Tag Winter 2012

A Kids-Eye View of the Palouse

BOOKS

magazine

Great reads from regional authors Page 6

PALOUSE SLEDDING HOT SPOTS Moscow’s best, Pullman’s brightest

Thrills, chills, spills PARENTHOOD SONIA TODD

Page 4

Families that shop together almost always wish they hadn’t Page 11 Advertising Supplement |

January 25, 2012 | Moscow-Pullman Daily News

2 | Wednesday, January 25, 2012 | MOSCOWPULLMAN DAILY NEWS

Give your child a positive dental experience.

P

alouse Pediatric Dentistry is specifically designed to engage and relax children. Our friendly and expert staff treats all children with compassion and respect. For the anxious child, we offer a variety of treatment options, including conscious sedation and general anesthesia.

1246 W. A Street Moscow (P) 208.882.9999 • (F) 208.882.9998 palousepediatricspa@frontier.com

A Kid’s-Eye View of the Palouse

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MOSCOWPULLMAN DAILY NEWS

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TAG ADVERTISERS

Your kids are their business

Palouse Pediatric Dentistry. . . . .2 Palouse Empire Gymnastics . . . .3 Willow Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Palouse Medical . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 CASA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Latah County Youth Services . . . .8 Dissmores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Hodgin’s Drug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Palouse Pediatrics . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Eastside Marketplace . . . . . . . . . 12 Palouse Pediatric Dentistry. . . . 15 Eastside Marketplace . . . . . . . . . 16

ABOUT TAG Tag is published quarterly by the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Issues are planned for January, April, July and October. For more information on how to advertise, please contact Lisa Smith at lsmith@dnews.com, or Erica Jensen at ejensen@dnews.com.

Coloring Contest!

Win a Family Skating Outing from the Daily News Name: ______________________________ City:_________________________________ Age:_________________________________ Phone: _____________________________ Prize package included free skating and rentals for up to six people at the Palouse Ice Rink in Moscow. Winner will be chosen at random from all entries. There is no age limit for entrants. Entries should colored, then sent or hand-delivered to the Daily News, 409 S. Jackson St., Moscow ID 83843. Deadline for entries is Feb. 17.

How are your children spending the winter?

Classes are now in session!

Ages 18 mos -18 yrs • New students are welcome to join at any time and your first class is FREE! + Classes for Toddlers through Teens + Tumbling and Trampoline + Preschool 810 North Almon, Moscow (208) 882-6408 www.palouseempiregymnastics.com

+ Paint and Play + Home School P.E.

+ Birthday Parties + Tumbling for Cheerleaders + Rhythmic Gymnastics + Cheerleading + Parent’s Night Out + Camps and Clinics

| Wednesday, January 25, 2012 | Moscow-Pullman Daily News

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By Judy Sobeloff | for Tag

handed my kids each a headlamp and a plastic sled, and told them to synchronize their watches. “We leave at darkest midnight.”

“But Mom, there’s no snow,” my daughter said.

“Precisely,” I answered. This was the type of question our mission couldn’t afford.

My editor hoped that running a story on sledding would force Mother Nature to “finally produce some snow,” but I knew it was not nice to mess with Mother Nature.

On the other hand, I recalled our friend Brigit’s sledding party, parents pulling their children around on the grass. At our friends Mick and Conn’s sledding party, children rolled down the hill on the grass. So many sledding parties at the Pullman Aquatics Center ... There was no way it was going to snow!

Now, of course, as I submit this column, schools are closed and it’s still snowing.

Mother Nature is on to us.

PULLMAN I’ve never sledded in Pullman, except unintentionally down High Street in our car, but here’s the scoop from people who have. > WSU Palouse Ridge Golf Club: (1260 N.E. Palouse Ridge Road, off of Airport Road and Terre View. Sledding and cross country skiing are allowed to the right of the three-tiered parking lot.) My friend Lisa Carloye recommends this spot for the “great, steep hill that levels out nicely at the end to arrest your motion” plus the lack of “dangerous trees or rocks or cliffs to worry about.”

Her husband, Wade Hoiland, kept repeating how “awesome” this spot is, noting that “it’s super steep, then flat for a long way. You can go super fast. There’s a pond after a really flat spot. If you’re going really fast, you might go in it.”

Wade, in fact, went so fast and so far that finally he could go no more: he landed on a pile of rocks and his sled broke in two,

A Kid’s-Eye View of the Palouse

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of SW Shirley and SW Arbor and SW Blaine.

