SPORTS TIPS FOR KIDS: SWIMMING, TENNIS & GOLF JUNE 2013
JUNE 2013
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The Best Local Beaches, Water Parks and Nature Fun CELEBRATING
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MEMORABLE MEALS THE NEW COOKBOOK ON LOVE & FAMILY Andrew Shue and Amy Robach
Andrew &Amy
How CafeMom’s Founder And One Of ABC’s Star Newscasters Are Raising A Modern Family
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contents
JUNE
Photo by Sarah Merians Photography. On Andrew: Original Penguin gingham shirt, Levi’s chino pants, Cole Haan belt. On Amy: Laundry by Shelli Segal crochet dress, her own jewelry.
newyorkfamily.com
pg.12
pg.66 pg.16
pg.40 pg.54
Features 40 | Mad Love How The Founder of CafeMom, Andrew Shue, And One Of ABC’s Rising Newscaster Stars, Amy Robach, Are Raising A Modern Family 47 | Dads We Love This Year’s Group Of Local Dad Heroes Gives Back To The World Of Family In Remarkable And Unexpected Ways
Family Fun Guide 12 | Ten Great Events For June A Dinosaur Safari, Multiple Outdoor Concert Series, The Return Of Coney Island, And More 16 | Best Summer Ever Where To Set Sail, Splash Around, Meet Wild Creatures, And Get Back To Nature Around The City
Home & away 60 | Quality Time In Her New Cookbook, A Local Blogger Traverses The Intersection Of Food And Family
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New York Family | June 2013
62 | Travel Red Rocks, Cliff Dwellings, And Restored Railroads: An NYC Family Goes West!
Columns 8 | Editor’s Note It’s In Her Laugh 10 | Contests & Special Events Best Of The New York Baby Show, Big Family Benefit At Victorian Gardens, Summer Giveaways, And More 24 | It’s My Party Birthday Celebrations At Top Of The Garden, Elite Gymnastics, And Kidville 26 | Scoop New Kids’ Sports Facility, No-Contact Thermometer, Stroller-Cleaning Service, And More 28 | Treats Fabulous Beach And Outdoor Items For The Whole Family 30 | Activity Of The Month The Pros Chime In On Swimming, Golf, And Tennis Tips For Kids Of All Ages
p.30 36 | A Special Place The Legendary Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum Takes Families On An Interactive Journey That Both Educates And Inspires 38 | Starting Out In The Trenches: Lessons From New Dad Boot Camp 66 | The Last Word A Local Dad Contemplates The Unthinkable—That His Son May Not Share His Passions For Indie Music And Superheroes Cover Photo By Sarah Merians Photography On Andrew: Theory blazer, Original Penguin gingham shirt, Levi’s chino pants On Amy: Ellen Tracy lemon yellow wrap dress, her own jewelry www.newyorkfamily.com
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Editor and co-publishEr Eric Messinger emessinger@ manhattanmedia.com dEputY Editor Whitney C. Harris wharris@ manhattanmedia.com associatE Editor Christine Wei cwei @ manhattanmedia.com art dirEctor George W. Widmer gwidmer@ manhattanmedia.com
contributing photographErs Daniel S. Burnstein, Heidi Green, Thaddeus Harden, Michael Jurick contributing WritErs Nick Bell, Leah Black, Natalie Diaz, Gavriella Mahpour, Chrissy Makris, Pearl Shin, Sothea Shreck, Anna Sims, Mia Weber publishEr John Hurley 212.268.3086, jhurley@ manhattanmedia.com associatE publishEr Mary Ann Oklesson maoklesson @ manhattanmedia.com sEnior account ManagEr Gina Waldman gwaldman @ manhattanmedia.com spEcial projEcts dirEctor Alex Schweitzer aschweitzer@ manhattanmedia.com EVEnt ManagEr Laura Mishkin lmishkin @ manhattanmedia.com For MorE inForMation on thE babY shoW 212.268.3086 circulation Aaron Pollard apollard @ manhattanmedia.com businEss ManagEr Shawn Scott sscott@ manhattanmedia.com accounts ManagEr Kathy Pollyea kpollyea @ manhattanmedia.com Manhattan Media cEo Joanne Harras WEb dEVElopEr Christian Pando cpando @ manhattanmedia.com
New York Family is a division of Manhattan Media, publishers of AVENUE magazine, Mitzvah magazine, and The Blackboard Awards. Š 2013 Manhattan Media, LLC | 72 Madison Avenue, 11th Floor New York, NY 10016 | t: 212.268.8600 | f: 212.268.0577 www.manhattanmedia.com
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New York Family | June 2013
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editor’s note It’s In Her LaugH “At this stage in your child’s life, what are your deepest joys and challenges as a parent?” It’s the one question we always put to our cover subjects because, in asking them to consider their lives presently, we usually get answers that are fresh, immediate, and real. I’ve been asking the same question of myself lately, because my daughter, Elena, soon to be 13, is celebrating her bat mitzvah in about a week, and I’m looking forward to honoring her with a few kind thoughts. But which ones? In this month’s cover interview with Andrew Shue and Amy Robach (page 40), both had memorable but very different answers to the question, with Amy dwelling on her daughters’ innocent exuberance for life and Andrew on how all is right in the world when he sees his teenagers laugh and be happy. With that one, he helped me clarify my own thinking about my daughter and part of what I’m likely to share on the big day. I’m sure many of you remember Andrew as one of the stars of “Melrose Place”; he also is one of the founders of CafeMom, the most popular chat site on the web for moms. As a prominent news correspondent at ABC and frequent substitute
host on “Good Morning America,” Amy is a big success and public figure as well. But here’s why you’ll like them: They came, contemplated, bantered, laughed, and really shared—and there’s just a lot to relate to. With Father’s Day as my cue, I always try to fortify the June issue with a few great stories about fatherhood. In addition It was hard to keep these two apart. to Andrew’s wise words, I also want to highlight “Lessons From New Dad Bootcamp” (page 38); NYC dad Joe Wack’s personal essay on raising a son who, he hopes, will share his taste in indie music and superheroes (page 66); and all the profiles of the wonderful men in our annual Dads We Love package (page 47). As an editor, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also let you know that one of those dads, author Andrew Solomon, may well have written the most important book on modern family that I have ever read. How’s that for a teaser? Happy June & Happy Father’s Day, Eric Messinger, Editor emessinger@manhattanmedia.com
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New York Family | June 2013
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contests&special events and the Winners are… The New York Baby Show is pleased to announce the 2013 Best In Show Awards.
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3 2
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1) ParentLab’s journeyBee, a portable crib. 2) Quinny’s Yezz, a lightweight stroller. 3) Innobaby’s Teether & Rattle, a long-stemmed teether-rattle combo. 4) Nuna’s Leaf, a motor-free baby rocker. 5) Bitybean, a compact child carrier. For more highlights from the show, visit newyorkbabyshow.com
summer Fun giveaWay!
Win tickets to sahara sam’s oasis A splashy day trip for NYC families, Sahara Sam’s Oasis Indoor & Outdoor Water Park in West Berlin, New Jersey offers amazing aquatic attractions for all ages. Less than two hours away, the cool water playground is open during all seasons. And we have five family 4-packs of tickets to give away! To enter, visit newyorkfamily.com and click on the Contests & Giveaways tab.
Carnival night For Kids: Wednesday, June 12 A night in Central Park can be magical for children. Add to that a carnival and a special charity event and you’ve got something for the whole family to enjoy. The Carnival Night For Kids on Wednesday, June 12 is a fun-filled evening at Victorian Gardens with rides, games, raffles, food, magic shows, and more—and all proceeds benefit the Coalition for the Homeless’ youth programs. For more information, visit coalitionforthehomeless.org
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New York Family | June 2013
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Accepting applications for the 2013–2014 academic year for students ages 2–5 For information, please contact admissions@themontessori.org
5 West 22nd St. New York, NY 10010 Tel. 212 633 0600 www.themontessorischools.org
family fun arsen Mah Julie L er
MUSEUMS
MUSIC
THEATER
ATTRACTIONS
Top: new york hall of Science (Design Zone), bottom: union Square (Summer in the Square)
FOOD
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great events for June Top: bronx Zoo (Dinosaur Safari), bottom: Central park (Adventures nyC)
By Chrissy Makris
ongoing Coney iSlAnD ComebACk [All Ages] Seven months after it was devastated by the effects of Hurricane Sandy, the New York Aquarium at Coney Island is making a comeback! The Wildlife Conservation Society will partially reopen the aquarium, including a fully remodeled Aquatheater with a new sea lion demonstration. Come say hello to the friendly sea creatures in their refurbished habitats. $9.95 for ages 3 and up; 10am-6pm, 602 Surf Avenue, brooklyn, 718-265-3428, nyaquarium.org
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Through SepTember 1 For All DeSign JunkieS [All Ages] Who says learning can’t be fun? Find out how video game developers, music producers, roller coaster designers, and other creative types use math and science to solve problems at the New York Hall of Science’s new Design Zone. Kids can play with turntables, create laser light shows, experiment with photo manipulation, design skate parks and roller coasters, and learn about magnets—just to name a few. Free with admission; 9:30am-5pm on weekdays, 10am-6pm on weekends. 47-01 111th Street, 718-699-0005, nysci.org
Through SepTember 8 They’re Alive! [Ages] Get ready for some prehistoric fun! Dinosaur Safari is coming to the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo. Complete with a life-like ride through the Cretaceous and Jurassic periods featuring over two dozen 40-foot animatronic dinosaurs, this attraction is sure to offer thrills and chills to kids of all ages. This safari experience was created to be fun and educational—kids can also dig for fossils, see a dino musical, and create prehistoric crafts. Children $23.95, adults $33.95; 10am-5pm (5:30pm on weekends). 2300 Southern boulevard, bronx, 718-367-1010, bronxzoo.org continued on page 14
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F e at u r i n g
o v e r
2 0 0
A CHORUS OF COLORS l i v e
NOW OPEN
F r o g s !
