By Kirsten DiChiappari
With school just around the corner (or already underway for some), chances are you’re thinking about settling back into a routine: setting earlier bedtimes, picking out clothes, packing lunches, registering for sports, etc.

If you pack your child’s lunches or if your child purchases or receives lunch at school, ask yourself: Do you know what’s in it?

A registered dietitian told me recently that there are thirty-eight ingredients in a McDonald’s chicken nugget and thirteen of them are derived from corn. The peanut butter in your cupboard may contain ingredients other than peanuts. The ketchup and pasta sauce in my fridge have high fructose corn syrup in them. The dinner rolls that come with the salad have trans fats. It’s getting so it’s not safe to open your mouth anymore.

Now here’s the part that I want you to remember: Nearly one in five (18.8%) Rhode Island children entering kindergarten during the school year 2006-07 was obese, with a BMI at or greater than the ninety-fifth percentile. That’s One in Five.

I believe that parents aren’t apathetic, but in many ways, we are ignorant. When we put our children on the bus in the morning, we firmly believe that no one would do anything that isn’t in the best interests of our children. They will be safe, well fed, and physically and mentally active while they are in school.

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By Katy Killilea

Nominally, they’re both farms, but neither is the kind where you can buy food. Coggeshall Farm is a farm museum, and Mount Hope Farm is a park for easy hiking. They are very close to each other and both are ideal little stops for kids in Bristol.

On our trip, we started at Coggeshall Farm. This is one of the first settled farms in New England, and the Poppasquash Road property is stunning. It provides a low-key way to get up-close to farm animals. There’s no gimmick here. It’s not a zoo. There are no signs describing the breeds, and the only people working there are carrying out their farm chores (not as in, “Look at me using ye olde tools”). Real farm work, just as it was done hundreds of years ago, is a vital part of the operation to maintain the farm today.

Speckled hens run free over the grass, baby lambs hide out in a shady stall, and a donkey, a cat, and giant cattle of some kind (no informational placards) munch grass and swat flies all within an arm’s reach. Our kids were very interested in patting the donkey. They also had fun pointing out heaps of sheep poop in the grass and chasing the chickens, who proved to be uncatchable. There’s also a house to explore, with old cooking pots, a wool spinning wheel, and a loom.
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This month at Free For All Saturday, the RISD Museum celebrates all the changes and renovations that have been happening at the museum. This is a program that lets you dream and build big! In workshops, team up on a “MiniCity” project or design a home interior. Learn all about the new Chace Center and sketch your own original building design, to be exhibited on the day of The Chace Center inauguration, September 27. Join the master of musical invention Leonard Solomon (and his Amazing Bellowphone!) for a lively performance as well.

Details:
When: 11am - 4pm
The Leonard Solomon performance is in the Main Gallery from 1 pm - 4 pm. If the weather permits, the performer will do a “pre-show” juggling act outside on the terrace of the Farago entrance at 12:30 pm.
Where: RISD Museum of Art, 224 Benefit Street, Providence 02906
Ages: 3 and up
Cost: Free
(401) 454-6530

By Melissa Brusso

She ran one lap around (400 meters) and we just stopped and watched her. Whaaaa? Look at her—-she looks like some kind of…runner. Wow, Stretch—good job! You ran all the way around the track! Whoa, what is she doing? She’s going around a second time? Nah, don’t worry—she’s wearing a dress and sandals–her feet are going to start hurting. She’ll get tired—she doesn’t realize how long it is. Um. I think she’s going all the way around again. Look at the expression on her face—it’s like when she’s swinging really high at the park. Look—twice around. What is that, a half mile?

This week, I was reminded of the first time I saw Stretch run around a track. A few years back, there was a traveling Jackie Robinson exhibit on the Bryant University campus. We had brought Stretch, then four years old, and LittleMan (Jackie Robinson’s namesake), then eighteen months, to see the exhibit, and we also figured that it would be a nice place to let the kids safely run amok for a little while on a beautiful June day. Well, run amok they did. We had no idea that Stretch would be drawn straight to the track, skipping the dandelions to pick and the bleachers to climb, and not even noticing the lemonade truck (at least not until it was pulling away—oh, the humanity).

