The Dad Issue 2016
Dear Old Dad: Father Reflect on Having children Later in Life; Early Summer Hikes; BTV Little League in Cuba; Family Gardening Projects; Québec City Weekend
Sunflower Circles & Dry Beans: Family Gardening Projects to Sustain Your Summer
Editor’s Note: To help you make the most of Vermont’s short but sweet growing season, we asked writer and farmer Laura Sorkin to recommend a few family gardening activities. We hope this series helps you cultivate your kids’ interest in and connection to nature. While most kids delight in messing around in the dirt, few…
A Mountain-Biking Teen Fulfills His Need for Speed
NAME: Aidan Casner TOWN: Montpelier AGE: 17 Aidan Casner’s first mountain bike ride did not go well. “I kept falling,” he says, “I had a terrible time.” That was 11 years ago, when he rode at Kingdom Trails in East Burke with his dad, professional photographer (and Seven Days and Kids VT contributor) Jeb Wallace-Brodeur.…
A Shelburne Golf Course Offers New Camps for Kids
Imagine a sunny summer Saturday where you and the kids head to the golf course, hit a few balls, then unwind with Ping-Pong, hot dogs and cold drinks. That vision will soon be a reality thanks to Steve Gonsalves, owner of Gonzo’s HD Sports in South Burlington and PGA director of instruction at Kwiniaska Golf…
Feast on a Farm-Fresh Breakfast — and Meet the Cows
Want to know where your food comes from? This summer, you can go right to the source. At Breakfast on the Farm, families spend the morning at Nea-Tocht Farm, a 500-cow dairy farm in Ferrisburgh run by Raymond and Linda Vander Wey, their five children and their grandchildren. When kids arrive, they’ll receive a scavenger-hunt sheet…
Vermont’s Linda Urban Tackles Father-Son Bonding in a New Book
Splitting time between divorced parents is a reality for many kids, but few children’s books chronicle what it’s really like. Vermont author Linda Urban tackles the sensitive subject in Weekends with Max and his Dad, the first of three books geared to kids ages 6 to 9 that follows third-grader Max as he adjusts to…
Up, Up and Away!
Founded in 1992, the Young Eagles Program has a high-flying mission: Give kids ages 8-17 their first free ride in an airplane. Since its inception, the national program, run by the Experimental Aircraft Association in Oshkosh, Wis., has taken 1.8 million kids to new heights. The Highgate-based EAA Chapter 613, one of four EAA chapters…
Take the Kids to the Comedy Club for Some Good Clean Fun
Five o’clock on a Saturday night isn’t exactly prime time to see live comedy — unless you’re headed to “Good Clean Fun” at the Vermont Comedy Club in Burlington. The monthly, family-friendly improvisational show delivers exactly what it promises. On the first Saturday in May, seven members of the club’s house improv teams, the Unmentionables…
Shelburne’s Rustic Roots Is a Kid-Friendly Brunch Option
Brunch options are few and far between in southern Chittenden County. So most weekends, I’m the one running from my Charlotte home to the nearby Mobil station in Ferrisburgh when we’re out of eggs or maple syrup. But recently, I wanted to treat my wife and two kids to a tasty midday brunch at Shelburne’s…
With Good Communication and Online Organization, Two Fathers Flourish
A big welcome sign hangs outside the front door of Jason Lorber and Nat Lew’s house in Burlington’s Old North End. Affixed to the doorpost is a mezuzah — a parchment scroll in a decorative case — that signals theirs is a Jewish home. Inside, a piano, books and family photos fill the cozy living…
A Novelist and Podcast Host Reconciles Parenting and Passion Projects
The other night, instead of reading books to my children and sharing bedtime duties with my wife, I was in my attic debating who is the superior piano man: Elton John or Billy Joel. A friend and I recently started a twice-monthly podcast called Flat Sharp. In each episode, we discuss a random pairing of…
All About Dads: Three Books Highlight the Paternal Bond
Lots of books focus on the relationship between mother and child. Rarer are the stories that highlight the paternal bond. In honor of Father’s Day, we asked Amy Graham, a bookseller at the Vermont Book Shop in Middlebury, to recommend titles that give dads their due. For an additional suggestion, check out our write-up of…
What Should Parents Know About Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is one of the most common, and most commonly misunderstood, learning disabilities. Children who have good vocabularies and excel in other subjects may still have difficulty reading and recognizing letters, numbers and words — telltale signs of dyslexia. Though kids can get frustrated when they struggle with reading, most people with dyslexia can go…
Father Time
In between Christmas and New Year’s, I spent a couple of days with my extended family at a historic lakeside hotel in New York we’ve been going to for many years. There was no snow on the ground, so we were able to hike one of the most challenging trails on the property, one that…
Vermont Day-cations: Cobblestone Streets, Flaky Croissants, Street Art — A Weekend in Québec City
Before this spring, I’d visited Québec City just once on a high school trip with my French class. That was February of 1994, during the city’s annual winter carnival. It was so cold that, rather than frolicking in the snow, my most vivid recollections involve sitting on a school bus trying desperately to warm up…
Take a Hike on Ripton’s Robert Frost Interpretive Trail
I used to hike to get somewhere. If there was no big payoff at the end — a 360-degree view or a breathtaking waterfall — I just wasn’t interested. What’s the point of walking in the woods if you’re not going to see something spectacular? Then I had a kid. Hiking with a toddler is,…
Burlington Little Leaguers Take the Field in Cuba
When the American national anthem sounded across the baseball field in Havana, Cuba, Vermont Little League coach Jim Carter was moved to tears. It was only the third time since the 1960s embargo that an American team had played baseball on Cuban soil; the last was in March, when President Obama watched the Tampa Bay Rays…
Jump Into Summer With These Vermont Hikes
It’s hard for Vermonters to stay indoors when the days turn sunny and warm and the hillsides are bursting with new pops of color. Every spring breeze and trilling birdsong seems to be calling us outside. On these days, nothing is better than a hike. As you ease into the hiking season, your legs might…
A Backyard Tree House With Zip Line and Hammock
Jason Mikula was obsessed. For one month in the summer of 2014, the father of two could think of little else besides finishing the tree house in his Killington backyard. When his wife, Polly, asked him what he wanted to do after work each night that July, he’d reply incredulously, “What do you mean? I’m…
Dear Old Dad: Fathers Reflect on Having Children Later in Life
In my 51 years of life, I have accomplished exactly two noteworthy physical feats. In May 2009, I completed the Vermont City Marathon. Later that year, I became the father of twin girls. As I crossed the finish line on race day, I was excited to be joining two elite societies: that special club of…