TickeTs aT amnh.org • Free For members Open Daily | Central Park West at 79th St. | 212-769-5100 Frogs: A Chorus of Colors is presented with appreciation to Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland
10 Great events
family fun continued from page 12
garnering support for the arts, the Museum Mile Festival continues today as a cultural event for New Yorkers and tourists alike. This annual event boasts free access to the ten participating museums, live bands, activities and art for children, and 23 traffic-free blocks for your strolling pleasure. Join art and culture lovers in this mile-long block party on Fifth Avenue. Free; 6-9pm, Fifth avenue between 82nd and 110th Streets, 212-606-2296, museummilefestival.org
yearly Summer in the Square series. Throughout the season, an array of activities will be offered for kids and families, including: kiddie yoga classes, the Gazillion Bubbles Show, Baby Loves Disco dance parties, concerts, as well as fitness and dance classes for adults. The best part? It’s all free! Pack a picnic lunch and you’re good to go. Free; from 7am. east 14th Street & broadway, manhattan, 212-460-1200, unionsquarenyc.org
June 10 PiCniC Party [all ages] Join celebrity chef Mario Batali in a family garden party and cooking demonstration! Enjoy a picnic dinner, learn how to grow your own veggies, take part in a cooking demo, get your face painted, and more. All proceeds will go to the newly established Edible Academy, New York Botanical Garden’s new space dedicated to educating the public about the connections between plants, gardening, nutrition, and health. From $75 for kids and $125 for adults; 4pm. 2900 Southern boulevard, bronx, 718-817-8773, nybg.org June 11 muSeum madneSS [all ages] Beginning in 1978 as a means of
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New York Family | June 2013
new york aquarium
June 11 to auguSt 8 madiSon Square roCKS! [all ages] Get ready to rock out in Madison Square Park with the Mad. Sq. Kids Summer Concert Series! Every Tuesday and Thursday, little ones can dance to the beat in time with their favorite kindie rockers like Recess Monkey, The Deedle Deedle Dees, Audra Rox, and more. Don’t forget your dancin’ shoes! Free; 10:30am. madison Square Park, 212-538-1884, madisonsquarepark.org June 13 to auguSt 15 Summer in the Square [all ages] Kick off your flips flops and head over to Union Square Park for the
events
June 9 Sizzling Summer Celebration [all ages] Join in on the multicultural fun at the Almost Summer Celebration in Wagner Park. Attendees will enjoy an upbeat family concert by Grammy winner Dan Zanes and Elizabeth Mitchell, favorite stars on the kindie rock scene who offer families an eclectic, soulful musical experience. For even more fun, kids can also enjoy art and nature projects and activities, then sit in on Native American folk storytelling for a break. Free; 11am-2pm. 20 battery Place, 212-267-9700, bpcparks.org
Julie Larsen Maher
Wagner Park (almost Summer)
June 14-23 tiny toyS [all ages] Love toys and all things miniature? Check out the 10th International Toy Theater Festival and Free Temporary Toy Theater Museum at St. Ann’s Warehouse for a colossal event of tiny proportions! This eclectic Victorian art form promises a ten-day lineup of teeny tabletop performances. The festival includes access to family toy theater performances, a temporary toy museum, and workshops like tiny toy theater creation for kids. museum free, performances and programs from $10; times vary. 29 Jay Street, brooklyn, 718-254-87 79, stannswarehouse.org June 23 outdoor adventureS [all ages] If your child has a lot of energy and loves the great outdoors, the NYC Parks and Backpacker Magazine’s 8th annual Adventures NYC is for your family. On this day, Central Park will become home to a slew of fun activities for youngsters, including rock climbing, kayaking, giveaways, tours, live music, and much more. This event is rain or shine, so come get your respite from the concrete jungle. Free; 12-4pm. bandshell area in Central Park, 311, nycgovparks.org
For more event picks for families, check out our Family Calendar at newyorkfamily.com/events www.newyorkfamily.com
NE
W 6 L- m-3 : To y CL gE AS TH ER SE S
AL
Battery Park City’s Parks
FUN FOR ALL! May-October
Daily & Weekly Programs
FRENCH • SPANISH ITALIAN • CHINESE Ages
9Y 6M -
Full Immersion • Native Teachers
CLASSES PRESCHooLS & CAmPS
Featuring the Thibaut Technique®, perfected almost 40 years, and recognized by The New York Times, PBS, People, Parents, Wall St. Journal, Fox, BBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, and CNN.
Preschool Play, Preschool Art, School-age Art+Games, Afternoon Basketball, Soccer & Drop-in Chess, Sunset Jams Drumming Circle, Family Dances, River & Blues concerts
June Events
Almost Summer Celebration featuring Dan Zanes and Elizabeth Mitchell June 21 Swedish Midsummer Festival
June 9
For program details, visit www.bpcparks.org or, call 212-267-9700 for a 2013 Calendar of free programs & events
FREE mATERIALS MANhATTAN (Eastside, Westside) • LI • NJ
212.628.2700
www.LanguageWorkshopForChildren.com
Battery Park City Authority and Battery Park City Parks Conservancy
family fun
BeSt
NYBG everett Children’s Adventure Garden and Point Pleasant Beach
Where To Set Sail, Splash Around, Meet Wild Creatures, And Get Back To Nature Around The City
Wet ‘N Wild: Water Parks arouNd NYC Best For Super Small Splashers Splash your heart out at Water Slide World in Lake George, NY, where there are two kid-friendly play areas for youngsters and plenty of thrilling adventures for adrenaline-seekers. This park is particularly accommodating to little ones, so no one will be left on the sidelines. Enjoy 12 curling slides, play volleyball, or float under the sun—no matter
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New York Family | June 2013
Matthew Bietz
SuMMeR eR ev
how you and your family play, everyone will have a splashing good time. Best For Resort Lovers Sitting at the top of a mountain in Vernon, NJ, you’ll find a winter ski resort turned warm-weather water park at Mountain Creek. The adventure-seeker will find plenty to do: jump off a cliff, swing among the trees and free-fall into the water, or plummet 99 feet on the H2-Oh-No’s vertical drop. Tamer guests can try the River Runner Slide or the Junior Rapids. Best For A Rainy Day Nestled in the Pocono Mountains, this constantly84-degrees indoor water park features the one-of-akind Hydro Plunge, a water ride-roller coaster hybrid on a motorized track that plunges you down a 52foot vertical drop. All 79,000 square feet of Great continued on page 18
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Congo Bongo Lazy River
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continued from page 16
Dan Deluca
and suburban dwellers alike. Attractions like Dr. Von Dark’s Tunnel of Terror and the Giant Twister are perfect for excitement-seeking older children and adults. For the little ones, “my-size” slides and pools at the Kiddie Cove are also available.
Rockaway Beach
Best For A Three-In-One Located oceanside in Wildwood, NJ, Morey’s Piers & Beachfront Waterparks offers a wild assortment of fun-in-the-sun activities and thrills for the whole family. With three piers complete with traditional amusement rides and two water parks featuring slides, cliff dives, pirate ships, lazy rivers, and kiddie play areas, this getaway is sure to excite kids of all ages. A waterpark wristband offers access to both Raging Waters Waterpark and Ocean Oasis Waterpark and Beach Club. Best For A Hybrid Sporting Experience With unique attractions like an indoor surfing simulator, a water obstacle course, and Sam’s Slamdunker—a pool designed for shooting hoops— Sahara Sam’s Indoor and Outdoor Waterpark in West Berlin, NJ, adds aquatic fun to all of your favorite sports. The park also features a relaxing lazy river, freestanding water tree fort, tube slides, raft rides, and the toddler-friendly Lizard Lagoon. Plus, its $6.5 million dollar outdoor expansion means a new 12,000-square-foot wave pool, a children’s play zone, a leisure pool, sand volleyball courts, and more!
Sahara Sam’s
Wolf Lodge are chock full of exciting slides and rides as well as zero-depth entry pools and toddlersized entertainment for the kiddies. Best For A Classic Experience Six Flags Great Adventure may be known for its gutwrenching roller coasters, but on a hot summer day the water park next door, Hurricane Harbor, may be your best bet for thrills and spills. The park has everything from fast action adventure rides to an expansive kiddie area. Don’t want to spend the whole day in the water? Your options are open, because this place is wedged between two other fun-filled theme parks. Best For A Mix Of Everything Less than two hours from Manhattan you’ll find Dorney Park’s Wildwater Kingdom. With an assortment of more than 36 water slides, wave pools, lazy rivers, and kids’ play areas, there’s something for each member of your family to enjoy. Plus, one ticket gives you admission to both Dorney Park Amusement Park and Wildwater Kingdom for the best of both worlds. Best For Brave Souls Complete with a brand new hydromagnetic water coaster and body surfing wave pool boasting fourfoot waves, Splish Splash in Riverhead, Long Island, has become a destination water park for city slickers
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New York Family | June 2013
Best For Intergenerational Adventures Located in Tannersville, PA, Camelbeach Mountain Waterpark is a water-lover’s dream, as slides, pools, and rides abound. For a relaxing start, grab a lounge chair and enjoy a picturesque view of the Pocono Mountains from the Olympic-sized pool. Kids and adults can play together at Pharaoh’s Fortress and Camel Cove, the park’s two interactive play structures. Finally, pick up the pace on Camelbeach’s Checkered Flag Challenge and Triple Venom Speed Slides, go on an adventure down the Blue Nile River, or get caught spinning in either of the two bowl slides. Best For Idyllic Fun Become one with nature in nearby New Jersey at Tomahawk Lake Waterpark, where you can rent swan boats, paddle boats, or bumper boats on the beautiful 20-acre lake. Try the 503-foot Black Snake tube ride or the 610-foot Mammoth Flume raft ride. Bring young kids to explore Papoose Land, where they can climb a giant turtle or frog, go down miniwater slides, and paddle in kiddie canoes and bumper boats. Children can enjoy some variety with miniature golf or softball, and parents can relax to live music in the beer garden every weekend. Best For A Short Dip If a full day at the water park seems like too much for your little one, consider the Land of Make Believe in continued on page 20
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This Summer, when the kids ask, say yes to Hershey — where
KIDS STAY, PLAY,
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*Kids 17 and younger receive free accommodations in the same room with paying adult and free breakfast with the purchase of an adult breakfast of equal or greater value. ©2013 Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company. All words, designs, and phrases appearing with the symbol ®, SM, or TM are trademarks used under license or with permission. 13DT11596
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Hope, NJ. With the charm of a county fair and the attractions of a major water park, this place has it all. Visit America’s largest wading pool, let the kids play on a life-size pirate ship, float down the piratethemed lazy river, and check out one of the 40-foothigh water slides. When you’re done with the water works, you can head over to the dry rides, meet a talking scarecrow, visit Old McDonald’s farm, or settle down at the picnic area for lunch. — Kelly Farrell, Savannah Birnbaum, and Chrissy Makris
RiveR Fun: Fishing, KayaKing, and sailing
Wally Gobetz
Sometimes it’s nice to escape the cars, people, and food carts and run to the calming waters that surround Manhattan. If you’re new to sailing, take some lessons at the Offshore Sailing School. Or relax and let the pros at Hudson River Sloop Clearwater do the work with a three-hour sail on the Hudson that teaches you about the ecosystem. For a bigger taste of adventure, get out and kayak in New York Harbor with Red Hook Boaters. If you’re willing to venture to Brooklyn, they offer free kayaking to city dwellers on a first-come-first-serve basis. Or, if you’d prefer to stay in the city, check out the Downtown Boathouse on Wednesday nights for free lessons or tour the city by water with Manhattan Kayak Company. Older kids can even take a stand-up paddle board lesson with New York Kayak Company!
