FamilyLife - July/August 2021

FamilyLife

Bring on summer EASY LAUNDRY IDEAS

JULY/AUGUST 2021

CONTENTS

JUL/AUG 22

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17 DEPARTMENTS

LIFE

HOME

FEATURES

6 Why Babies Love That Lovey

17 5 Easy Ways To Update Your Laundry Room On A Budget

6 22 Here’s What’s Wrong With Editor's Letter ‘Clean’ Wine 34 Last Look

13 Life Lessons Kids Learn from Sports

FOOD

30 Summer Cobbler

ON THE COVER Photography by Jessica-Sara Morris

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FamilyLife EDITOR IN-CHIEF Karine Ewart EXECUTIVE EDITOR Suzanne Moutis CREATIVE DIRECTOR Karen Paddon EDITORIAL OPERATIONS & ASSISTANT BUSINESS MANAGER Olga Goncalves Costa TEST KITCHEN FOOD DIRECTOR Soo Kim SENIOR FOOD ASSOCIATE Stina Diös CONTRIBUTING FOOD SPECIALISTS Donna Borooah, Cara Tegler ART DEPUTY ART DIRECTOR Lena Diaz ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Sarah Big Canoe CONTRIBUTING ART DIRECTOR Leanne Gilbert PRODUCTION SPECIALIST Genevieve Pizzale EDITORIAL SENIOR FEATURES EDITOR Megan Howard FEATURES EDITOR Mary Levitski COPY EDITORS Debbie Madsen Villamere, Stephanie Zolis EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Marianne Davidson, Sarah Dziedzic HOME & GARDEN HOME & STYLE DIRECTOR Ann Marie Favot DESIGN EDITOR Morgan Lindsay NATIONAL ACCOUNTS MANAGERS, TORONTO David Lawrence, John McDowell, Nicole Rosen, Roberta Thomson NATIONAL ACCOUNTS MANAGER, MONTREAL Ingrid Barfod NATIONAL ACCOUNT MANAGER, VANCOUVER Renee Wong BRAND OPERATIONS MANAGER Terry Smith

VICE PRESIDENT, CORPORATE SALES & DIRECTOR, CLIENT SOLUTIONS Brandon Kirk DIRECTOR, MEDIA SALES Mike Lambe ST. JOSEPH COMMUNICATIONS CHAIRMAN & CEO Tony Gagliano VICE CHAIRMAN John Gagliano PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER Ken Hunt VICE PRESDIENT, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY Sean McCluskey EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Sarah Trimble DIRECTOR, LIFESTYLE CONTENT Sasha Emmons DIRECTOR, CONTENT OPERATIONS James Reid DIRECTOR, CIRCULATION Allan Yue MANAGER, CIRCULATION Lisa Rivers DIRECTOR, BRANDED CONTENT, AUDIENCE & EVENTS Nadine Silverthorne PROJECT MANAGER, BRANDED CONTENT Milena Boskovic EXECUTIVE EDITOR, BRANDED CONTENT Meaghan Yuen DESIGNER, BRANDED CONTENT Leo Tapel Family Life is published by St. Joseph Communications, 15 Benton Road, Toronto, M6M 3G2. Contents Copyright 2021 by St. Joseph Communications. may not be reprinted without written permission. Article proposals and manuscripts must be accompanied by self-addressed envelopes and sufficient postage; otherwise they will not be returned or acknowledged. While the publishers will take all reasonable care, they will not be responsible for the loss of any manuscript, drawing or photograph. ISSN 0128-1839. Single copy price $5.99 + tax. Full subscription prices: Canada, 1 year (6 issues), $15 + tax. In the U.S., 1 year $45 + tax; Other countries $75 + tax, Indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index. Printed in Canada. Family Life, it's affiliate and assignees may use, reproduce, publish, distribute, store and archive such as unsolicited submissions in whole or in part in any form or medium whatsoever, without compensate of any sort.

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Family Life ‐ July/August 2021

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EDITOR'S LETTER

I can’t wait...