She has since experienced the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. The Fun Run for Kids, the Open Meet at the local track club, and her first 5K race. She has been followed by her little brother, who loves a good race–and whose Toddler Marches turned into sprints, and whose sprints have now turned into half miles. She has been hot, lukewarm, and cold, but she always comes back to running. This summer she spent a week at track camp, where likeminded kids are trying out the various track events in a non-competitive environment.

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Are you worried your baby might have colic? Does it seem that he or she is always crying? Have you tried all of the soothing tips and nothing seems to work?

Your baby may have colic if he/she:

• Cries more than 3 hours a day, every day
• Takes as long as an hour to finish a feeding
• Cries and fusses throughout a feeding
• Cries at bedtime every night for more than 1 hour
• Has difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep

If your baby exhibits any of these behaviors, talk to your pediatrician who may be able to identify what is causing the fussiness or recommend the colic clinic. You and your baby deserve support and relief.

Kristen Kardos, MA Ed., and Kathy McGuigan, MSW, the co-founders of RI New Moms Connection provide affordable, accessible pregnancy and new mom groups throughout Rhode Island. In “New Moms Tips” they share their knowledge, resources, and helpful ideas for moms just beginning their journey into parenthood or moms that may need a little refresher.

Photo Credit: iStock Photography

Great Cookbooks for Families
Reviewed by Katy Killilea

The Spatulatta Cookbook by Isabella and Olivia Gerasole is based on the award-winning website launched by the 11- and 9-year-old Gerasole sisters, who love to eat and cook. Liv and Belle’s collection of recipes proves their motto that “Cooking is cool.”

These are recipes for kids to make; they’re written by kids, for kids. Many of the recipes are as much about playing or crafting as they are about cooking (imagine what fun you’ll have sculpting mashed potatoes into ghosts who live in a meatloaf graveyard!). For straitlaced junior chefs who might balk at a hot dog that looks like a pet dog, there are recipes for many classics like pesto, barbecue sauce, and blueberry pie.

Usually this kind of premise veers toward the cheesy and precious, with kids who are appallingly show-biz-y. Not Liv and Belle. Part Rachel Ray and part pre-teen Juno, they demonstrate recipes in their aprons and ponytails, matter-of-factly separating eggs in their small cupped hands.

Every recipe is illustrated with photographs of the preparation process and the finished product. Each recipe also includes a list of what equipment is needed, even little things like a can opener. Dishes are organized by season with additional chapters for snacks and vegetarian options. The book has a hard cover and a spiral binding. All of these features make it easy to use and a pleasure to look through.

TUSCAN BEAN DIP
from The Spatulatta Cookbook
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(The Almighty Chipwich)

I know. You’re reading that headline and wondering what the heck is wrong with me, since you’ve never had any trouble putting away a delicious cone of ice cream, and why mess with a good thing?
Here’s why.

Ice cream in a bowl (or from the pint, if we’re being honest) can be so it’s-9:30-p.m.-and-I-can-eat-this-or-just-go-to-bed. And while ice cream in a cone after the beach is lovely and wonderful, sometimes it is fun to exercise your creative side and elevate the experience to something you can truly call dessert. And calling things dessert is basically my calling in life, if you hadn’t noticed.

Besides, I don’t think you can really say you’ve had a good summer until you’ve had a chipwich, and given that school starts NEXT WEEK in some corners of the state, you’d better get baking.

The Almighty Chipwich

1. Bake your cookies. I will insist here that they be from scratch. Make them fairly small. Let them cool.

2. Scoop your favorite ice cream (I recommend vanilla in this case, but go crazy) onto a cookie in modest amounts. (An overstuffed chipwich is a lot like buying a Betamax in
the 1980s—it seemed like a good idea at the time, but you end up wishing you hadn’t.) Squish the top cookie on the scoop of ice cream.

3. Some might consider the chipwich unfinished without a roll through some mini-chocolate chips or some flaked coconut. I say that is gilding the lily, and I like my chipwiches as pure as, well, vanilla ice cream trapped between two chocolate chip cookies. So I quit there and put them in the freezer. (It’s a good idea to wrap them individually in plastic wrap, freeze them, and then unwrap and serve on a platter.)

And if one of those individually wrapped chipwiches doesn’t make it onto the platter, and you find it later in the freezer? It would probably be good with coffee when your
children are napping.

I’m guessing.

Despite preferring vanilla ice cream in her chipwiches, Anna Sawin is willing to try one in any flavor you make. She blogs at Hank & Willie.