Fishing at Sheepshead Bay
Looking for a more peaceful afternoon? Foot traffic may be high on the streets, but there’s plenty of relaxing by the sea. Be sure to grab a hot dog at Nathan’s Hot Dogs at Steeplechase Pier in Coney Island after reeling in some fish, rent a boat in Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, or stay in the city for some good old catch-and-release at the 107th Street Pier. Psst—the electric lighting and roof at 107th makes it a great way to beat the crowds at nighttime or during summer showers. — Sothea Shreck
liFe’s a Beach The Return Of The Hipster… Months after Superstorm Sandy wrecked havoc in the neighborhood, Rockaway Beach in Queens has
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reopened with four boardwalk islands at Beach 86th, 97th, 106th, and 116th Streets. Traditionally, we’ve recommended the area in the upper numbers, around 103rd, for quieter fun in the sun. Gourmet fare like lobster rolls and arepas should be returning, not to mention a brand new wine bar for parents. ..And The Return Of The Campy Another comeback story to celebrate: Most of everyone’s favorite Coney Island attractions have been restored in time for the summer 2013 season— plus a few new Luna Park rides. Hop aboard the historic wooden Cyclone coaster, catch a Brooklyn Cyclones baseball game at MCU Park, and marvel at a magic show that takes you through the ages. This is also a great spot to enjoy dogs and fries as you people watch! A Blast From The Past On the Point Pleasant Beach slice of the Jersey Shore, you’ll find a mile-long boardwalk (dubbed Jenkinson’s) with an old-timey but not-too-cheesy vibe. Buff lifeguards cruise the beach on those groovy dune buggies, candy apples practically sell themselves, and mini golfers roam free. The Swimmer’s Paradise The world-class swimming hub in Wantagh, Jones Beach, boasts 6.5 miles of ocean beach, a gentler bathing area ideal for little ones, and two swimming pools. This stretch is also great for the avid shell collector or marine pet seeker, ripe with large horseshoe crabs along the shore. When you’re ready to towel off, head to the boardwalk for a round of miniature golf or visit the Theodore Roosevelt Nature Center. Worth The Trek While it lacks in proximity, Robert Moses Beach at Fire Island makes up for it in spades by being calmer, cleaner, and less crowded than its more conveniently located counterparts. Offering five miles of beautiful ocean beaches, as well as amenities like chair and umbrella rentals, concessions, and restrooms with showers, this beach is the perfect summer daytrip destination. — Jennifer Lehner
happy campeRs: editoR’s picKs Veteran families know that great camping lies just outside the city. An hour north of NYC near Hudson River—and accessible via public transit— Bear Mountain State Park features large fields, picnic areas, biking trails, and swimming pools. We recommend the pet-friendly Black Bear Campground in Orange County, complete with basketball courts, hayrides, and much more. For the adventure seekers, the famed Catskill Mountains offer everything from horseback riding continued on page 22
www.newyorkfamily.com
WHO SAID SCIENTISTS DON’T HAVE FUN? OUR KIDS HAVE A BLAST AT
SCITECH KIDS
Summer Fun in the City at 74th St. MAGIC
SUMMER CAMP
Summer Days Camp ... for children 2½ to 6 years old Week-long theme based adventures Only a 2 week minimum Half-Day or Full-Day Camp weeks begin June 3rd
ster Regi ay! Tod
BUDDING SCIENTISTS ENJOY ACTIVITIES INCLUDING:
Summer MAGIC Classes
• Composing • Launching Rockets • Hydroponics • How the Body Works • Robotics • Bird watching • Botany • Designing Houses • Model Boat Sailing Exploring Ecosystems • Building Weather Stations • Amazing Field Trips AND MORE
...for children 6 months to 8 years old Energy-packed classes in music, art, cooking and gymnastics Semester begins June 17th
Pick a pro or try gram them both! Register online or call 212.737.2989 today! ble g, i x e Fl dulin e m Under the red canopy sch aximu at 510 East 74th Street m un! (off York Avenue) f New York
Summer is a great time for kids to explore the wonders of science. SciTech Kids sparks a child’s innate curiosity and creativity about science through rich, hands-on, captivating experiences. Whether an Explorer (4-5) Adventurer (ages 6-8) or Investigator (ages 9-12) SciTech Kids inspires kids to think like scientists. Mornings are spent in Central Park and afternoons are filled with science and non-science activities.
212.737.2989 www.74magic.com
YFamily-June13-Half-V-CampClasses.indd 1
5/6/2013 7:31:29 PM
To register call (212) 804-7055 or www.sci-techkids.com
SUMMER 2013: JUNE 10 TO AUGUST 9 Ages 4 – 12 9 AM to 3 PM 130 East 80th St. ENROLL for 1 to 9 WEEKS
continued from page 20
and rock climbing to safaris and water parks. (Scenic train rides let you take a breath in between.) Try starting from Mongaup Pond in Livingston Manor, a campground situated on a 120-acre lake. The remote location, dense forest, and boating-ready waters are only a few of the area’s attractions. Or go Appalachian at the Delaware Water Gap, a 90-minute hop away from the city, for stunning mountain views and a menu of activities like boating, fishing, and hiking. Amenities like clean water and electricity at The Dingmans Campground in Dingmans Ferry (Pennsylvania) make for an easy stay at any of the 133 sites. Time your visit to the fairs and festivals in the area throughout the summer.
(InTer)ACTIve Fun In PArks & Zoos AFTer-Hours ADvenTures During the summer, your favorite parks aren’t just for daytime picnics—the urban Park rangers host Family Camping nights throughout the summer months at parks in all five boroughs. For one night, you’ll get a tent, cookout treats, and guided activities like stargazing at no cost. Or there are the coveted zoo sleepovers like the Bronx Zoo’s Family Overnight Safari, a delightful affair for fervent animal lovers that includes a picnic dinner, hands-on animal experiences, scavenger hunts, a sea lion wake-up call, and more. If you’re unable to make reservations, don’t despair—we also love The Art Farm in the City, the Upper East Side eco and animal center that hosts weekend feeding and snuggling sessions. BIke IT Looking to get active in the parks? Small kiddies can take an easy 1.3-mile loop around Staten Island’s silver Lake Park, full of wildlife-viewing opps, or the breezy 4.5-mile round trip from owl’s Head Park to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Brooklyn. For more experienced bikers, a 6.25-mile scenic route between Pelham Bay Park and Orchard Beach in the Bronx runs through five different types of landscapes; a 6.5-mile trail from Alley Pond Park to Fort Totten and Little Bay Park in Queens takes you around a Civil War fortress. Fams looking for a manageable challenge can set out from 79th Street to the Little red Lighthouse right in Manhattan, a moderate 10-mile round trip that parallels the Hudson River and takes you to the lighthouse immortalized in the 1942 children’s classic.