Growing up in a small town in southern Ontario, when I wasn’t at my father’s horse farm, I spent sunny summer days either with family at my grandmother’s home on the St. Lawrence River or with friends at our local beach on Lake Ontario.

My love of the water led to jobs as a lifeguard and swimming instructor; my wardrobe from Canada Day to Labour Day consisted of bathing suits, flipflops, tank tops, sunglasses and a hat, with the obligatory zinc oxide on my nose.

Rainy summer days would find me under my grandmother’s homemade quilts, my face buried in a book. My transition from childhood to adolescence and adulthood is easily traced through the evolution of my authors of choice: Dennis Lee, Beverly Cleary, Carolyn Keene, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis, Jane Austen, Judy Blume, V.C. Andrews, Jackie Collins, Tom Wolfe, John Irving, Robert Ludlum, Anne Rice, Margaret Atwood, Amy Tan, Nora Roberts.

(And, yes, I just put those authors in the same list; it tells you a lot about me, actually.) I am still transported to my grandmother’s porch whenever I pick up my kids’ Choose Your Own Adventure books, as well as Calvin & Hobbes and Archie comics (I wanted to be both Betty and Veronica).

Karine Ewart Editor In-Chief

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LIFE

Why Babies Love That Lovey

By LAUREN DREHER

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LIFE What is a lovey? Simply put, it’s a security item, commonly a blanket, an animal or an article of clothing. Your child might also pick something very odd. My nephew carried around a full size pillow for a good while. Many children seem to latch on to some object and carry it with them wherever they go. When I saw another niece and nephew carry theirs around for years, I wondered when they would finally break that habit. I also smelled them and wondered how they could stand to even be around the, um, well-loved, object. Let me walk you through what I have learned.

Why do kids love their loveys? The lamb my niece carried and the monkey my nephew carried around for years smelled horrible. They also had no stuffing, and the limbs had been sewn back on multiple times. My nephew used to carry his monkey around by the hole in the ear. I wondered how on earth it had not crumbled into dust. Clearly, the appeal of a lovey is more than skin—or tattered fur—deep. Loveys give kids a sense of security. My older son had a special blanket with porcupines on it. Out of all the entourage of animals he possessed, one special puppy had to be on the bed with that special blanket for him to be content. My younger son likes to be covered up but is more interested in playing with his brother’s blanket and animals than needing his own.

I once read an article that mentioned introducing kids to a lovey. As parents, we’re encouraged not to have anything in the bed with the baby before the age of 1. When tots turn 1, introduce them to a lovey they can sleep with and form that connection with. My older son fell asleep next to his blanket, and we would check on him often, pulling the blanket after he dozed off to take away potential danger.

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Having a lovey, research suggests, may actually be a good thing. Kids develop an attachment to these objects early.

Babies have a very strong sense of smell since they cannot see well at first, and the lovey’s fragrance becomes a comfort attachment to them. Colleen Goddard, an early childhood educator, suggests in Psychology Today that loveys act as training wheels for kids as they grow. Kids with them tend to take risks and gain independence earlier than kids who do not have a comfort object. They also help a child who is away from parents or feeling ill. Knowing this has drastically helped me as I had already begun to feel like my kids should be detaching from theirs/ So the attachment may be a good thing, but how do you avoid a crisis when a lovey is lost or forgotten? The minute my son gained an attachment to a blanket, I bought a second one. It looked the same, and he sometimes uses them together so they smell the same. He has his puppy and a raccoon he favors over the rest of the animals. When a blanket is in the wash, I have an extra. When Puppy is missing in action, my son is satisfied with Raccoon while we quickly hunt for the canine. Traveling always makes me nervous about forgetting one or both. I usually pack one of each in the suitcases and then one in the car. This way, if there is chaos en route or at the destination, we have at least one lovey where we need it. I highly recommend a preemptive purchase—long before a real lost lovey incident.