Park in the lot.) Moscow resident Reed Spurling, age 11, enjoyed sledding there one year when “they had plowed the snow from the parking lot all over to one side at the top of the sledding hill, so there were all these snow boulders with nooks and crannies to play in, Geoff Crimmins/Daily News and then the other side was perfectly smooth Emelyn Hoobler, 6, above and on the cover, sleds down a hill outside for sledding. The hill goes down steeply, then it flattens out, and then it drops off again, Moscow Junior High School on last week. and just past the drop-off is a fence.”

COVER STORY

palouse sledding hot spots

Nowhere to go but whereupon he “bruised my behind.”

My sense is that if you’re not an internationally qualifying triathlete, as is Wade, you’re likely to avoid such a fate.

After his first trip down, my almost 8-year-old son yelled, “That’s the funnest thing in the world!” > Sunnyside Park: (Park in the lot off of Old Wawawai near the tennis court for the bigger hill; park in the lot off of SW Cedar for the smaller hill.) Sian Ritchie, who lives nearby, describes Sunnyside as having sledding “for all levels of adrenaline: short beginner slopes near the lower pond, and a big hill with optional bumps for brief aerial moments.”

She says the steepest side of the big hill has the “additional thrill” of ending very near the pond, though none in her party have ever made it that far. (I have in fact fished my younger child out of this very pond, but sledding cannot be blamed.)

d o w n

> The slope behind Pullman High School: (From Grand, head west on Larry, which turns into the newly named Greyhound Way, and take the second turn into the back parking lot.

Sled down from the parking lot.)

My friend, Lisa, who grew up in Pullman, says, “Like the golf course it is a wide open, pretty steep slope with no trees to crash into. Sledders get going pretty fast but with the sports field at the bottom they can coast for a long way at the bottom without danger.” > Kruegel Park: (Park along South Street or Spring Street, or other neighboring streets.)

Lisa, again (what a fun friend!), describes the Kruegel slope as “good for younger kids — steep enough to get going decently fast and short enough to walk your sled back up without getting exhausted.” > Sunnyside Elementary School: (Near the intersection

MOSCOW > Berman Creekside Park: (Limited parking is available in a small roundabout down by the park itself — park there and walk past the picnic shelter to the base of the sledding hill. This hill can be challenging to drive back up in winter. Alternatively, park on neighborhood streets off of Styner across from the bus stop and sled down from the sidewalk.)

Hands-down the most popular spot among the people I talked with in Moscow. Thrilling, and a little too thrilling for some. You start off fast, and may not have time to load all passengers before the sled takes off. My friend Jenny describes this slope as “gentle,” but I remember flying through the air, landing on top of my children, clawing our way back up to the top to do it again. Fortunately there’s a nice long flat run-out with few trees at the bottom.

Note that you can actually build a fire in the fireplace and enjoy the covered picnic tables in the park below.

One friend, I’ll call her Colette DePhelps, described by many as a “rock star” for her other accomplishments, attained folk hero status earlier this winter for a novel and unfortunate sledding injury. She had her fiveyear-old on her lap, and though they started far from the “little 10 to 12-inch jump,” she says the sled was drawn to it, as if “magnetic.”

She says she considered bailing, but then, having never gone over a jump before, “thought, ‘How bad can that be?’ We flew about one meter high and out three to four meters before hitting down, hard. Raven was on my lap, so Raven’s weight, combined

Tag | A Kid’s-Eye View of the Palouse

Moscow-Pullman Daily News

A young sledder heads for the hill at Berman Creekside Park in Moscow.

Ahead is a picnic shelter with a nearby brick fireplace that can provide cover and warmth for the weary.

streets.) A wide slope with a nice flat run-out. > The hill up from Ponderosa, down from Mountain View (where Mountain View turns and heads east): Park on Ponderosa, off of Orchard Street, and walk to the top. Zoe Pallen Richard, 12, likes this spot second best after a friend’s backyard. There are horses and sometimes a jump.

Craig Staszkow Daily News

with the small amount of snow and lack of padding from the plastic sled resulted in my sacrum fracturing right across the middle.”

Colette hasn’t been able to sit for almost two months, which also means no driving.