Nature ImmersIoN: GardeN oases, aNImal eNcouNters, aNd Good learNIN’ Green THuMBs uP Arguably the most famous in the city, the new York Botanical Garden in the Bronx makes a perfect summer outing. Some of our favorite spots here
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New York Family | June 2013
include the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, the country’s largest Victorian glasshouse, and the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, featuring mazes and wetlands. New to the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden is a year-round Edible Academy learning center, with a greenhouse, demonstration kitchen, and much more. All the way down in the hip part of New York, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is home to the country’s longest operating Children’s Garden—it opened in 1914! More importantly, its 52 acres are the perfect size to explore with young ones. This month, when the Cranford Rose Garden’s blooms are at their most magnificent, is a gorgeous time to visit. Of course, apropos for our urban jungle is the beloved High Line, the defunct-railroad-turnedurban-park in Chelsea. Families can delight in food trucks, stargazing, dance parties, funky art installations, and all sorts of walking tours. Don’t miss the carnival-inspired summer party on the 11th if you love a hoppin’ good time. We also have to give a green thumbs up for Liz Christy Garden in the Lower East Side. As the city’s oldest community garden house, it’s home to a pond full of adorable turtles, wooden furniture that’s perfect for storytime, and all sorts of greenery from a grape arbor to vegetable gardens to weeping birch tree groves. Your family can earn access by putting in 20 hours of volunteering. ALL ABouT AnIMALs You don’t need to visit wild caves or drive upstate to spot furry bats and brilliant birds—the city’s green pastures are great for that, too. Brave critter lovers can seek bats on warm summer nights close to home at The Great Hill in Central Park, The Gerritsen Creek nature Trail at Marine Park, and Jamaica Bay Wildlife refuge in Queens—or venture out to Blue Heron Park’s spring Pond on Staten Island. Not that there isn’t plenty of daytime animal fun to be had. At new York Harbor Parks in Lower Manhattan, spy on birds like long-legged waders such as egrets, herons, and blue grosbeak song birds. Another pastoral playground brimming with educational animals: Alley Pond Park is a 635-acre nature center that opened in the ‘70s in Queens. Weekly workshops give children of all ages a chance to pet animals, take nature walks, create science and crafts projects, and tons more. That’s not to mention animal care training and stargazing workshops. Just don’t miss the Animal Room in all your excitement; you’ll want to get up close and personal with creatures like Loke the Prairie Dog, Henry the RingNecked Dove, and, if you’re feeling brave, Bernie the Corn Snake. But it has to be said that summer weather can be fickle, which is why we really love the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center. There, you’ll find a plan for rain or shine. Indoors, participate in educational workshops, seasonal exhibits, and holiday celebrations. Outdoors, borrow a fishing pole and join the catch-and-release fishing program at the 11-acre Harlem Meer. — Pearl Shin www.newyorkfamily.com
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birthdays
IT’S MY PARTY
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gracie Lonstein celebrates her 3rd birthday at kidville. 1. The Lonsteins do it right—it’s always bubbles galore at the best little kiddies parties. 2. Make a wish! The family gathers around the colorful cake as Gracie gets ready to blow out the candles. 3. Time to make some music. Look at those tambourines go. Photos by Heidi Green Photography, heidigreen.com
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Alexi wolkoff celebrates her 6th birthday at elite gymnastics. 1. This gorgeous family is all smiles on Alexi’s special day. (Celebratory pizza? Yes, please!) 2. Nothing like a silly group shot to memorialize the good times. 3. It’s a bird… It’s a plane… It’s a flying birthday girl with Olympic-level gymnastic skills! Photos by Heidi Green Photography, heidigreen.com
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Samantha Pohly and chloe Pae celebrate their 12th birthdays at Top of the garden. 1. These cupcakes are on fire! Did Cinna decorate these gorgeous treats? 2. The guests test their skills in a challenge at this—you’ve guessed it—Hunger Games-themed bash. 3. Birthday girls Chloe and Samantha grin against a spectacular Games arena backdrop. Photos by Heidi Green Photography, heidigreen.com
LookIng foR A PIcTuRe-PeRfecT bIRThdAY venue? vISIT newYoRkfAMILY.coM/bIRThdAY-PARTIeS 24
New York Family | June 2013
www.newyorkfamily.com
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yrs. of Fun, Frien ds, & Fitness !
Register fo r k id s N ow ! 9 m o s to 12 yrs
FLEXIBL E CAMP SHEDUL ING! YOU cho the day ose s! Y choose OU the weeks!
www.jodisgym.com 244 E. 84th St. NYC • 212.772.7633
scoop
KEEPING PARENTS IN THE KNOW
CLASS NEW KIDS’ SPORTS FACILITy One of New York City’s premiere youth athletic programs, Fastbreak is opening a brand new facility this fall. Offering a variety of sports developmental programming for all levels—from kindergarten through high school—Fastbreak will soon make its home in an impressive 7,000-square-foot indoor facility on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. To be located on First Avenue and 85th Street, the sports venue will include a state-of-the-art basketball court, private training area, parent viewing area, meeting and party room. With basketball, baseball, flag football, soccer instruction, and more, Fastbreak’s extensive sports menu for ages 1.5-4 and 5-18 years will cater to any active city kid. fastbreakkids.com
TECHNOLOGy NO-CONTACT THERMOMETER All parents dread their kids getting sick. A squirming little one can make it difficult to take their temperature with a traditional thermometer. But new technology is on our side: The VeraTemp Non-Contact Thermometer is faster and less invasive as it allows parents to get a read on their child’s body temperature without ever touching the skin. With a digital number display and three different light patterns that indicate the intensity of your kid’s temperature, the VeraTemp gives an accurate and efficient read. Even more impressive is the thermometer’s ability to evaluate surface, room, and water temperatures for use throughout the home. veratemp.com
BOOK APP ON-THE-GO PARENTING One of the best things about living in the city is being out and about all day with your family. But sometimes, exploring a new neighborhood means you’re unfamiliar with the closest kid-friendly restaurants, playgrounds, children’s stores, venues with changing tables, or urgent care centers. What’s a peripatetic parent to do? A free mobile app, Mommy Nearest, aims to put New York’s more reliable resources for kids right at your fingertips. With recommendations taken from experienced local moms and dads, Mommy Nearest provides organized access to NYC’s ever-growing list of offerings for families. So whether you’re suddenly in desperate need of a kids’ haircut or simply want to stop by a café with an available high chair, this app just might point you in the right direction. mommynearest.com
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New York Family | June 2013
THE FATHERSON RIDE OF A LIFETIME A good adventure will always bring a family closer, and perhaps no one knows this better than Charles Scott, father of two and author of Rising Son: A Father and Son’s Bike Adventure Across Japan. Scott took three months off from his corporate job at Intel to bike through Asia with his 8-year-old son, Sho. In Rising Son, Scott chronicles the adventure, sharing stories of weathering storms, sleeping in tents, eating fresh sea urchins, as well as Sho’s search for the Best Game Room Ever. Not only is it a compelling read about a father and son becoming a team, the book is also filled with astute parenting insights. We get to see a glimpse of Scott’s beautiful family life as he talks about handling temper tantrums, building his children’s confidence, and giving the precious gift of time. amazon.com
SERVICE CLEAN STROLLERS AND CAR SEATS Most parents don’t have the time to detail their baby’s stroller, let alone invest in the best eco-friendly products for this kind of deep cleaning. Enter CleanBeeBaby, an environmentally responsible cleaning service for strollers, car seats, and more that just launched in NYC. Professional repair technicians keep all prams up to safety standards and use non-toxic products to remove harmful bacteria such as strep, staph, and E. coli—all which have been found living on baby products. CleanBeeBaby is conveniently mobile and also at retail locations throughout the city, so you can drop off your wheels or schedule a house call. Plus, gear can be washed and ready to roll on the same day. How’s that for a quick and clean sting? cleanbeebaby.com
FOR MORE TIPS ON LOCAL RESOuRCES FOR FAMILIES, CHECK OuT NEWyORKFAMILy.COM www.newyorkfamily.com
lysst
Summer TreaTS
By Lyss Stern
Start the season in style with fabulyss beach and outdoor items for the whole family
FOR dad
FOR MOM
In The Bag For a day at the beach, a bag that’s fashionable and functional is an absolute must! That’s why I love Echo’s roomy black-and-white canvas tote. $55; everythingbutwater.com
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Sunny disposition Nothing’s chicer than staying safe in the sun, and this summer you can do it in an oh-so-luxe way. Top skincare brand La Mer has an amazing new sun line, complete with a face sun lotion (SPF 30), body sun lotion (SPF 30), and gradual self-tanner. $85-120; lamer.com
Maxi-mum Style Barbecues, days in the park, afternoons with the family that turn into sunset dinners—all require an easy, breezy dress like London Times’ eye-catching maxi that’s also fiercely flattering with diagonal stripes. $68; londontimesfashion.com
Shady Gents Sunglasses are the ultimate summer accessory for any man looking to spend some time outside, and GANT’s round Wellsy pair is high on style and protection. $195; gant.com New York Family | June 2013
Orange You Loving This? Banana Republic’s lightweight linen and cotton buttondown—in this great shade of orange—is ideal for a day at the beach and can transition right into a casual outdoor dinner or barbecue. $69.50; bananarepublic.com www.newyorkfamily.com
FOR kIDS & FAMILY Beach Boys Little guys can take a bite out of a beach day with GapKids’ shark print swim trunks and bright blue tee. $19.95 (trunks), $14.95 (t-shirt); gap.com
Terrific Topper Boys will want to swap their standard baseball caps for this adorable Children’s Place straw fedora and look a little cooler on the beach. $12.95; childrensplace.com
Towel Off I simply adore Restoration Hardware’s Cote D’Azur beach towel. It features a gorgeous print, is beyond plush, and is large enough (40” x 70”) for the DivaBeans to get dry and cozy after playing in the water. $42; rh.com
She’ll Make A Splash Milly’s womenswear is fabulyssly feminine and beautiful. And so is the designer’s girls’ line, Milly Minis, which has darling styles like this matching swimsuit and cover-up. $115-125 (suit), $130-145 (cover-up); millyny.com
Scoops Of Fun Ice cream-loving kiddies will have a blast playing with Melissa & Doug’s ice cream sand set—a fun twist on the classic pail and shovel. It includes a bucket with a seashell lid, two plastic ice cream cones, a sand shaker, and two ice cream scoops. For ages 3 and up. $14.99; melissaanddoug.com www.newyorkfamily.com
A Basket Of Fun What’s better than a picnic with the family on a warm summer day? C. Wonder’s stylish picnic basket comes with four sets of silverware, four ceramic plates, salt-and-pepper shakers, and a corkscrew—cheers to that! $128; cwonder.com
A Step Ahead Start any girl’s summer on the right foot with metallic Calypso Bow sandals from The Children’s Place. $9.95; childrensplace.com
Sand Saver Keep the sand at the beach! A washable talc-filled bag, Powder Pouch quickly removes stray grains from the skin in one quick swipe. Plus, the company will contribute to Superstorm Sandy relief with each purchase. $8.99; powderpouch.com
LYSS STERN, AN UPPER EAST SIDE MOM OF TWO, IS THE FOUNDER OF DIVALYSSCIOUSMOMS, DIVAMOMS.COM June 2013 | New York Family 29
activity of the month
SwimJim
The Pros Chime In On Swimming, Golf, And Tennis Tips For Kids Of All Ages The summer is the perfect time for soaking up some sun and honing your outdoor sports skills while you’re at it. Swimming, golf, and tennis are all classic sports for the season, so we asked pro instructors and program directors around the city for their best tips for young beginners as well as older athletes. Here’s how to step it up in the pool, on the green, and on the courts.