If you have an older child you’d like to see break the lovey habit, try not to worry. I read an article about someone whose son finally let go around the age of 10. Then she kept the blanket for nostalgia. If you are self-conscious about your kids’ attachment, take comfort that most parents understand kids carrying around something. If that nasty blanket or animal is what they need to have a sense of comfort, that seems pretty minimal. Some studies I read encouraged parents to form that attachment for children so they could steer that independence by themselves. Go ahead, take a deep breath and let your child love on that lovey.

LIFE

Life Lessons Kids Learn from Sports

By JUDY GOPPERT

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LIFE Kick, snag, toss, throw, shoot, run, hit—sports give an active outlet to childhood energy. Parents wonder at what age to sign their children up for organized sports, and some kids from day one love throwing, catching and kicking a ball. As they grow older, they’ll give you cues on which sport would interest them.

And whether it be it soccer, baseball, basketball or football, your youngsters will learn great lessons on behavior and control.

My son played soccer, competitive baseball and high school football and basketball, so sports had a huge impact on him.

The coach that stands out was his football coach who gave each player a chain link to hang on his own keychain or belt loop. When the guys had team meetings, they would attach all the links together. Coach used this tangible object lesson to demonstrate to the boys that without each other, there was no strength. But together, they could work magic! That’s one lesson playing sports can give: how to be a team player—which extends to jobs, family and more as kids mature. As for my son, the love of sports has stayed with him; at 25, he plays sand volleyball and co-ed softball.

Another sports benefit is crystal clear. Kids learn about the competition. Teams and individuals go head-to-head to outdo one another. If this is fostered in a healthy way, athletes learn to translate their competitive spirit on the field or court into real life. Be it grades or a job or admission to college, or even a husband or wife, athletes understand that having a competitive edge can be the deciding factor in getting the most out of life. That attitude helps kids become achievementoriented. Setting goals and working toward those goals creates drive, which leads to lifetime success.

Good sportsmanship is another invaluable lesson. It means winning and losing in a respectable, gracious manner and that an athlete has patience and self-control. The young athlete learns to be humble instead of bragging on a win and to be calm and collected rather than lashing out in rudeness and anger at a loss. These attributes are needed in life when things do not go our way. This builds strong character.

As mentioned before, understanding how to be a team player is crucial. This does not mean everyone has to be best friends, but they must do their part to complete a given task. This skill can be helpful in school projects, job situations and simply getting along with others in life.

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If you participate in sports long enough, eventually you will experience intense competition that can lead to adversity.

Learning to deal with tough situations in the best manner is fundamental in life. With learned resilience, we can handle lost jobs, car accidents or simple bad days. How we handle difficulty defines character.

The definition of courage is the ability to face difficulty despite fear. In sports, this may mean going against a bigger, stronger, more athletic opponent. In life, there will be plenty of times the odds are against you. Courage will get you through.

Hard work gets you places, and nothing can teach this more than playing a sport. The only way to stay on top if your game is to work hard and practice. The same holds true in life.

Whether your children aspire to be an engineer, craftsman, teacher, doctor or lawyer, they need to understand that putting forth the effort is necessary to be successful in any career.

Just because life isn’t fair does not mean you quit. The greatest athletes in any sport, from swimming to gymnastics and beyond, are committed to doing their best whether they win or lose. They learn this from instructors and coaches who train them all along the way to do their best regardless of the outcome. There is always another competition—in sports and in life!

Another lesson taught from being on any team is learning to differentiate between being a player and being a performer.

From an early age, children begin to recognize the difference thanks to an instructor or coach helping them understand. For example, when a coach picks one player who is performing well, the others will naturally want to rise to the level of performer.

Some of sports’ lessons may not be recognized for years. For instance, as kids grow up, graduate and move on, many remain lifelong friends with members of their teams because they are the ones they grew with, both emotionally and physically.

Sharing the team spirit and receiving that team trophy together is the strongest bond. A child who feels those connections will be happier, better adjusted and hopeful.