Her kids remain undaunted, and Raven tells everyone, “My mama broke her bum bum.” > Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute: (1040 Rodeo Drive, off of N. Polk Extension. Park in their lot.) Membership Coordinator Aly Lamar says the southeast corner of the 12.3 acre nature center is reserved for sledding. “Combined with our Karymor merry-go-round, walking paths, wildlife, ponds, and natural open space, this makes for a great family-friendly spot for sledding.” She notes that PCEI is also working on completing outdoor public restrooms by spring.

Tom Lamar, PCEI’s director and Aly’s husband, says of the sledding hill, which faces to the northwest: “When it gets snow, it’s a pretty fun place to sled because it holds the snow, and you can cross country ski there, too. It’s not mowed, so the grass can be a little tall. It’s a great spot.” > East City Park (The sledding area is toward the northeast part of the park. Park on neighborhood streets; there is a small parking area on Hayes.) This is a perennial favorite, especially among younger children. Short, gentle hill, which can be thrilling enough,

| Wednesday, January 25, 2012 |

Sledding Safety

impossible to steer — avoid using your hands to stop yourself.

> Make sure kids know how to bail before letting them sled near trees.

Kids may just freeze unless they have experience rolling out of the way.

(Watching her then four-year-old sled down what looked to be an obstaclefree slope, Moscow’s Lahde Forbes was startled to see him head right for a scraggly tree.)

> Avoid letting kids sled directly toward ponds. (Standing at the bottom of a hill to catch her then six-year-old, Moscow’s Tenley Burke jumped to one side to avoid him hitting her shins.

She caught the sled, but not her son, who body-sledded into the pond below.)

> Avoid sledding over jumps while holding your child in your lap. (See mama’s broken bum bum.) > Circular sleds may be difficult or in part due to trees and garbage/recycling containers at the bottom of the slope. > Anderson Frontier Park: (Park off to the side of the road on W. Palouse River Drive.) A nice, reasonably mellow hill. There is a prominent pond, but sledders are unlikely to venture into it. > Virgil Phillips Farm County Park: (Five miles north of Moscow on the west side of Highway 95, marked with a brown County Park sign. Park up top and then sled down. Sledding is officially allowed.) David Wilder, who lives nearby, says his kids really

> Snow boots can be essential. Hot chocolate can help.

like the “granite batholiths” there. > Dead Man’s Hill: (just north of Russell School, where Adams dead ends on B Street. Park on neighborhood streets and sled down.) Hannah Reeder, 13, describes this hill as “awesome.” The top part of the hill is a ravine where no cars can go. Those who go far enough may sled into the street (on Adams near D Street), which Hannah describes as “nice” since she only saw a couple of cars. > The hill by McDonald School: (On D Street, between Meadowlark Lane and N. Eisenhower Street. Park in the lot or on side

> The University of Idaho Hartung Theatre: (Corner of 6th Street and Stadium Drive at University of Idaho. Park on streets. The nearby lot requires a permit.) A nice-sized hill, though close to the street and contains occasional trees. (Aim toward Sixth Street.) My kids have spent hours rolling down this hill, though not in winter.

Sledding is not allowed at the UI Arboretum. (Nor, for that matter, are pets, Frisbee, skating, skiing, swimming, tree climbing, wading, hunting, archery, paintball, fishing, overnight camping, fires, barbecues, digging, or unauthorized collection of plants.)

When I called to check with Doug Tyler, director of golf, as to whether sledding was allowed at the golf course, he said, “We don’t encourage it, because oftentimes it results in damage to the golf course that is expensive to repair.” The golf course does have fences set up as boundaries around areas potentially more susceptible to damage.

Tyler adds that the golf course has “toyed with the idea of creating a kind of cross country theme in the winter, but we don’t get enough consistent snowfall to make that work ... in a way that would cover costs.”

Thanks to everyone who shared your favorite spots! Those who may have accidentally, ahem, “glissaded” down your steps in winter may be interested to note that Kim Kole’s family’s favorite spot is their five back steps. Her kids intentionally pack down snow on the back steps and even constructed a jump using a cardboard box.

Judy Sobeloff is a freelance writer from Moscow.

| Wednesday, January 25, 2012 | Moscow-Pullman Daily News

A Kid’s-Eye View of the Palouse

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The Reading Season

“How Mirka Got Her Sword” by Barry Deutsch helps bridge the gap between comic book and literature.

