The Kidoinfo family has certainly grown over the last year and there are now over twelve regular contributing writers. Our computers, Wi-Fi, and email allow us all to work virtually anywhere and anytime—especially helpful if juggling multiple jobs, childcare or sick kids. The downside is since we don’t need to see each other to get our articles written and posted on the Kido blog, we often don’t see each other. I am a big believer in face time and connecting offline—and although I love my computer and use it quite a bit—I decided it was time to meetup in person with the other Kidoinfo writers.

We met at Jake’s in the jewelry district, conveniently located for people driving from all parts of the state and a groovy place to have food and drink inside with a great jukebox or outside on the patio. They have free Wi-Fi as well in case you need it. What a blast. People met for the first time, found out more about each other, decided on ways we can all stay in touch, shared ideas about future stories and more.

Kidoinfo writer meetup (pictured above L to R, except for Martha Iachetta (thinking mom) who had not arrived yet): Jill Davidson (education), Maura Keating (product reviews), Michelle Riggen-Ransom (nature/nurture), Anisa Raoof (publisher), Erin Goodman (it’s a date), Nancy King (editor), Marianne Ruggiero (risd artplay), Katy Killilea (grocery news, food, general), Jaci Arnone (general)

Snacks and dollars for the jukebox—since it was so nice outside we decided to save our dollars for the next Kidoinfo meetup.

Other Kidoinfo contributors who were not able to attend: Mark Binder (story of the month), Megan Fischer (providence children’s museum), Adam Darowski (general), Geoff Griffin (general), Hope Foley (audubon society), Katie Mulligan (nutrition), Christina Mitchell (pediatrician), Melissa Brusso (sports mom), Jen Morin and Kirsten DiChiappari (wellness).

Today I welcome Erin Barrette Goodman, a writer, yoga teacher, and mother of two young children. She is the founder and director of the Rhode Island Birth Network, which promotes empowered decision-making during the childbearing years. Together with her husband, John, she is in the process of turning their 1.5-acre South County yard into a sustainable suburban homestead, which they’ve affectionately dubbed Nadalada Farm. When she is not writing, networking, or working in the yard, Erin enjoys arranging special dates to have fun with her children, husband, friends, and occasionally alone!

By Erin Barrette Goodman

When I mentioned to my husband, John, that I would be writing a column on dating for Kidoinfo.com, he was, understandably, a little confused.

I am, after all, a thirty-something mother of two young children, and my last official date took place over a decade ago.

When I clarified that I am going to be writing about family-friendly dating – the special things we do as a family and as a couple, with one or both of our kids, and with other families and friends, and equally important, alone – he seemed less confused (and a bit relieved).

My interest in this new world of family-friendly dating started a year and a half ago when my friend Julianna, an artist and healer and a fellow new mom trying to stay sane, invited me to join a small group exploration of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

At the core of this twelve-week creative recovery/discovery process are two essential tools – daily journal-writing, or “morning pages,” and weekly “artist dates.”

The rules for the artist dates are pretty simple: Set aside one to two hours a week to do something by yourself and for yourself to nourish and feed your creativity.

Each week at our group check-in meeting, we shared a quick review of our date experiences, which included everything from beachcombing, window shopping, thrift-store treasure-hunting, tub-soaking, garden-planning, and tea-sipping, to yoga classes, dancing, cooking, and movie-watching.

As I went through this powerful process, I noticed that not only did I love my weekly (solo) artist date, but I also liked the idea of creating similarly nourishing, great-feeling “date” experiences with my children and husband.

And so began our exploration of family dating!

What makes a date a date?
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Today I welcome Melissa Brusso, a mom from Pawtucket, as a new contributing writer for Kidoinfo. In her column, Home Plate: Reflections of a Sportsparent, she shares her wit, wisdom, and experience regarding the world of sports with her husband, “SportsDad”, their daughter “Stretch”, age 10 and their son, “LittleMan”, age 7.

As the weather warms and spring is really here (come on, suspend judgement), I can hear Coach Paul Janaway booming in his English-accented voice about the importance of sun lotion and drinking plenty of water, and the very real threat of squirrels helping themselves to your poorly wrapped lunches. I remember the huge, mesh bags of soccer balls waiting on the dewy grass, the requisite Sergio Mendes’s “Mas Que Nada” playing in the car (yes, every morning), and the LittleMan jumping out of the car and racing off before I can manage to park. Yep, it’s almost summer.

And that means camp, particularly the handful of sports camps that my children have enjoyed the past few summers.

For a city of our size, we have a terrific selection of sports camps located in a ten-mile (or so) radius of say, Seven Stars Bakery. Many of these camps are excellent and run by some quality individuals from the education and athletic communities. Whatever your child’s sports interest or ability level, there is a sports camp that would be suitable and age appropriate.