Photo credit: myhusbandcooks.wordpress.com

Here is my 2008 list of fun ways to celebrate the last care-free days of summer vacation—before school starts and the days get shorter and the nights get colder.  Some were on last years’ list, but some traditions are worth repeating.

1. Head to our favorite beach for an early morning walk, midday swim or end of the day supper - our new favorite is Second Beach in Newport, RI

2. Have a potluck picnic with friends at a park, a beach or backyard.

3. Visit Waterfire in downtown Providence, lighting occurs just after sunset.

4. Take a hike at one of the Audubon wildlife refuges.

5. Make an accordion book about what we did this summer. Have kids draw pictures, add photos, collage, tell stories or make lists of what they did or where they went .

6. Fly kites at India Point Park in Providence, RI or Breton Park in Newport, RI

7. Have breakfast at Three Rivers Cafe in Warren, RI

8. Take the ferry to Newport, Block Island, or Prudence Island

9. Have friends over—after the kids are in bed—and sip summer cocktails on the porch.

10. Go for a bike ride at Lippitt Park (corner of Blackstone Boulevard and Hope Street) and then visit our favorite ice cream place, Three Sisters in Providence. Like soft serve ice cream? Check Katy’s list of local places that serve it up. Click here to find Rhode Island bike maps.

Photo credit: Boys at Roger Wheeler Beach by Douglas Itkin

By Erin Barrette Goodman

When I look back at the first couple of years of my parenting journey, I realize that I spent an awful lot of my time fighting against the mainstream culture, often with a clenched jaw and a knot in my stomach, convinced that my way (natural birth, attachment parenting, plastic-free, organic everything) was “right” and therefore everything else was “wrong.”

I packed my tiny Corolla with cloth diapers for road trips, determined that a disposable diaper would never touch my beautiful daughter’s skin. I maintained a TV-free house during all hours that our daughter was awake. I shunned strollers in favor of my homemade cloth sling. I sought out the best quality local, organic foods and made all of our daughter’s food. I drove an extra thirty miles each way to avoid stepping foot in Walmart. I researched everything and selected only the very best natural products for our home. I attended a wonderful Waldorf parent-child program and modeled our home environment after the simple toys and gentle rhythms that we had enjoyed in class.

And then, six weeks shy of our daughter’s second birthday, I gave birth to our son, and my intense desire to do everything “right” was challenged mightily by a battering sea of round-the-clock care of a newborn and an active toddler.

Wanting nothing less than a perfect beginning for our second child, and with an active toddler very much wanting my full attention, I quickly landed myself in bed with mastitis.

“You’re trying to do too much,” was the advice repeated to me by my midwife and lactation consultant. “Slow down, relax more.”

“But, but, but…” I wanted to scream, but the sheer exhaustion and physical pain of mastitis won out. I had to compromise some of my formerly non-negotiable values or I was going to self-destruct.

The TV was turned on. Disposable diapers were introduced. My car, now a minivan which we received from a relative in exchange for our Corolla, spent far too many hours on the road and frequently could be found at the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru, where more than a few Munchkins were purchased for my two-year-old munchkin.

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Great Cookbooks for Families
Reviewed by Katy Killilea

A whole lot of wholesome—that’s what I notice when I look at recent cookbook releases. Since so many of us are interested in teaching our kids about where food comes from and even in growing our own food, I want to take a look at three books that focus on cooking with fresh, local foods.

Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes is a gorgeous book. So gorgeous that it seems more like a coffee-table book than something you’d have in the same room with spattering oil and jammy fingers. The stunning cover photo is of cupped hands cradling fresh blue eggs and yellow heirloom tomatoes, and if you look closely, you can see dirt under the cradler’s fingernails. So I can’t hate this book for being beautiful. It has grit, solid information for the home farmer and community gardener, and inspiring recipes for using homegrown ingredients. Even if it is awfully pretty.

What makes this book useful for a parent is the simplicity of the recipes. Clean, fresh flavors appeal to everyone, and instructions within the recipes regarding advanced preparation allow for flexibility if you want to cook during a nap and eat later on. It also includes a “Simple Kitchen Garden Guide” and a “Chicken Keepers Guide” which makes having a small flock seem fun as well as possible. This the perfect book for the family that eats lots of local foods, grows or raises some of its own food, and doesn’t mind beautiful photography.

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