Encourage your children to warm up with regional writers

By Carol Spurling and Jesica DeHart | for Tag

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e’re in the depths of winter here on the Palouse, which means we might not have any snow, or we might have too much snow, for outside play.

What to do? You want something good for your children, something fun, something that will warm them from the inside out, that they can wrap their imaginations around while the rest of the world hibernates.

Books are the answer.

We prefer to think of this cold and dark time as “the reading season.” We recommend these gorgeous books that we recently discovered in our search for Northwest authors.

With such wonderful stuff coming from our neck of the woods, winter just might become your family’s favorite time of year.

“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.”

— Victor Hugo, Les Miserables Our choices range from board books appropriate for infants all the way up to young adult novels.

Board books

by Leslie Patricelli Hailing from Ketchum, Idaho, former ski instructor Leslie Patricelli lives with her husband, three children, two cats, and two rabbits, so she has plenty of material for her colorful and fun board books for the youngest members of the family. Several

Tag | A Kid’s-Eye View of the Palouse of them, including Yummy YUCKY, Baby Happy Baby Sad, No No Yes Yes, BIG Little, and Quiet LOUD, playfully introduce the concepts of opposites. Others, like Binky, and Blankie, are about subjects dear to a baby’s heart. Carol’s favorite is The Patterson Puppies and the Rainy Day. For age 1 and older.

Leslie has created some games your kids can play at www.lesliepatricelli.com.

Moscow-Pullman Daily News

dent Order of Oddfellows). Those portraits were the beginning of this wonderfully warm and off the wall story, appropriate for ages 7 and older. Just released.

alone has induced her to add Wildwood to her collection.

For readers age 9 and older. See the book trailer at www.wildwoodchronicles.com.

Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword

The Dragon’sTooth

| Wednesday, January 25, 2012 |

(Ashtown Burials, Book 1)

by Barry Deutsch

by N.D. Wilson Sometimes a genius Author of the well-received The graphic novel bridges My Woodland Wish Books of the 100 Cupboards series, the divide between Moscow’s own N.D. Wilson is on a

by Kate Endle and Caspar Babypants comic books and roll with his new series for Random literature so beautiSeattle collage artist Kate Endle collaboHouse, Ashtown Burials. fully we wonder why rated with her husband, Chris Ballew, the The Dragon’s Tooth was released lead singer of the band The Presidents of the we don’t have more of just last fall to great national acclaim them on our shelves.

United States of America, aka the children’s and we’re excitedly waiting for the We’re adding the musician Caspar Babypants, on this picture second in the series to come out this book appropriate for ages 3 and up. Featuring Hereville series to September. ours.

Hereville is the a young girl and sing-songy text, this book world created by artThe story starts mysteriously enough, gently invites children, always captivated by ist Barry Deutsch, Cyrus’ absent parents just makes things even with a boy named Cyrus living with his animals of all sorts, to enjoy the magic of born in New York weirder. older siblings in a rapidly deteriorating communing with birds, frogs, and rabbits but happily relocated to a brightly colored motel. in a woodland setting familiar to us in the For young adult readers, aged 8 – 12. See house in Portland. The series Northwest. Includes an the book trailer, starring Super 8’s Joel CourtThe appearance of a foreboding stranger started life as a webcomic MP3 of “Woodland named Skelton who turns out to have known ney, at www.ashtownburials.com. but translates beautifully Wish” song by Caspar into print so your children Babypants. (Full discan get their hands on the Carol Spurling and Jesica DeHart, both of Moscow, are the new manager/co-owner and assistant closure: Author Jesica delightful story of Mirka, DeHart’s 9th grade “yet another troll-fighting manager of Bookpeople of Moscow, the community’s independent bookstore serving the readers of the Palouse English teacher is also since 1973. The store is being renovated this month and will be re-opening in mid-February. All of the books 11-year-old Orthodox a band member of The listed in this article and thousands more will be available at Bookpeople at that time.