The following is an anecdotal and freely editorialized roundup of some of the sports camps that my two children have experienced first-hand and that we look forward to attending again. It is not a complete listing, but hopefully, it will provide an angle on the camps that a newspaper listing does not. It will become more complete as readers add comments about other excellent sports camps—especially camps outside the Providence area—so please add to the list in the comments section!

• The above-mentioned Coach Janaway of Proactive Soccer can be found at Moses Brown Plus camp all summer—and at Henry Barnard School during the school year. Because he is a physical education teacher as well as an athlete (check out his soccer cred on his site!), Janaway brings to soccer camp an understanding of children and development, as well as a passion for soccer. So even the youngest and most inexperienced campers feel at home with age-appropriate and fun drills that never feel over their heads. And rest assured, more experienced soccer players are also challenged at their level. Everyone is expected to play hard and do his or her best—and everyone does.

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By Martha Iachetta

What’s dinner time like at your house? Fifteen years ago my graduate- level Family Counseling class sat in a circle answering that question– alternately cringing and laughing at the awkwardness, humor, longing, or strife within our descriptions of family dinners growing up. We realized how much information about connections, challenges, and responsibilities within a family can be gained with that one simple probe. A report I recently read on “The Importance of Family Dinners” by Columbia University’s Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) reminded me of that activity when its annual parenting study posed that question (and several others) to families around the country. The findings consistently suggest that regular family dinners are among the most effective parenting tools available for healthy communication and the prevention of adolescent substance abuse. Many parents intuitively strive to create that routine in their homes—easiest to do when children are young—and now there is proof that the effort is worth it.

What is so magical about a family dinner? I can tell you anecdotally that when the parents and siblings of an eleventh grader I work with in Student Assistance learned about their child’s extensive marijuana use, they made some immediate changes at home. When I asked the student whether or not family dinners were a regular occurrence, the answer was “every night.” Conversely, a middle school student who began experimenting with marijuana at eleven years old reports that his mother gave up on getting him and his two older siblings to eat together when he was in sixth grade. His siblings are regular marijuana users and their use took off that year as well.

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Claire Duckmanton, originally from the UK and a former East Side resident, lives in Seekonk, MA, with her husband and three children (ages 2, 8, and 13). Below she shares her experience as a Fresh Air Fund host family and her role as the local chairperson for the Fresh Air Fund.

A few years ago, my family and I moved from the East Side of Providence to Seekonk, MA. The time had come to give our growing family the outdoor space they really needed and wanted. Walking around Thayer Street and stopping for coffee gave my kids less pleasure than it did me! With the move came a sort of mid-life crisis thing. We bought a dog, a rabbit, and even six egg-laying chickens. My husband put his foot down when I talked about a goat. Our new home environment was everything we had hoped for, and it seemed selfish to keep it to ourselves. A friend told me a little about the Fresh Air Fund and I was excited to find out more. After some online research, we decided it was just what we were looking for—an opportunity to give something back.

The Fresh Air Fund has been providing free vacations to inner-city kids from low-income neighborhoods in New York City for over one hundred years. Families are invited to open their home and hearts to a child for two weeks during the summer. Once we decided to become a host family, our wondrous journey began. Our first visitor was Alsheek (in 2005), a nine-year-old boy from Brooklyn. He left New York on a bus with thirty other Fresh Air children, escorted by volunteers, leaving his parents behind at the city bus stop. Can you imagine taking a six-hour bus ride and arriving to meet a family you’ve never even seen before? Some of these children are as young as six years old. Alsheek quickly settled in and the fun began. It was wonderful for us to see Alsheek enjoying the simple things we take for granted like riding a bike, swimming, and going to the beach. Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games. The experience can be a challenge as the kids and families adjust to one another—my children struggled with Alsheek wanting to play twenty-four hours a day and waking them go swimming at 6:00 a.m. It took patience and understanding, but the rewards for all of us far outweighed any hiccups. We did not host a child in 2006 because I gave birth to my third child a month before the Fresh Air kids’ visit. Since then we have hosted Kyra, 10, and a young boy named David in 2007. And this year we are excited to welcome Kyra back for another visit. Children who are re-invited by host families may continue with the Fund until they are eighteen years old.

Four years later, and I am now the local chairperson for the Fresh Air Fund. I see my role as ambassador, publicist, and recruiter of families who are ready, willing, and able to make a difference in a child’s life.

If you would like to learn more, please contact me at 508-761-8242 or 401-301-4090.