Whether watching them, playing them or coaching them, we love the constancy of sports in our lives. And sharing the experience with your son or daughter is one of the most rewarding you’ll have. You’ll learn the best way to encourage your children and share in their wins and losses. Don’t be surprised, too, if you learn a little about yourself along the way.

HOME

5 Easy Ways To Update Your Laundry Room On A Budget

From muddy socks to grass stains, spring brings its fair share of dirty laundry. “We’re a family of six, so we spend a lot of time in the laundry room,” says DIY blogger and mom of four Jessica-Sara Morris. In her rental home on Vancouver Island, she added hits of colour, hard-working organizing solutions and cozy elements that make sorting, washing and folding less tedious. “The washing gets done a lot more often now that the room is beautiful!” she adds. From space-saving hacks to wall decals, we share five easy ways to transform your laundry room, no matter your budget.

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HOME

1. Hang your drying rack Ditch plastic hangers and opt for a space-saving wall-mounted drying rack instead. 2.

Give blank walls a makeover Peel-and-stick wallpaper and removable stickers—like these cheerful peach decals —are an easy way to add personality to a room. 3. Layer in a few accessories. Decorative touches, such as art, fresh flowers or a cozy patterned rug, instantly make a laundry room more inviting—even in an unfinished basement. 4. Show off your essentials Keep dryer balls, detergent and clothespins organized by displaying them in glass jars. 5. Maximize storage space A shelf helps keep work surfaces—like the top of your washer and dryer —clutter-free.

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JUL/AUG

“It makes a big difference in your life when you stay positive.”

-Ellen DeGeneres, Daytime Talk Show Host

Family Life ‐ July/August 2021

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Here’s What’s Wrong With ‘Clean’ Wine Is there *really* a ‘healthier’ wine?

It goes without saying that we all want to drink the best.

When it comes to wine, though, it can be tricky to know the difference between mass-produced juice and a wine made with integrity. Wouldn’t it be great if there was some kind of stamp or seal of approval to indicate that we’re buying the genuine article?

Alcohol marketers are keenly aware of this, which is why, over the years, they’ve cycled through a lot of lingo, including “authentic,” “small-batch,” “natural” and “hand-crafted—none of which actually mean anything about the liquid’s quality.

Nor, for that matter, does the word “clean.” Or “pure,” “bright,” or, our favourite, “good,” which are all common on labels belonging to a new trend that we’re going to call “wellness wine.”

Probably the most famous wine being packaged as a betterfor-you wine is Avaline, a brand launched by Cameron Diaz and fashion entrepreneur Katherine Power. (And no, it’s not available in Canada, but other, similar wines are.) It boasts “clean, delicious wine made with organic grapes.” Despite the fact that these all sound like great attributes, clean wines have been subject to a tremendous backlash from wine writers and nutrition experts. We asked a few to find out why this type of marketing rubs them the wrong way.

What’s wrong with the term “clean wine”?

“The marketing around these wines suggests that they are healthy for you,” says Michaela Morris, a wine educator in Vancouver. “Wine is an alcoholic beverage and, consumed in large enough amounts, alcohol is toxic.”

So, is it actually… different from ‘normal’ wine?

Morris says the other problem with the term is that it implies that other wines are somehow “unclean,” which isn’t fair to the many wineries that produce wine with integrity.

That said, there are wines that contain additives, such as colour, stabilizers and things to enhance flavour, such as malic, tartaric or lactic acids.

For the large part, though, objections to additives in wine have more to do with aesthetics and wine-making philosophies than concern for negative effects on health. Why? Partly because many wine additives are added in minimal quantities and are already found in many foods.

Malic acid, for example, is found in most fruits (including grapes) and is responsible for the tart, green apple taste you sometimes find in wine. Heat is malic acid’s sworn enemy, so in some warm-climate regions, wineries add malic acid to dial up the tartness.