SWIMMING For younger beginners “For young children, a game is a great way to work on swimming skills outside of lessons. Asking a child to retrieve a submerged toy from the bottom of the pool is not only fun, but it also allows the child to practice a surface dive and work on breath control and provides a great sense of accomplishment.” –Jennifer Lyons, associate aquatics director at Asphalt Green
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“One of the best ways to help your child is to remove yourself from the pool area (or at least out of your child’s sight). This separation allows your child to relax and focus more on the lesson itself. Taking your child to the pool for play time and free swim will also help them become more comfortable in the pool and see how fun the water can be!” –Trevor Miele, director at NYU Swim Camp “Educate your children to be safer around the water—a parent or other responsible adult should never be more than an arm’s reach from a child. Work with the beginners on breath control, blowing bubbles, reaching and grabbing, and gentle submersions. Introduce the back float with the child’s head on the parent’s shoulder, cheek to cheek. Finally, always seek a trusted swim school that focuses on fun and water safety.” –Jim Spiers, founder of SwimJim “Children around the ages of 3 and 4 should swim with a focus on water exploration in order to build the basic skills and confidence to begin stroke development. The most important role for a parent at this stage would be to make your child feel at ease by demonstrating age-appropriate skills such as blowing bubbles, submersion, and gross motor movements (like kicking).” –Kevin Long, instructor at Physique Swimming
www.newyorkfamily.com
For older swimmers
GOLF
“For parents with slightly older children, it’s still important to create a safe and comforting environment, but don’t be hesitant to encourage your child to swim independently. To capture a swimmer’s attention, I incorporate games into an instructional session to reinforce skill building.” –Kevin Long, instructor at Physique Swimming
For younger beginners
“At the NYU Swim Camp, our campers have formal lessons, but there is also time reserved for free swim. This allows them to enjoy playtime in the pool and also gives them the opportunity to practice some of the skills learned during lessons. More time in the pool helps the swimmers become more confident and continue to develop their new sport.” –Trevor Miele, director at NYU Swim Camp “Swimming lessons do not stop when the child exits the pool! They can practice blowing bubbles and singing songs underwater in the bathtub at home. Your child can work on their freestyle technique while watching TV. Every moment is an opportunity to learn. Remember: A child who blows bubbles today is the one swimming butterfly tomorrow!” –Lane Wineski, director of 92Y’s Aquatics Program “It’s never too late to put your child in swimming lessons. Look for classes that are small and have passionate, fun instructors. Let your child know that they can learn how to swim no matter what. The two most important skills they must learn are how to float on their back and stomach before any stroke. The right company, instructors, and encouragement will make a world of difference for any swimmer, young or old.” –Agnes Davis, CEO and president of Swim Swim Swim I Say
“The best advice is to be focused on fun and not form. Keep activities safe, simple, and successful! Use colored balls and targets with the right mixture of modified equipment. Be sure to include lots of play and fantasy. If it’s princesses your little one is into, try ‘putting the jewels back into the jewelry box;’ if it’s transportation, try ‘putting the wheels back on to the monster truck.’” –Kate Tempesta, founder of Kate Tempesta’s Urban Golf Academy “3- or 4-year-olds don’t always have the strength yet to make a full swing, so stick mainly to putting and chipping. It’s [also] helpful to start with plastic training clubs.” –Tim Townsend, senior teaching pro at Chelsea Piers Golf Club “For pee wees learning to play golf, starting them on the putting green is a great way to get them engaged, from short putts that require precise alignment and center-ness of hits to longer putts that require control of the length of the stroke. There are always fun games to play on the putting green to help see the line of each putt.” –Mitchell Spearman, founder of Mitchell Spearman Junior Golf Academy For older golfers “The challenge of teaching juniors ages 5-9 is cultivating their skills while preserving the joy of the game. Keep instruction simple and fun and communicate on their level by kneeling down, not standing over them. Many children in their early years have active feet during the swing. Give them a set of ‘magic shoes’ to quiet their feet. Magic shoes which continued on page 32
SWIMMING SAFELY There’s no time like summer to splash around, whether your child is ready to swim endless laps or just dip their toes into the pool. But water safety is important in the midst of all the fun, especially considering that drowning is the leading cause of accidental death among children under 5. We caught up with the Safer 3 Water Safety Foundation for tips on how parents can ensure the safest fun in the water this summer. 1. Safer Water: Learn to identify the risks associated with activities in, on, and around the water and how to reduce those risks. Four-sided isolation fencing around every pool could prevent 50–90% of childhood drownings and near-drownings. 2. Safer People: Reduce risks by providing constant adult supervision, learning water safety and swimming skills, and wearing a Coast Guard approved life jacket. Assign a water www.newyorkfamily.com
watcher. Constant supervision is a must. No cell phones, put the book down, and forget about all of the other things you have to do. Give children 100% of your attention when they are near or around water. Parents should practice touch supervision when toddlers are swimming. 3. Safer Response: Become trained with emergency response techniques and have an emergency action plan and a phone nearby at all times. All parents should learn CPR. Seventy percent of Americans may feel helpless to act during a cardiac emergency because they either do not know how to administer CPR or their training has significantly lapsed. To learn more water safety tips and drowning prevention education, visit safer3.org. June 2013 | New York Family
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Scott McDermott
the children is helpful—small-size racquets, specially designed balls, balloons, lower nets, and other items that give the children an opportunity to succeed.” – Jordan Snider, director of Future Stars Summer Camps
Chelsea Piers
can be built by standing on two hardcover books, and one magic shoe can be built out of golf balls around their lead foot.” –Kate Tempesta, founder of Kate Tempesta’s Urban Golf Academy “When they advance, make sure they use small, light clubs (US Kids brand is great). Keep the sessions brief so they don’t lose interest. Make it fun—let them steer the cart if you’re playing golf and let them hit old balls into the water. When they’re 5, take them to the course in the evening and let them play a few holes. Lastly, don’t badger the kids. Teach them a little at a time. If it’s not fun, they won’t play!” –Tim Townsend, senior teaching pro at Chelsea Piers Golf Club “The first thing any young golfer needs to learn is the importance of finishing their swing in balance, which will aid them in hitting the ball further. This allows them to end the swing with their weight on the front foot, which promotes a good swing path and acceleration. To eliminate trying to lift the ball in the air, have your junior hold their finish for a count of three.” –Mitchell Spearman, founder of Mitchell Spearman Junior Golf Academy
“The best way to build basic handeye coordination is by tossing the ball underhand to your child and having them catch after one or two bounces. As the child progresses, the parent can begin tossing the ball away from the child to force the child to move their feet to catch the ball. Finally, progress to tossing and catching the ball in the air without letting it bounce.” –Gabriel Slotnick, tennis professional at Advantage Tennis Clubs “Young children learning tennis for the first time must be introduced to the appropriate equipment. Nowadays, there are tennis rackets and tennis balls made specifically for children. A larger, decompressed ball is initially easier for the child to hit—generally, the younger the child, the bigger the ball. Finally, tennis nets and the tennis court playing area [also can be] shrunk and customized.” –Neil Friedman, founder of NFCH Sports “For the 3- to 4-year-olds, it’s all about hand-eye coordination and simple muscle memory. A simple drill is to have them push the tennis ball with their racquet like a hockey puck. This will help them adapt their tracking skills.” –Reza Thompsett, director of tennis at Southampton Racquet Club & Camp “Simple exercises on or off the court: 1) Bounce a ball to a child and have them try to catch it with one hand or both hands. 2) Have the child balance a ball on the racquet for as long as they can. 3) Have them walk while balancing the ball on the racquet from one point to another.” –Lisa M. Jones, head pro tennis director at East Hampton Indoor Tennis
TENNIS
For older tennis players
For younger beginners
“For children ages 5 and older who have begun to play tennis, they can practice their forehand and backhand shots by having a rally with themselves. By standing in one spot and tapping the ball up with their racquet, alternating with their palm up and knuckles up, children will learn racquet and ball control and a sense of how the ball feels when it comes in contact with their racquet.” –Gabriel Slotnick, tennis professional at Advantage Tennis Clubs
“As much as we love to hear that more and more young children are getting involved in our sport, I do feel obligated to warn parents not to put their child on the ball machine three hours a day to produce the next Roger Federer or Serena Williams. At an early age, the key is to make any activity fun. It’s far more important at this age to develop balance, agility, and coordination than the specific skills.” –Lawrence Kleger, director at John McEnroe Tennis Academy (Sportime NY) “At this stage, the children should be developing hand-eye coordination and learning to move in different directions. Using the correct equipment for
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“Kids should still be developing their basic athletic skills in a fun, challenging, and fulfilling atmosphere. As they get older and more accomplished in the continued on page 34
www.newyorkfamily.com
get moving at the
j!