Details:
Fresh Air Fund website: www.freshair.org
Trip dates this year for local area: July 10 – July 23
Deadline for applications: Early June
Application process: Interested families call Claire on the phone to discuss program details, followed by an interview in the family’s home. Families fill out an application, including four references, and undergo a background check. There are no fees. Children on first-time visits are six to twelve years old. Host families can pick the age and gender of the child they’d like to host.

Photo Credit: Claire Duckmanton. Top L: Kyra with Felix. Top R: Kyra with Georgie and Isabel. Bottom: Alsheek.

Home Work: Lessons from Work-at-Home Parents. This series of Kidoinfo interviews with parents look at how they manage to squeeze in work time at home (whether working for someone else or running their own business) along with juggling kids, home life, and childcare (or lack of it).

Maura Keating says,

We love UPPAbaby and we just can’t say enough nice things about the G-LiTE, their fabulously light umbrella stroller. So when I heard that Lauren Monahan, one of the company founders, was a mom who worked from home AND that she was somewhat local, I just had to know more. UPPAbaby is an American company— the strollers are thought up and produced in nearby Massachusetts. With three children and a growing, successful business, Lauren Monahan is an inspiration.

Kidoinfo: What inspired you to start your business?

Lauren: My husband had been in the juvenile industry for almost a decade and had experience in all aspects of product development, sales, and marketing. We had ideas about some terrific products that either weren’t being done, or were being done in ways we thought could be improved. I was supposed to be a silent partner, but just couldn’t keep quiet! My marketing and product licensing experience turned out to be a great complement to Bob’s expertise.

How did you start your business?

Lauren: Bob started by working from our house, but we quickly learned we needed to grow and add people and space, and he found it very difficult to work while the kids were nearby. We hired a director of sales (now a VP), and we just forged ahead from there.

How do you balance work and family?

Lauren: I spend the majority of my time working from home, although it’s hard making sure I’m focused on the business and still carving out enough time for the kids. I have a computer in the kitchen, so I’ll often check e-mails while the kids are eating their meals. I also work a lot at night after their bedtime. I have activities that I take the kids to where we participate together. The temptation of checking e-mail or using my cell phone isn’t an option on the ice at hockey or sitting in a circle at music class! Bob and I make an effort to carve out non-work time together. Whenever we’re home for the weekend, we’ll go out alone or with friends for date night on Friday or Saturday.

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Home Work: Lessons from Work at Home Parents. Like many of us, these parents juggle kids, work, and childcare (or lack of it), but their unique situation requires that they squeeze in worktime at home, whether working for someone else or running their own business. Hearing how these parents manage to make it work along with the challenges they face may help the rest of us with our own home work.

Today Cindy Elder, founder of Bristol Harbor Homemade, shares with Katy Killilea of Kidoinfo how she deliciously does her Home Work.

Cindy was born in New York and moved to Barrington, RI, when she was six. She graduated from Barrington High School and received a BA with a double major in creative writing and career writing from Roger Williams University. She and her husband, Bob Elder, live in Barrington with their two daughters – Elizabeth, age nine, and Emily, age ten. Cindy’s business, Bristol Harbor Homemade, is an artisan food company (formed in May 2004) that produces all-natural gourmet baking mixes such as cookies, breads, scones and biscotti. (Read Katy’s review on Kidoinfo.)

Kidoinfo: What inspired you to start your business?

Cindy: I’ve always enjoyed producing homemade treats for the holidays. When we were living in Harvard, Massachusetts–a very rural town–I noticed that many of the local farm stores carried baking mixes packaged in mason jars. I decided to package my own favorite recipes for gift giving, and it became an annual tradition. These pre-made mixes were a time-saver for me at home, so I often made extras to have on hand for quick baking with that “made from scratch” quality. They really came in handy when we were sailing with the kids in the summertime, because storage and work space are scarce commodities on a boat. It made sense to pre-mix as many things as I could so that we could eat well on board without a lot of fuss.

How did you start your business?

Cindy: When we first moved to Rhode Island, we enrolled our kids at the Gordon School. At one of my first PTO meetings there, they mentioned they were looking for fundraising ideas. I offered to make up some of my cookie mixes, and we sold out of the 120 jars in a few hours. After the fundraiser, people kept asking me for more. “I don’t care what you put it in – just get me more of that mix,” they’d say. Several of my fellow moms, along with the school’s kitchen manager, encouraged me to turn it into a business. The next step was to become a certified food safety manager, incorporate the business, and refine the recipes. Then we had to settle on a logo, an image, and packaging concepts. I worked closely with a few local retailers who gave me great feedback on my designs, and these people became my first retail customers. In the beginning, most of my sales came through fairs, events, and fundraisers where I was able to showcase my products.