Even though it’s not harmful to human health in food levels and is on Health Canada’s list of approved food additives, acidification is frowned upon and/or restricted in most wine regions in Europe. “If you look at the great wines, like Lafite or Margaux or any established French house, they would never market their product in that way,” says Andrea Fujarczuk, a professor at Niagara College’s artisan distilling program. “Do you really think that they have these additives in there?”

Spoiler alert: The answer is no.

No matter how much you try to clean up booze, the idea of a “clean” toxin is, at best, an oxymoron.

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If there are additives, why aren’t they on the label?

But it can be hard to know, since many countries don’t require wineries to list additives on the label—because it opens up a debate about what counts as an additive. In Canada, for instance, only sulfites above a certain level have to be listed, to protect a very small percentage of people who have sulfite sensitivity. For the record, all wines contain sulfites, which are a naturally-occuring by-product of fermentation. Since sulfites are also a preservative, winemakers sometimes add extra, especially to wines with low-acidity.

Some people think sulfites are responsible for hangovers. Wine people counter that there are more sulfites in dried fruits than most wines, so if that dried apricot dessert didn’t give you problems the morning after…it’s probably the alcohol and not the sulfites.

What about ‘vegan friendly’ wines?

Fujarczuk points out that this is also the case with “vegan friendly” wines. She can’t think of a single winery in Niagara that filters wine through animal proteins, such as egg whites, which is the main practice that would make a wine unfriendly to vegans, even though no albumen makes it into the wine.So, in other words—just because it doesn’t say so on the label doesn’t mean it isn’t.

I’ve also toured an amazing winery in Haro, Spain that proudly showed-off its egg white “fining” process, which it adopted as a more “natural” alternative to things like silica or synthetic polymers.

What about organic?

That’s good, right?

A lot of grapes are grown organically but haven’t been certified as such because it’s expensive to jump through all the hoops.

At times, vineyards don’t qualify as “organic” because, ironically, they’ve gone beyond organic and have rejected things (copper pesticides, for example, which causes skin and eye irritation and, some argue, is toxic to the local wildlife) that are considered essential elements of organic viticulture.

Incidentally, many fully certified winemakers have quietly told me that depending on the country—regulations differ— organic is really considered the lowest rung on the environmentally-friendly ladder of wine-making. Sadly, there’s no label or term for wineries that are just as good or better than organic.

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Do ‘clean wines’ have less sugar?

Not to pick on Avaline too much, but it’s easy to argue that the real secret to the brand’s success has less to do with it being vegan-friendly and more to do with it being (sort of) ketofriendly. All Avaline’s wines are relatively low in sugar but, more importantly, the brand has promoted transparency and mastered the numbers game—it’s easy to look up the number of calories, grams of sugar and carbohydrates on the website for any of its wines.

This has inspired the creation of several new low-carb/lowcal/low-sugar wine brands but, as we learned last year writing about Canada’s first low-sugar wine, a lot of wine is already quite low in sugar—it just isn’t advertised as such. All alcohol contains calories. It’s the alcohol percentage, in fact, that determines the calorie count. So, no, “clean” wine is not necessarily diet-friendly—it just makes it easier to count carbs.

Although, as we also learned in that piece, “If you’re drinking enough for the sugar to make a difference in your diet, the sugar is probably the least of your concerns.”

So…if wine is marketed as healthy or, at least, healthier, will people drink more?

That’s a common concern among addiction specialists. There are actually laws in Canada and the United States prohibiting alcohol companies from making health claims for that very reason.

“Most food and drink businesses are very much profit-driven,” says Danielle Lee, an MSc Candidate at the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, whose research focuses on sugar. “And despite their antics to promote the ‘everything-in-moderation’ idea, at the end of the day, people want to sell their products.

And, in order to do that, people have to purchase it and consume more.”

It’s widely thought by industry experts that “wellness wine,” along with “purely made” seltzers and “functional” beers that contain superfoods or extra electrolytes, exist as part of a campaign to convert “sober-curious” and health-conscious millennials to drinking.

So, is there another way to choose better wine?