Four a mazin kids m g new cla s oving after ses to keep schoo l this your Fall! EAST SIDE AT THE JCC
Registration opens May 19 for members May 22 for nonmembers
! Photo by East Side Tae Kwon Do
continued from page 32
WHERE TO SWIM, GOLF, AND PLAY TENNIS IN NYC SWIMMING 14th Street Y, 14streety.org 92nd Street Y, 92y.org Aqua Skills, aquaskills.com Asphalt Green, asphaltgreen.org Imagine Swimming, imagineswimming.com New York Sports Club, mysportsclubs.com NYU Swim Camp, gonyuathletics.com Physique Swim School, physiqueswimming.com SwimJim, swimjim.com Swim Swim Swim I Say, swimswimswimisay.com Take Me To The Water, takemetothewater.com Local YMCAs, ymcanyc.org
Future Stars Tennis
specific athletic and technical skills needed for tennis, I would recommend parents find a junior academy or program that has a proven track record of producing high-level junior players. If an academy is churning out many top national juniors, chances are they know how to do it!” –Lawrence Kleger, director at John McEnroe Tennis Academy (Sportime NY) “Once the child is introduced to his tennis racket, balls, net, and court space, children can be asked to do self-testing challenges that proceed in a logical progression. One of the first tasks we may ask young children to do is to hold the tennis racket with one hand so that the strings are facing upward and, with the other hand, hold the ball on the strings. Then, we ask that they balance the ball on the strings of the racket. Finally, they can try walking at the same time while balancing the ball on the strings of the racket.” –Neil Friedman, founder of NFCH Sports “For the 5-year-olds, the biggest success is making contact on that first bounce. Start with dropping the ball by their side and swinging from low to high. As they get better, move to the other side of the net. The key is to keep it fun and entertaining so that juniors learn the game and play for life.” –Reza Thompsett, director of tennis at Southampton Racquet Club & Camp “Technique becomes a greater factor, but it’s vital to remember that children at these ages cannot manipulate their bodies the way adults or older children can and therefore are not ready for technical analysis. These children are often still learning their left from their right. Activities that include throwing, catching, and running are all good building blocks
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GOLF Brooklyn Golf Center, brooklyngolfcenter.com Chelsea Piers Golf Club, chelseapiers.com/gc CityParks Junior Golf Center, cityparksfoundation.org Figment 2012 Mini Golf Course, newyork.figmentproject.org Flushing Meadows Golf Center, golfnyc.com Kate Tempesta’s Urban Golf Academy, ktuga.com Mitchell Spearman Junior Golf Academy, spearmanjuniorgolf.com Pier 25 at Hudson River Park, pier25.com Randall’s Island Golf Center, randallsislandgolfcenter.com Rocket Park Mini Golf, nysci.org Staten Island Go-Karts, sigokarts.com TENNIS Advantage Tennis Clubs, advantagetennisclubs.com Bumblebee Tennis, bumblebeetennis.com Central Park Tennis Center, centralparktenniscenter.com City Parks Foundation, cityparksfoundation.org East Hampton Indoor Tennis, ehit.ws Future Stars Tennis, fscamps.com Jeff Nerenberg Tennis Academy, jeffnerenbergtennisacademy.com Manhattan Tennis Academy, manhattantennisacademy.com New York Junior Tennis League, nyjtl.org NFCH Sports, kidstennisatnfchsports.com Riverside Clay Tennis Association, rcta.info Southampton Racquet Club & Camp, southamptonrcc.com Sportime NY & McEnroe Tennis Academy, sportimeny.com Sutton East Tennis Club, suttoneasttennis.com
for tennis.” –Jordan Snider, director of Future Stars Summer Camps “Exercises for children with some experience: 1) While standing still, try to bounce the ball up and down with the racquet repeatedly. 2) When hitting the forehand or backhand, the most important thing is to turn to the side and get their racquet back. 3) For the follow through, finish the forehand or backhand stroke with the tennis racquet high and in front of them.” –Lisa M. Jones, head pro tennis director at East Hampton Indoor Tennis www.newyorkfamily.com
Jump in! Summer classes begin JUNE 24. Baseball | Basketball | Flag Football | Gymnastics | Martial Arts | Soccer | Swimming | Camps | Leagues and Teams | Expert Instructors
REGISTER TODAY!
BATTERY PARK CITY asphaltgreenbpc.org UPPER EAST SIDE
asphaltgreen.org
NY Family_MAY 2013_6.925x4.7_halfpgAD.indd 1
5/9/13 5:12 PM
• Hamptons Lessons
SwimJim
Jun-Aug • 5 Manhattan
Locations • NEW Queens
Location (Park City Swim Club) • Infants to Adults • Small groups to privates
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Photos courtesy of The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
a special place
The
enduring
inTrepid The Legendary Sea, Air & Space Museum Takes Families On An Interactive Journey That Both Educates And Inspires By Chrissy Makris Sunshine bathes the hulking gray frame of the World War II-era aircraft carrier permanently parked at Pier 86 in Manhattan. Two giant American flags fly high above the deck. Inside the dimly-lit and winding halls of the ship’s third deck, the hollow patter of little feet is echoed by the expression of awe as a young boy takes in the original dining area—a cafeteria-style mess deck akin to a ‘70s-themed, windowless diner. “So, so, so, so cool,” he says, admiring the neatly set tables adorned with familiar bottles of Heinz ketchup. The boy is visiting the The Intrepid Sea, Air &
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Space Museum—a giant, floating historical landmark and a monument to our nation’s heroes. The aircraft carrier, once home to a crew of 3,000 men during World War II, served as a floating, mid-ocean airport for the United States Navy. The sheer size of the USS Intrepid is breathtaking and allows kids to run, jump, and explore the many features the ship has to offer, including the space shuttle Enterprise. Named after the ship in “Star Trek,” Enterprise was the first space shuttle orbiter and the initial ship used for atmospheric testing. Despite never actually reaching the depths of space, test flights of this prototype helped prepare scientists and astronauts for future space exploration. According to Intrepid president Susan MarenoffZausner, the space shuttle pavilion portion of the museum, which features Enterprise, is scheduled to reopen this summer after undergoing repairs due to the damaging effects of Hurricane Sandy. During the fierce superstorm, the generators were flooded by a six-foot wall of water that gushed over the pier, rendering the space shuttle pavilion nonfunctional. “We were very fortunate to be able to look at the space after Hurricane Sandy and be able to see what www.newyorkfamily.com
What’S going on at the intrepiD thiS Summer Summer movie SerieS: The al fresco movie series returns this summer with a selection of family-friendly films. All families are invited to bring picnic baskets, blankets, and chairs to the Intrepid Museum’s flight deck and enjoy free movies on a huge, inflatable outdoor screen. See website for schedule. Father’S Day: On June 16, Intrepid Museum celebrates Father’s Day by extending the children’s ticket price to dads. Bring Grandpa, too! FireFighter appreciation WeekenD: On July 20 and 21, enjoy the Battle of the Boroughs cook-off competitions, Battle of the Bands, tours of a fireboat, a bucket rescue demonstration, and more. SpaceFeSt: Celebrate all things space! On July 2528, check out cool space demonstrations, astronaut appearances, and a free movie night on the flight deck. coaSt guarD appreciation Day: On August 4, enjoy demonstrations by US Coast Guards, special performances, and hands-on displays. camp intrepiD: Be a part of the Camp Intrepid Crew! Explore life at sea, aviation, inventions, and astronomy with different weekly themes. Using the museum’s unique venue and incorporating its exhibits with creative activities, campers become engaged in history and science through interactive, fun, and challenging projects.
worked and what didn’t work, and we realized that we could actually do some new things to maximize the use of the space in the pavilion,” MarenoffZausner says. The re-opening of the space shuttle in July promises to be an exciting experience featuring personal artifacts from astronauts, an interactive historical timeline of space exploration and the future of space travel, and much more family-friendly fun. Of course, just visiting Enterprise is an awesome opportunity for children in and of itself. What kid hasn’t dreamed of floating around in space, discovering uncharted territories, and eating astronaut ice cream? In addition to Enterprise-inspired astronaut fantasies, there are plenty more exhibits for kids to experience. On the hangar deck, helicopters, fighter jets, and torpedo bombers stand proud. Outside, families marvel at the Concorde, the retired VIP aircraft that can travel faster than the speed of sound. In the Exploreum on deck, there are buttons to push, levers to pull, knobs to turn, and things to climb on—not to mention slideshows, puzzles, and even a mini space shuttle launch. “There are so many different, fun things for kids to do and learn about [on the ship and in the www.newyorkfamily.com
Exploreum] in what we call the STEM studies— science, technology, engineering, and math,” Marenoff-Zausner says. Today, children are laughing as they pile into a lifeboat simulator in the Exploreum, designed to mimic the feeling of being at sea. At the end of the giant hangar is the G-Force Encounter, a two-person flight simulator that lets visitors control their own aircrafts. Giggles and shrieks of excitement erupt from inside the pod-like “cockpits.” It’s reminiscent of an educational carnival ride. While there’s plenty of fun and games at the Intrepid Museum, there’s also tons of important history to discover. Original artifacts line the walls inside the ship, including uniforms, medals, historical documents, and commemorative patches. This permanent exhibit celebrates the crewmembers that lived and worked on the ship and provides a singular sense of what it means to serve our country. Probably one of the most impactful ways children can learn about service firsthand is by talking to the tour guides and listening to their stories, Marenoff-Zausner recommends. Many of the guides and volunteers at the museum are actual former crew members of the Intrepid. “Kids leave the Intrepid with a real sense of leadership, sacrifice, and pride,” Marenoff-Zausner says. “It really teaches them about giving something up in order to help others.” But for a true sense of what it was like to serve in the US Navy, the Growler submarine is the attraction to see. The once top-secret missile command center is considered by insiders to be a hidden gem of the Intrepid experience. The partially submerged watercraft can make even the tiniest NYC apartment look vast. “It is so extraordinary that people lived in such confined quarters for so long,” Marenoff-Zausner notes. “We get so much feedback from people when they get out of the Growler that it was, by far, the coolest part of their experience.” The Growler’s narrow, maze-like hallways connect petite rooms packed with space-saving bunks, operating stations, and pocket-sized bathrooms. While on board, fresh water was usually scarce and crewmembers were allowed a single two-minute shower every five to six weeks. Everybody smoked. Surely, life underwater was a fetid experience, fit for only the most dedicated seaman. The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum can be an unforgettable learning encounter for girls and boys of all ages, with varied exhibits suitable for a range of age groups. And because there is so much to see and do, it’s probably best to make a day of it in order to get the full experience. From the Enterprise to the Exploreum to the Growler, kids walk away with a new understanding of some truly dynamic sea, air, and space travel—as well as an appreciation for our armed forces.
