it’s also the beginning of the giving season, when nonprofits mail their end-of-year fundraising letters and adults write checks to support their work. Most kids don’t have checkbooks, though. So how can the younger generation support those in need? And how can parents help their children see the…