Fujarczuk says there is no black or white, yes or no answer when it comes to which wine to buy—organic, biodynamic or vegan-friendly. Low-intervention wines (sometimes called “natural” wines), which we explained last year, might sometimes be a better choice but there’s no magic label that can tell you what to get. Instead, she says, research wine regions that have restrictions on wine production in line with your values and start trying wine from that region. If you like it, keep buying it. When you buy a wine made in a specific appellation, such as one of France’s AOCs (Appellation of Controlled Origin) you are buying into that region’s winemaking practices.

And, hey, there are great wineries in Canada doing everything right. You just have to do your homework, first. Or you could choose not to worry about miniscule quantities of additives.

After all, wine was meant to be savoured—not to become another thing to agonize over.

“I really think that, if you’re at a point where you are buying a wine because of the calorie count, you have to question what you’re actually doing,” says Fujarczuk. “When you’re choosing to drink wine, you’re already making health choices that are not totally in line with treating your body like a temple.

“That ship has sailed,” she continues. “So, instead, commit to enjoying wine for what it is.”

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FOOD

Cobbler Season

Saucy, seasonal baked fruits, sweet oat crumbles and airy dumplings are the perfect match.

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Peach cobbler

Summer Cobbler

These simple crumbles, crisps and cobbler recipes give you all the juiciness and aroma of a pie without the hassle of preparing pastry—and they’re the perfect pairing for a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Even better, they’re some of the best desserts you can make when all the gorgeous fresh peaches, plums and berries you’ve been buying by the basketful start to get a little soft. (It happens to all of us—but there are plenty of ways to use overripe fruit, so don’t throw it out!)

Plum cobbler

FOOD

Classic peach cobbler PREP TIME:20 MINS TOTAL TIME:1 HOUR 30 MINS 8 cups sliced peaches , cut 1 in. thick (8 to 10 medium) 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 tsp cornstarch 4 tsp lemon juice 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg , (optional) 1/4 tsp salt Biscuit 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 tbsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 cup milk 1/3 cup unsalted butter , melted 1. Preheat oven to 350F. Place an 8 × 8-in. square baking dish on a baking sheet.

2. Filling: Toss peaches, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, nutmeg and salt in the baking dish.

3. Biscuit: Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Stir milk and butter in a small bowl with a fork, then stir into flour mixture until just combined. Dollop large spoonfuls of batter over fruit, flattening them slightly but without covering all the peaches.

4. Bake until topping is golden and fruit is bubbling, about 1 hr, covering with foil after 45 min if biscuit is browning too quickly. Let cool 20 min, then serve warm.

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Plum cobbler PREP TIME:20 MINS TOTAL TIME:1 HOUR 35 MINS 8 to 10 large plums , pitted, cut into eighths (6 cups) 1 170-g pkg blackberries , (1 1/4 cups) 2/3 cup granulated sugar Scant 2 tbsp cornstarch 1 tbsp lemon juice 1 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/4 tsp salt Biscuit 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 tbsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 cup milk 1/3 cup unsalted butter , melted 1. Preheat oven to 350F. Place an 8-in. square baking dish on a baking tray and set aside.

2. Toss plums, blackberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, vanilla and salt in a large bowl. Transfer to baking dish.

3. Biscuit: Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Stir milk and butter in a small bowl with a fork, then stir into flour mixture with fork until just combined. Dollop 9 portions of batter over fruit.

4. Bake, covering with foil if biscuit is browning too quickly after 45 min, until topping is golden and fruit is bubbling, about 1 hr. Let cool 15 min, then serve warm.

LAST LOOK

Perfect drink to start your day

Cocoa breakfast smoothie PREP TIME:5 MINS TOTAL TIME:5 MINS

1 cup 2% milk , (or dairy-free alternative) 1 banana 2 tbsp tahini 2 tbsp coconut oil , (optional) 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder 2 tsp maple syrup Whirl all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Divide between two portable bottles. Refrigerate for up to 2 days, shaking well before drinking.

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