Jewish girl.” Mirka is a Presidents.) heroine with plenty of chutzpah, exactly what Mama, Is It 11-year-old girls need Summer Yet? more of in those perilous Board book by early teen years. Jesica’s Nikki McClure boys love Mirka too, so it’s not Nikki McClure of Olym- just for girls. Reading level of 8 and older. pia is known for her distinctive cut-paper art, which she uses to showcase wonderful images The Wildwood of nature and the joys of family and the outdoors. Mama Is It Summer Yet? ilustrates Chronicles the passage of time and seasonal changes as a by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis What is it about artists married to musipatient mama answers her little boy’s persisI am for the child tent question: “Is it summer yet?” This book cians who team up to write a children’s book? might help all of us, no matter what our age, Colin Meloy, singer and songwriter for the who no longer comes who are wondering the very same thing. The Decembrists, and his wife Carson Ellis, wrote a story inspired by Forest Park, 5,000 acres book is printed on recycled paper. For age 4 of deep woods near their city neighborhood and older. in Portland. They spent hours wandering and I am for the child who’s had seven addresses in a single year. Because she’s in exploring, mapping foster care. Because her father abused her. And because her mother couldn’t the landscape of the believe her. That is the child I am for. And because I am, she will be half as

by Emily Winfield Martin Wildwood Chronicles. likely to languish in foster care, and that much more likely to find a safe, Carson Ellis has also Portland artist Emily Winfield permanen nt ho h me. I am a Court App permanent home.

Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer. illustrated another of Martin was inspired to paint porour favorite children’s traits of some unique characters books, The Mysterishe created – an onion-headed ous Benedict Society, boy, a child-sized hedgehog, To learn more about becoming a

by Trenton Lee and tattooed girl, to name a Stewart.

CASA Volunteer, visit our website at few – whom she decided could live together in the very unusual Carol’s a sucker www.whitmancountycasa.org Oddfellow’s Orphanage, inspired for beautiful cover or give us a call at (509) 397-5308. by the real-life I.O.O.F. (Indepenillustrations, and this

Oddfellow’s Orphanage

Volunteer!

8 | Wednesday, January 25, 2012 | MOSCOWPULLMAN DAILY NEWS

A Kid’s-Eye View of the Palouse

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At what age is it appropriate for my child to ... ?

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Metro Editorial

evin McCallister is the protagonist of the iconic ‘90s movie, “Home Alone.” Kevin — age 8 — is mistakenly left at home during the Christmas season after his family flies to France to celebrate the holiday. Kevin must defend his home against bumbling burglars and generally fend for himself.

While the premise of “Home Alone” is a humorous one, and Kevin certainly has the smarts to outwit the two foolish thieves and seems relatively self-sufficient, in real life the idea of letting an 8-year-old stay home by himself is one that would no doubt raise an eyebrow.

In fact, many states have laws in place that regulate the age at which a child is legally able to stay home alone.

Stay home alone?

Age limits vary according to area and can be verified by contacting one’s local child welfare agency.

However, the National SAFEKIDS Campaign recommends that no child under the

age of 12 be left at home alone. It is only by the age of 12 or 13 that kids are able to think logically and self-supervise for an extended period of time. Even at this age, it isn’t recommended that pre-teens stay at home alone overnight.

issues of privacy as they become more aware of their unclothed bodies. Even if the decision is made to allow unsupervised bathing, parents can regularly check in on the child to ensure that he or she is alright.

Babysit another person?

There are no rules governing the acceptable age at which a child can watch another child.

The University of Michigan Health System offers guidelines that no child under the age of 12 should be allowed to babysit. Usually Stay alone overnight? by age 14 a child is mature enough to watch a Use the oven?

Although a teenager may be able to stay sibling for a little while.

With adult supervision children can begin alone overnight by age 15 or 16, this decision Unless the sitter is well known and comes cooking with the oven and the stove top at is entirely subject, and child’s maturity level recommended by others, parents may want age 12. Parents may want to wait until the should carry significant weight in the decito insist their babysitters are at least 14 or 15. child is 14 before allowing him or her to cook sion-making process.

Leary parents can share childcare duties with foods unsupervised.

It is also important for parents to realize other friends who have kids.

Proper training on safety procedures, that laws regarding partying that involve There is no guidebook for parenting, and including how to use a fire extinguisher, underage drinking often place the responsibil- many times caregivers must use their own should be given before enabling a child to use ity on parents — some of whom have served judgement when deciding whether a child is appliances unattended. jailed time as a result of teens getting out physically and emotionally ready to do many of hand. Parents can think about whether of the things adults take for granted. the child is the one who wants to stay home While there are laws governing when a Shower or bathe alone? person can drive or drink alcohol, there are This is really a case of personal preference. alone overnight or if it’s the parents’ wish to go away sans kids. no such guidelines for many other important The American Academy of Pediatrics Policy If the child doesn’t feel comfortable no milestones. states that children under the age of 4 should matter the age, he or she shouldn’t be left Parents often have to use their own discrenot be left alone around or in water due to alone until they feel comfortable alone. tion. the risk of drowning.