For more inFormation, viSit intrepiDmuSeum.org
June 2013 | New York Family 37
In The Trenches Lessons From New Dad Boot Camp By Matt Schneider and Lance Somerfeld
For more than a year, we’ve been facilitating threehour conversations between dads who are expecting babies (rookies) and dads who’ve had babies within the last three to nine months (veterans). These New Dad Boot Camps, as we call them, are opportunities for expecting dads to calm their fears and learn about what it’s really like to have a baby. Though the conversations typically follow an outline of suggested topics, the real wisdom comes from the veteran dads sharing their experiences from the trenches of new parenthood. Here’s some of the best advice we’ve heard:
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Andrew Schwartz
starting out
Bonding with baby
Baby, Want to Grab a Coffee? Experts tell new parents to get babies on eating, sleeping, and pooping schedules as soon as possible. This is good advice, but veteran dads tell rookies that they’ve got to fit the baby into their lifestyle as well. If your baby requires a perfectly dark, perfectly quiet, and perfectly warm environment every time she’s set down to sleep, you’re going to be chained to your apartment for the next three years. Don’t tiptoe around the house speaking in hushed tones because your baby is sleeping—have a normal conversation, turn on the TV, vacuum if you need to clean. Many dads tell us that they keep their babies in the stroller for naps, so they can go grocery shopping, take a run in Central Park, or grab a bite to eat. Here’s an idea: Like in the old (pre-baby) days, invite your partner out for Sunday brunch at your favorite diner while your baby naps in the stroller next to you! “Yes, Please!” Family, friends, and neighbors are all over new parents when they come home from the hospital. Though it’s important to set boundaries, veteran dads tell rookies that they should accept help when it’s offered. If you’ve got friends coming for a visit, they will undoubtedly ask if you need anything. Ask them to bring dinner. Ask them to pick up some diapers. Take your neighbor up on the offer to watch the baby www.newyorkfamily.com
Andrew Schwartz
you can and keep getting better. Look for something that needs to get done and…Git. Er. Done. In the short run and long run, your initiative will be appreciated.
Sharing, learning, and more
for an hour while you take a nap or go to the gym. With your closest friends and family, no job should be off limits. Ask for help cleaning the kitchen or taking out the trash. Friends and family want to help—and new parents need it! Big Carrots And then there are the ultimate helpers, potentially at least. Many of us are lucky to have supportive parents and in-laws come to stay with us in the first weeks and months after a new baby. Veteran dads tell rookies that these extended visits need to be planned carefully, so the in-laws know they’re appreciated, but also know the boundaries and what you, ideally, need from them, be it making dinner, doing laundry, washing dishes, and/or keeping the house tidy. One dad told us that he and his wife created some “big carrots,” or projects that aren’t necessarily urgent but take time to complete: a pile of shirts that needed buttons replaced or a closet that needed to be cleaned out. No job is too big or small for a helpful in-law. Git Er Done Dads are often told to be as supportive of and helpful to their partners as possible. Not bad advice on the surface, but veterans tell our groups of expecting dads that they shouldn’t wait to be asked or told to change a diaper, make a doctor’s appointment, or plan the week’s meals. New parents are faced with an endless list of tasks and a new dad should definitely have a bunch of stuff for which he takes the lead. This may entail taking on responsibilities that you didn’t have before the baby. This may entail a learning curve. This may entail you insisting on ownership of the task despite your partner’s insistence that you need to do it better or differently. Stay the course. Do the best www.newyorkfamily.com
More Talk Communication is a recurring theme during our New Dad Boot Camps, and veteran dads suggest that new parents have conversations about their changing lives as parents even before the baby is born. Important topics include taking parental leave, juggling work and family, sharing parenting responsibilities, and potentially dealing with baby blues and post-partum depression. All the changes in your new life, plus the lack of sleep, almost inevitably lead to some emotional turmoil. Communication will help you prepare for the rough patches as a couple and then help you get through them. Try to be especially sensitive to how you talk about feelings of depression, which are quite common in the first year. Obviously, you don’t want to critically suggest your partner is acting “depressed” during the heat of any argument—when, in fact, she might really be depressed and need your help. And if you have any questions about post-partum, do some research and suggest she talk to her friends and to her doctor about it immediately. First Kiss The days of kicking back with a scotch and a newspaper after work are long gone. Veteran dads who work outside the home often suggest that rookies take a moment to decompress and reenergize ahead of time, even just before they leave work, because they should be prepared for the “second shift” as soon as they walk in the door. If you are coming home to a partner who has been with the baby all day, start with a moment to connect—a kiss, a few words to check in, and a nod that you’ll take it from here. If you are both coming home from work, take a moment to connect and then divide and conquer. You both have the same end game—baby is fed, bathed, and in bed; kitchen is clean; bills are paid; and you’re snuggling together on the couch with a glass of wine watching the latest episode of “Mad Men” or “Homeland” at the end of a long day. MaTT SChNEiDEr and LaNCE SoMErFELD are the founders and co-organizers of the NYC Dads Group, a community of active dads in the New York City area. They offer New Dad Boot Camps at 92nd Street Y, The JCC of Manhattan, and Tribeca Parenting locations around the city. Go to NYCDadsGroup.com for more information and a full schedule. June 2013 | New York Family 39
MAD
LOVE When CafeMom Founder Andrew Shue (And His Three Boys) Met ABC Newscaster Amy Robach (And Her Two Girls), A Big Romance Soon Bloomed Into A Big Loving Modern Family
By Eric Messinger Photos by Sarah Merians Photography Styled by Monica Cotto Hair by Patrick Alemi Makeup by Brooke Glaser
On Andrew: Original Penguin blue shirt, his own jeans, Cole Haan shoes On Amy: Vince Camuto crochet lace shell, 7 for All Mankind white jeans, Pour La Victoire heels
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www.newyorkfamily.com
www.newyorkfamily.com
June 2013 | New York Family
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B
eing one of the hunky stars of “Melrose Place” through much of the 1990s made Andrew Shue famous, but when I met up with him and his television news star of a wife, Amy Robach, for this month’s cover interview, “Melrose” was at the low end of a long list of interesting subjects I hoped to chat with them about (though pop culture zealots can find my contribution to “Melrose” lore in the last question in the interview). In addition to his heyday on TV, Shue has had a number of noteworthy achievements: He has played professional soccer. He co-founded Do Something, the thriving social action organization aimed at youth. He is also one of the visionaries behind CafeMom, which is the most popular chatbased site for moms on the web. As for Robach, she’s no slouch herself on the career front. After a very successful run at NBC News, she’s been one of ABC’s most high-profile news correspondents—and a regular substitute anchor on “Good Morning America”—since joining the network about a year ago. Theirs was a relatively brief but passionate romance before they married in February of 2010, bringing his three sons (Nate, 16; Aidan, 14; and Wyatt, 9) and her two daughters (Ava, 10, and Annalise, 7) into one very big NYC family. But let’s leave Brady Bunch metaphors out of this story, shall we? Shue and Robach seem like two very smart, thoughtful, loving, fun, ambitious, and, yes, greatlooking people, who are growing as parents and partners amid all the stresses that come with being both—not to mention the stresses of their work. One of the more interesting points of overlap in their professional and personal lives began last November when Shue decided to launch and co-host CafeMom’s enormously popular podcast, Mad Life, in which he and the other two hosts compare notes on the parenting life. One co-host is comedian and father Chuck Nice. The other is an opinionated and articulate and sensible Robach woman, but not the one you might think. It’s Shue’s mother-in-law, Joan! Sounds like a mad life to me. But please show me a family whose life isn’t. How did Mad Life come about? Shue: [Amy and I] were talking about doing a show together, but Amy thought that this was not something she could take on [at the moment]. Then she had the idea, which I thought was genius, that I could have a show with her mom and dig into this whole thing of the crazy lives parents are living today versus the lives parents led 30 years ago.
Robach: My mom is very opinionated. And from a political and parental approach, they’re almost completely opposite. So I figured that it would make for good television or for good Internet. What have been some of your favorite moments on Mad Life? Shue: Amy has come on as a guest a couple times and we did a Mother’s Day… Robach: That’s boring. I think it’s funny when they
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talk about sex. When she starts talking about lust, it’s like, wow, did my mom just say the word “lust”? What else? Shue: We did an episode where we talked about the things that drive your spouse crazy. And I started crying—I was laughing so hard at the things [about me] that Amy gave Chuck to read. Robach: Every time we go into a restaurant he has to ask about the bread. He’s very particular about his bread. And the other thing is: every time we go to an Italian restaurant and the waiter is not from New York, Andrew starts doing this fake Italian accent; in a Spanish restaurant, he starts speaking in a Spanish accent. It’s very annoying and embarrassing. He takes on the accent of the place we’re in when we’re ordering. Shue: It’s not annoying, it’s endearing. It’s what you’re going to miss about me when I’m dead and gone.
“Once you make that leap, you’re all in and it’s a crash course in blending everything together.” Andrew, for readers who aren’t familiar with it, what is CafeMom’s niche in the parenting media universe? Shue: CafeMom is the leading cross platform for moms where you have community and content. Other [parenting] websites are mostly content. But we have millions of moms who are there, literally, to talk. Over a three-month period, we have about half of all moms in the country coming through our doors, 20 million moms. Amy, you’re a kind of content provider yourself. At this point in your career, do you feel a stronger affinity for reporting or being the person who’s anchoring or hosting? Robach: I’ve struggled with that because, being an anchor, you get to have command of a show in a way you don’t when you’re a correspondent… And when big breaking news happens and you’re on the set, it’s pretty remarkable. You are the captain of the ship and it’s really exciting. On the other hand, I absolutely love going out reporting and going in deep, asking the tough questions—I love that. So my perfect job is doing both. And at NBC, and now at ABC, I’ve been able to do that. For the last six or seven years, I think I’ve been living a dream. I can’t think of many jobs as high-wire and demanding as a TV news correspondent. So I want to ask you to discuss the proverbial work-life balance issue. continued on page 44
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continued from page 42
Robach: It’s a constant struggle. For instance, the day of the Newtown shooting, I thought I had a quick 20/20 shoot and was going to go home and see my 10-year-old’s Christmas pageant. Instead, I was driving off to Newtown, and I never left… You feel this tremendous emotion and guilt. So, whenever I can, I take my girls to school and I pick them up from school. Whenever I can, I bring my daughters with me during summertime. I bring them to shoots. I bring them into the studio sometimes. I just find ways to make it up. But it is something I have internal turmoil about constantly, and it gets harder when they get older because they say, “Mommy, please don’t leave.” When you two met, you both were divorced and had children from your previous marriages. Would you share a bit about what it’s been like to bring your families together into one family? Robach: I would say that in our case ignorance was bliss. Within five months of meeting we were engaged, within ten months we were married. We met in April of 2009 and were married in February of 2010. The kids always did and still do remarkably well. They get along phenomenally. But with all issues that come with divorce, and then two completely different parenting styles, intellectually I knew it was going to be hard. But I didn’t realize how hard it was going to be until we all actually lived together in the same house. Shue: Once you make that leap, you’re all in and it’s a crash course in blending everything together…so there’s been a lot of butting heads and then finding the happy medium. The good thing is that the core of what we’ve established has never wavered. You learn all the same stuff that all married people learn. You learn what to fight for and what to let roll off your back. And you remember all the stuff that you love about each other. We try to get out of the weeds sometimes and just pull back and appreciate how freaking lucky we are for what we have. How do you distinguish between your roles as mom and stepmom, dad and stepdad? Robach: I try to take the role on as a very close aunt, because I don’t want to be the heavy and I don’t want to take the place of their mom. And yet, when everyone is in your house, it’s your rules and it’s different than the other parent’s rules. It’s very tricky to navigate. I don’t think we’ve figured it out totally yet. We’re still evolving. Shue: I think that with time comes trust. In a divorce situation, the kids especially are going to feel afraid that something is going to fall apart. So you do have to be patient with them, show them that you really care about these relationships. Robach: And we’ve gotten some help with therapists. Because it’s not something anyone teaches you how to do.
