The Dad Issue 2021
Changing Societal Views About Dads; Gift Ideas for Father’s Day; When Your Son Becomes Your Running Coach; Exploring Niquette Bay State Park
Thrifted Gift Ideas for Father’s Day
As much as I love thrift-store shopping for myself, for a long time I was hesitant to buy secondhand gifts for others. But as thrifting has gained popularity, my uneasiness has faded. I’ve found that the secondhand gifts I buy are much more thoughtful, personal and often more practical than things I used to buy…
How My Son Became My Running Coach
“Come on, Dad! Really push yourself for this last stretch! Bring it in! All the way home!” I stumbled toward my pint-size coach, gasping down the bike path in my best approximation of a jog, wondering in that moment why I had not only agreed to this but suggested it. Aside from a few flirtations…
Vermont Visionaries: ECHO Exhibit Creator Chris Whitaker
As the STEM & Exhibits Project Manager at ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Colchester resident Chris Whitaker is responsible for designing and improving exhibits at the lakefront science center. The latest exhibit, “Engineer It!,” includes a vertical wind tube where guests engineer materials they can fly, a shake table to investigate structures that can…
A Parting Message From Our Managing Editor
Seven and a half years ago, I was at a crossroads. After teaching elementary school for the bulk of my twenties, first in the South Bronx and then in Burlington, I’d left the profession. I’d gone back to graduate school at Saint Michael’s College to work toward my certification as a literacy specialist and was…
Celebrating Identity Through Portraiture
My favorite project to do with students each year is the surrealist self-portrait. In this unit of study, we practice skills in realistic portraiture — understanding face proportions, drawing facial features, and shading realistically — but we also discuss surrealist art and reflect on identity. In imaginative, symbolic self-portraits, students get to communicate who they…
Books for All Ages That Celebrate Dads
One of my earliest memories is of snuggling up in my father’s arms as he read to me and my sister before bedtime. His enthusiasm for books made me feel like we were the first children to discover Templeton the rat in Charlotte’s Web. I learned to love reading because he loved reading. Our favorite…
Should You Adjust Your Parenting Style to Your Child’s Personality?
Raising kids can be tricky enough, which may leave some parents wondering why Dr. David Rettew chose to name his new book Parenting Made Complicated: What Science Really Knows About the Greatest Debates of Early Childhood. But if moms and dads want a research-based parenting guide that’s tailored to each child’s temperament, they shouldn’t be…
Lyric Theatre Leaps Into In-Person Shows With ‘A Year With Frog and Toad’
Last March, the cast of Lyric Theatre’s production of Matilda was rehearsing up to 16 hours a week for an April run at the Flynn when the pandemic put an abrupt halt to the show. Nearly 15 months later, the Roald Dahl-inspired musical is still on hold. But the South Burlington-based company is preparing to…
Trail Adventures at Colchester’s Niquette Bay State Park
I have loved Niquette Bay State Park since my first week in Vermont. When I moved here in 1999 to begin my graduate studies, one of the first places our class went was the state-owned parcel of land in Colchester called “Malletts Bay State Park.” It was not yet an official state park and did…
Incorporating Earth-Friendly Practices — Morning, Noon and Night
My husband and I share the load of, well, everything. The last year has highlighted how important our partnership is, and I’m grateful that we both believe that a marriage isn’t just 50-50 — it’s two people giving 100 percent and picking up each other’s slack during busy or stressful times. I have been the…
Recipe: Do-It-Yourself Poke Bowls
I have never traveled to Hawaii, but I have been transported there by eating a poke bowl. Poke — pronounced poh-KEH — originated in the Aloha State and means “to slice or cut.” In its purest form, it refers to marinated bite-size chunks of sushi-grade raw fish — like tuna or salmon. As a cultural…
Marking the Day My Husband and I Met
Our daughter’s birthday, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and the anniversary of the day my husband and I met all take place in the time frame of a month and a half. We mark the birth of our child, my birth as a mother, my husband’s birth as a father and the birth of our relationship.…
How Babies Benefit From Music
I held the small speaker up to my wife Shannon’s perfectly round pregnant belly. We smiled at each other, both a little giddy. I pushed play. Paul McCartney’s voice wafted into the air. We waited. Almost 13 years later, I can’t say for sure what we were expecting to happen. Would sending some Beatles or…
Changing Societal Views About the Role of Dads
The weeks that followed the birth of our first daughter, Coraline, in June of 2016, were a blur. Time lost most of its meaning as my partner, Stephanie, and I quickly adapted to a new schedule of sporadic sleeping, devouring slices of cold pizza at 3 a.m., and changing soiled diapers and doing laundry on…
Portrait: Rija and Mathéo
“We’re very fortunate because the YMCA opened during COVID. It’s tough to be a parent in the United States. I think our experience is not atypical. I think everyone is in the same boat, just with a different story.” For 12 years, Rija Ramahatra has worked as associate program director for the master’s degree in…