Parents can gauge whether a 5- or 6-yearold child is mature enough to shower or bathe on his or her own, since at this time some children experience embarrassment or

Open house planned for Most Latah County Teens are NOT pediatrics office in Moscow drinking or doing other drugs.

74% have NOT consumed alcohol in the past 30 days.

Winter activities don’t have to involve alcohol.

• Snowshoeing • Sledding • Ice Skating

• Indoor Game Night • Themed Dinner Parties PARENTS, TALK TO YOUR KIDS!

Youth • Family • Community

BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LATAH COUNTY YOUTH ADVOCACY COUNCIL CHECK OUT: HTTP://WWW.LATAH.ID.US/YAC FOR MORE INFORMATION SOURCE: 2011 IDAHO SUBSTANCE USE AND SCHOOL CLIMATE SURVEY

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fter 40 years of providing pediatric medicine in Pullman, Palouse Pediatrics has opened an office in Moscow at Eastside Marketplace.

There will be an open house on Thursday, Jan. 26 from 5-7 p.m. open to the public.

There will be food, music, children’s activities and the public can meet the six board certified pediatric physicians who will be seeing patients at the Moscow and Pullman offices.

The six physicians who specialize in providing medical care to infants, children and adolescents are: Malini Ariyawansa, M.D.; Lennis Boyer, M.D.; Alvin Frostad, M.D.; Michael Frostad, M.D.; Methuel Gordon, M.D.; and Amy Kinkel, M.D. To make an appointment at Palouse Pediatrics, call (208) 882-2247 or (509) 332-2605 or visit them on the Web at www. palousepediatrics.com.

Pediatric training

Medical students who want to go in to pediatrics as a specialty graduate from medical school and then take special intensive train-

ing in pediatrics for three or more years.

The pediatrician-in-training acquires the knowledge and skills necessary to treat a range of conditions, from the mildest childhood illnesses to the most serious diseases.

The state board in medicine must be passed before the physician becomes a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

This certifies the physician has reached the highest status of membership in this professional organization.

To maintain board certification, a pediatrician must continue the medical education through a lifelong pursuit of pediatric knowledge and training and must take a re-certification exam every seven years.

Board certified pediatricians are committed to the care of infants, children and teens.

They have focused their training and experience in these areas to be better suited to help these patients and to partner with the family members caring for them. Palouse Pediatrics is available to provide this kind of pediatric specific care for your children.

Tag advertisers were invited to submit copy for the publication. This is one of those submissions.

Tag | A Kid’s-Eye View of the Palouse

MOSCOWPULLMAN DAILY NEWS

| Wednesday, January 25, 2012 | 9

Center provides children help, hope, healing

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he Willow Center is a children’s bereavement program in the region for children ages 3-18 years that provides help, hope and healing from the death of a loved one.

Grief comes in many forms and is unique for each child and individual. Whether the death is recent or not, grief is sometimes mistaken for something else. At the Willow Center, children and teens participate in a peer

group that supports the expression of feelings and emotions, increases the understanding of death, loss and the grieving process, and decreases feelings of isolation that is often associated with grief and loss.

A support group is also provided for the adult care givers of these children to assist them in learning more about how children grieve, and to help them cope with their own feelings of grief and loss.

Snows days provide opportunity for teen adventure and growth

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Using these times to build in short, age-appropriate discussions about family expectations and consequences about underage drinking and other drug use is one of the best to do!” ways to share a difficult subject with your Yet there are plenty of ways to make things kids. fun. Spending family fun time during the Children will test your boundaries but cold winter months is easy to do, it just takes knowing what your family expects of them a little creativity. and seeing how much fun they can have Rent snowshoes or skis or find a toboggan without these substances in their life will help and spend some outdoor time exercising in a them build an even more successful future. fun way. Besides all the standards of snowWe all know that the time we spend with our man and snow fort building, snowball fights, kids when they are young is when we build and snow angels, you can try some of these: our kids self-confidence and decision-makjump snow hurdles, strike out on an advening skills not to mention hearing their many ture, or play powder puff football. In addition giggles and seeing their smiles. This time to these fun outside activities your family can together will build family memories and help make tasty treats including snow ice cream. you beat the winter doldrums.