How do you balance work and family?

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I find it helpful sometimes to get away from the daily routine of work and the kids and recharge my batteries by listening to the wisdom of other women. (Other times I like to relax and have a pedicure.)

I recently attended the Annual Women’s Summit at Bryant University: a day full of fabulous speakers and workshops for and about women in business. I could not completely escape mom duty since one of my sons was home sick from school, but I managed to attend half the conference by coordinating schedules with my husband.

My favorite speech was by Michelle Peluso, the president and chief executive officer of Travelocity, who delivered five tips on how to be a successful leader. I think whether I was in business or not, her words about treating the people around you with respect and learning to work well with others is helpful and relevant to my work in my community and at my sons’ school.

Michelle Peluso on how to be a successful leader:
• Listen to our inner voice and do what we are passionate about—we will be more invested in what we do.
• Have tenacity—work to remove obstacles that keep us from doing what we need or want to do.
• Surround yourself with extraordinary people—find great leaders to mentor us and inspire others to be great leaders.
• Take risks—it can be rewarding to crawl out of our comfort zone to try new things.
• Have grace—know that we are not perfect; we are vulnerable and accept it.

At the end of her speech, Michelle announced that she is pregnant with her first child. I will be interested to hear what her words of wisdom are when she has to balance her work with raising a child. I imagine she will do it with grace, and I look forward to hearing how this experience will change how she manages the everyday.

I would like to introduce a new Kidoinfo series, Home Work: Lessons from Work-at-Home Parents — interviews with parents who take on work at home in addition to the work of raising a family.

Like many of us, these parents juggle kids, work, and childcare (or lack of it), but their unique situation requires that they squeeze in worktime at home, whether working for someone else or running their own business. Hearing how these parents manage to make it work along with the challenges they face may help the rest of us with our own home work.

An Interview with Danielle Bahr Eason from Myself Belts
and Maura Keating from Kidoinfo.com.
Photo of Danielle (right) and sister, Talia with some of their children

Sisters Danielle Bahr Eason and Talia Bahr Goldfarb grew up in Providence. Danielle graduated from Wheeler in 1994, and Talia graduated from Lincoln in 1990. Danielle and Talia are also the inventors of one of the most innovative, yet basic products for kids on the market today—the Myself Belt. I reviewed the Myself Belt for Kidoinfo, but I still had questions, so Danielle graciously accepted my invitation to be interviewed for a new regular feature—a series of interviews with parents who take on work at home in addition to the work of raising a family.

Kidoinfo: What inspired you to start your business?

Danielle: My sister and I invented Myself Belts after becoming moms and discovering that there were no belts on the market that kids could use on their own. My sister’s son was thin and without the bulk of his diaper after being potty-trained, his pants kept falling down! We needed a solution that would keep his pants at his waist and allow him to get his pants down quickly when it was time to use the bathroom. Allowing kids to be independent and feel proud of themselves was most important.

We created a unique patented belt closure that enables young children to fasten and unfasten their belt independently. Kids have an “I did it myself!” moment, and parents have a solution for pants that don’t quite fit right! Myself Belts solve a common parenting frustration while promoting the independence of young children.

How did you start your business?

Danielle: Myself Belts launched in September 2004 and word has spread about our fashionable and functional accessory and problem-solver for parents. We patented the design to protect our idea and had prototypes made to test the design and sizing. Once the belt seemed perfected, we took a leap of faith and started selling them to stores and through our website. Myself Belts are sold on the Web and in over 600 stores across the country and internationally. Myself Belts have been featured in Parenting magazine, USA Weekend, Cookie magazine, and Child magazine, among others. We even have celebrity fans like Cindy Crawford, Felicity Huffman, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and Sarah Jessica Parker!

How do you balance work and family?
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By Nancy King

I discovered Brain, Child during a mothering class at Stanford University. This was no ordinary or practical class on how to properly bathe a newborn or the pros and cons of using cloth diapers; this was a class on motherhood viewed through the lens of literature. A group of twenty of so women gathered every week to discuss texts that ranged from The Price of Motherhood to The Nanny Diaries. I did not come looking for tips on what to buy or how to use it; instead, I was looking for wisdom, insight, compassion, and empathy. The transition to motherhood, for me, had been bumpy, and I was hoping to discover why—and what to do about it. The class turned out, in some ways, to be a lifesaver because it introduced me to a roomful of intelligent, curious women who were engaged in the same struggle as I. What’s happened to my life? Who am I now? Why do I feel so ambivalent about parenthood? (Or, as one classmate said during her introduction, “I’m trying to figure out how to pick up the shattered pieces of my identity.”)

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