A quick Google search will help you find Tag advertisers were invited to submit recipes for fun and interesting ways to keep copy for the publication. This is one of those your family entertained during these cold and submissions, compliments of Latah County dreary looking days. In addition to spending Youth Advocacy Council. fun time with your kids you can also use this opportunity to build the communication Tag advertisers were invited to submit copy for the channels that you can use as your children get older. publication. This is one of those submissions. ith winter weekends, snow days, and even spring break, parents may begin hearing the age old “there’s nothing

Help � Hope � Healing A children’s bereavement support program

Support groups and resources for children and teens that have experienced the death of a loved one... so no child grieves alone.

208-669-0730 208-791-7192 Lewiston

willow-center.org

332518AY-12

Palouse Center

A caring, accepting environment greatly enriches the healing process by contributing to self-esteem and trust in others, and by reinforcing healthy coping strategies. Sharing experiences with others who have suffered the death of a loved one can reduce feelings of isolation and normalize the grieving process.

Support group meetings are held twice a month and are coordinated by mental health care professionals and trained facilitators.

Our groups are ongoing (year round) and open ended. Kids really enjoy coming to the Willow Center; it’s a place they can play, be themselves, feel accepted and receive understanding for their life circumstance.

The Willow Center provides the beneficial support that children and teens need when the death of a loved one occurs. As an educational and referral resource for family grief and bereavement, we serve Central to North Idaho and Eastern Washington, offering not only support groups, but also information, community presentations, and consultation.

All of our services are provided at no cost.

In addition to our support group program, the Willow Center provides a weekend camp experience, Camp Erin, for children ages

6-17, who have experienced the death of someone close to them. Camp Erin is a weekend, overnight camp experience filled with traditional, fun camp activities combined with grief education and emotional support – facilitated by grief professionals and trained volunteers from the Willow Center and the community.

Through a grant from The Moyer Foundation, generous donations from the community and volunteers, Camp Erin is free to all campers.

This year’s camp will be held July 6-8. To sign up a camper, you can visit willow-center. org and click on “Services.”

To learn more about the Willow Center or to sign up for services, please visit willowcenter.org, or call (208) 669-0730. Groups are now being held in Pullman to serve the Palouse area.

For more than 12 years, we’ve been providing children and teens with help, hope and healing.

Tag advertisers were invited to submit copy for the publication. This is one of those submissions.

JOIN THE JUNIOR COUGAR KIDS CLUB! MEMBERSHIP INCLUDES: • Package including t-shirt, membership card and gift item.

• Free admission to Cougar home games, some exclusions apply. See membership form for details.

• Invitations to exclusive events with Butch and WSU athletes.

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10 | Wednesday, January 25, 2012 | MOSCOWPULLMAN DAILY NEWS

A Kid’s-Eye View of the Palouse

Learning disabilities don’t need to hold kids back Metro Editorial

Center for Learning Disabilities notes the following signs could be indicative of a learning disability and parents of hen a child heads off to school, the hope children who show any of the following of parents is the child symptoms should seek help. has every opportunity • Poor organizational skills to succeed and realize his or her full • Spelling the same word academic potential. Some students, differently in a single document however, could unknowingly begin • Weak memory skills school without a level playing field.

• Reluctance to take on According to the Data Accountability reading or writing tasks Center, 43 percent of the nearly 2.5 • Trouble with open-ended million students currently receiving questions on tests special education services have been • Slow work pace identified as having learning disabilities.

• Easily confused by instructions Parents should know these are just the Oftentimes, exhibiting any of the children who have been diagnosed. above symptoms is not necessarily the Many more kids struggle in school every day, and those struggles could result sign of a learning disability.

However, when the symptoms menfrom an undiagnosed learning disability. tioned occur repeatedly, parents should Part of the problem with recognizbe concerned. If parents suspect their ing learning disabilities is that they child has a learning disability, a profesare not one-size-fits-all. Children with sional consultation should be schedlearning disabilities don’t fit a single uled. While a learning disability should profile. Much like there are many be a cause for concern, parents should different learning disabilities, there know plenty of successful people have are many different ways a child can respond to one. However, the National been diagnosed with learning disabili-

W

Metro Editorial

When properly diagnosed, students with learning disabilities can overcome their disability and go on to highly successful academic careers.

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ties but still learned to live with them and experience success in the classroom and beyond. When a learning disability goes untreated or students and parents alike don’t put maximum effort toward managing and overcoming a disability, the chances of it negatively affecting them as adults increase. The United States Department of Education notes that 25 percent of students with a learning disability drop out of high school.

By comparison, only 9.4 percent of students in the general population drop out of high school.

Even students who seek vocational careers could suffer if they don’t learn to manage their learning disability. Poor organizational skills and limited literacy skills could result in low job satisfaction, which can make it difficult for adults with learning disabilities to keep a job.

Parents concerned their children might have a learning disability can learn more by visiting the National Center for Learning Disabilities at www.ncld.org.

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Tag | A Kid’s-Eye View of the Palouse

MOSCOWPULLMAN DAILY NEWS

| Wednesday, January 25, 2012 | 11

Why I don’t suggest shopping with your children

I

have had women tell me that they forget the pain of childbirth quickly after their children are born.

Excruciating pain that lasts for hours, and sometimes days, leaves the body and memory minutes after the brand new baby is handed over. However, as soon as that child is old enough to walk and talk and the mother tries to take them to the grocery store, the pain returns.

I have friends that take their kids everywhere; they take them to concerts, plays, outings with friends, restaurants. To those folks I say, “I am glad you have your medication regulated.”

My kids hate shopping. My oldest son would rather be eaten alive by a swarm of beetles than go to the department store and try on clothes. My youngest thinks that since there are sites like Amazon, the only reason to leave your house is to go to basketball practice. However, there are times, when I, forgetting the pain, ask my kids and my husband to go to the store with me.

So I asked, “Hey Honey, I have to go to the grocery store, how about we all go together?”

“Together? As in, all of us?” He made a face.

“Yeah, it would be fun.”

“You say that every time. And then, by the end of the trip, you are pulling your hair out trying to figure out why you brought us along.”

“I promise I will be more patient.”

“Okay . . . but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The trip began innocently (evil always does) when I nonchalantly asked the boys to get some apples. I came back from the fresh

magazine

vegetables to see the boys passing Granny Smith’s to each other across the aisle and keeping score. I made them stop but realized I still had to purchase four pounds of bruised apples.

By aisle four we had gone through two rounds of competitive flatulence and a short, but patient, discussion on the rules of decorum in public places.

In the baking aisle my youngest son put a funnel on his head and did an interpretive dance based upon the tin man from the Wizard of Oz. I made him put the funnel back but was unaware he had stowed a turkeybaster under his sweatshirt until aisle eight when he randomly started sucking up his own hair with it. By the time we made it to the bakery the boys were exhausted, and I was finally hoping they were too tired to cause any more trouble, but they were re-energized by a free cookie and started sword fighting with Artisan baguettes.

After I took away two disintegrating loaves of bread that had been used to recreate the entire Star Wars saga, I decided to give each boy a job to keep them occupied. One of them was to man the cart and one of them the shopping list. Within minutes the boys had taken out a cereal display and an entire

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PARENTING

BY SONIA TODD end-cap of double-roll toilet paper, and ... lost the shopping list.

Somewhere around the cleaning products section I went back to driving the cart and one of the children started using a toilet plunger as a walking stick. I was too tired to confiscate it and decided the suctioning noise was not as annoying as some other sounds including the ringing and throbbing in my head.

My husband wasn’t any better. He spent the trip checking messages on his phone

and chuckling at the kids’ hi-jinks. “Who knew that a fourteen-year-old’s leg weighs 28 pounds? We never would have known that if he hadn’t put it on a produce scale?”

When we reached the checkout I was spent, literally and figuratively. I was tired and also confused, because I had somehow gone over the grocery budget by a hundred dollars.

“How did that happen?” I asked my husband when we were back in the car.

“I don’t know. Maybe you were just distracted.”

The kids were in the back tearing off chunks of manhandled baguettes.

“I guess,” I said.

Tentatively my husband looked over at me and said, “So, are you good?”

“With what?”

“I mean, with taking us grocery shopping with you? Have you gotten that idea out of your system for a month or so?”

“A month? Ha! Make it nine.”

Sonia Todd is a freelance writer who lives with her family in Moscow. She’s a regular contributor to Tag. She blogs at http://myfirstlaunch.blogspot.com.

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12 | Wednesday, January 25, 2012 | MOSCOWďšşPULLMAN DAILY NEWS

A Kid’s-Eye View of the Palouse

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