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My oldest is almost 13, and some days I feel like I need a new playbook. Robach: We found a book—my brother found it. It’s called Have a New Kid by Friday. It’s a great book; it’s about not judging and not getting emotional, but setting clear expectations. I agree with everything the writer says, it’s just really hard to do. At this stage in your family’s life, what are some of the deepest joys and challenges as a parent? Robach: My deepest joy is their innocent affection and enthusiasm for me and for Andrew and for life. The minute I walk through the door, they scream “Mommy!” I know it’s not going to last, so I’m just soaking it in. I think my greatest challenge is keeping my kids from being bad-talking smart mouths. I think, as a culture, it is unbelievable the way kids talk to each other, to adults, even teachers. I don’t like it. I don’t want my kid to sound like a snarky know-it-all. And I feel it’s the parents’ job to correct it. How about for you, Andrew? Shue: When you see your teenagers laughing, you’re feeling really good. When you see them sulking, you feel somehow you’re responsible. I love seeing them laugh. I love seeing them figure stuff out. I think life is so much more challenging than when I was a kid, and when I see them get it on their own, it makes me feel hopeful about the future—and about their future. As much as we should probably end on that hopeful note, I have one more really important question for both of you. Who was your favorite character on Melrose Place? Robach: Andrew knows my answer to this. It’s [the actor] Jack Wagner. Shue: Definitely Alison [played by Courtney ThorneSmith]. She’s my dream girl. Robach: She’s still a friend of his in real life. She’s very nice. www.newyorkfamily.com
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DADS WE LOVE
DADS WE LOVE A groundbreAking Author, An innovAtive high school educAtor, A tireless borough president, And more—this yeAr’s group of locAl dAd heroes gives bAck to the world of fAmily in remArkAble And unexpected wAys www.newyorkfamily.com
June 2013 | New York Family
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DADS WE LOV E
Sarah Torretta Klock
SEEking TO UnDErSTAnD MODErn FAMiLiES Andrew Solomon, Author Of Far From The Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity
By Sarah Torretta Klock Andrew Solomon and his husband, John Habich, are part of a charmingly unconventional modern family: “four children, five parents, across three states,” as Solomon is fond of saying. He and Habich are fathers to 4-year-old George here in New York; Habich has two biological children who live with their mothers (a lesbian couple) in Minnesota; and Solomon’s daughter, whom he and a close friend from college chose to conceive together, lives with her mother in Texas. Theirs is a complicated and intentional act of family building, predicated on a kind of trust, respect, commitment, and love that pushes beyond the bounds of traditional forms of family. It’s a life that’s been hard won for Solomon, one that he literally wrote his way into while working on his monumental new book, Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity, for more than a decade. That the born-and-bred New Yorker should find love and happiness through a book isn’t exactly surprising. A prolific and vociferous writer, Solomon worked as a journalist and writer for the New York Times Magazine for nearly ten years covering a wide scope of subjects: the art world in Soviet Russia, politics in Libya and Afghanistan, mental illness, gay rights, stepfamilies, and more. His book on depression, The Noonday Demon, won the National Book Award in 2001 and was a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize. The author laughs as he recounts the family lore that little George’s first word was “book.” “Shouldn’t it have been ‘Daddy’?” a friend had queried, to which Solomon’s partner jokingly replied: “In our house, book is Daddy.” As the homosexual child of straight parents for whom having a gay child was upsetting, Solomon began this book with the realization that he was
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in the company of a surprisingly large and diverse group of others who, like him, were born very different from their parents—deaf children born to hearing parents, for example, or dwarfs born to parents of average height. These people had needed to fight for acceptance in a world that wished them not contentment, but cure. On assignment for an article that he was writing for the New York Times in 2003, Solomon was first struck by the similarities between gay culture and deaf culture. Both deafness and being gay have been marginalized identities that, for reasons of surgical advancements or social prejudices, have been threatened with extinction. And yet, deafness and homosexuality have emerged into vibrant and valuable identities for many people. What other identities were similarly marginalized, he wondered? What does it mean when children are born wildly, and sometimes disturbingly, different from their parents? What can we learn from these experiences? Framed by his personal journey, Solomon presents the stories of 300 families that struggle with widely divergent challenges in Far From the Tree: transgender children born to gender-normative parents, babies born with Down Syndrome or multiple severe disabilities, autistic or schizophrenic sons and daughters, kids who become criminals, and children conceived from rape. Over the course of the ten years that it took to research his book, Solomon discovered that most of the families were able to pull it together remarkably well despite, and perhaps because of, the struggle. “My book is about families who ended up grateful for these experiences they had wanted to avoid,” Solomon says. That being said, at its core, Far From the Tree is about all families. As Solomon argues, all parents give birth to children who are not them. For the author, the idea that difficulty within one’s family was not a flaw but an inevitability came as a relief, one that freed him of his fear of messing up with his own children and also allowed him to heal some of his past hurt. “I have yet to meet any parent who hasn’t occasionally looked at his child and thought, where do you come from?” he remarks. “That understanding allowed me to see that my own parents were bewildered and confused, and perhaps this was all part of the fabric of parental love.” It’s this kernel of insight that helped Solomon embrace the possibility of parenthood in all its glorious and messy complexity, in the same way that it pushed him to advocate for a world in which there’s infinite scope for human difference. But that isn’t to say that his children don’t continually surprise him, or that he always gets it right, but he’s learned to see that error is inevitable in parenting and that getting through difficulties with one’s children is a very bonding experience. “If George had never cried and had never needed comfort,” he says, “I wouldn’t have the relationship with him that I have now… The fact of the crying, the fact of even sometimes having to say things that made him cry because limits needed continued on page 50
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to be set or he had to learn—that’s all part of where bonding takes place. It wouldn’t be the same if it were only playing with cars and trucks, delightful as that may be.” George, meanwhile, does play delightfully with cars and trucks. He softly motors his John Deere tractor across the floor. He shows off his Thomas the Tank Engine set, and he helps take photos of his daddy and papa. They fall over themselves, making funny faces to the camera, trying to make their son laugh harder. Solomon says that, unlike George, he was a bit “neurotic, strange, and anxious” as a child. “I’m sure we’ll see more ways in which George is different from us as he gets older,” Solomon says, “but for the moment, it’s that exuberance that he has in this glorious way, and his exuberance, of course, makes me very joyful, too.” Visit andrewsolomon.com
NEW FAthEr, LiFELONg NEW YOrkEr Scott Stringer, Manhattan Borough President
By Tali Rosenblatt-Cohen Scott Stringer could probably win an award for Ultimate New Yorker. Currently the Manhattan borough president, Stringer was born and raised in Washington Heights, attended city public schools, and graduated from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in midtown. Having always lived in the Big Apple, it’s somewhat natural that Stringer has spent his career dedicated to improving the lives of New Yorkers. After 13 years in the New York State Assembly, he was elected Manhattan Borough President in 2006 and is about to embark on a run for New York City Comptroller. As BP, many of Stringer’s most important initiatives are dedicated to making the borough more affordable and livable. A recent project his office initiated involved a report and conference called
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Start-Up City, which focused on expanding New York’s entrepreneurial, tech-rich businesses to ensure that jobs in these industries become increasingly accessible. As Stringer explains, “Nothing is more important than having a strong economy, but we have to diversify post-Hurricane [Sandy] and also recognize that Wall Street is not the only engine we have at our disposal.” Another recent project taking Sandy into account is the East River Blueway Plan, which aims to protect the city from future flooding while also creating a waterfront designed for recreation. Residents are invited to weigh in on the plan, which includes a public beach under the Brooklyn Bridge. In these ways, Stringer has always been an advocate for New York City families, but these days, he says he feels a different sense of urgency. Credit Maxwell Elliot Stringer, age 18 months, his son with wife and fellow longtime Upper West Sider Elyse Buxbaum. As a politician who makes family a personal and professional priority, Stringer’s office has tackled issues such as strengthening the voice of parents in the public school system, managing classroom overcrowding, and initiating the Youth Bucks Project, which subsidizes children’s visits to local farmers’ markets in order to encourage healthy food choices. “I spent most of my life [not] ever thinking I would have a child,” the 53-year-old Stringer admits, and now his days begin at 6am when his son wakes up calling out for Mom and Dad. He and his wife seem to have their routine down to a science, though, making their son’s breakfast the night before and allowing the spouse with the earlier meeting to get dressed first while the other plays with Max. “I usually take him to daycare,” Stringer adds. With a second child on the way any day (as of press time), the borough president knows that his growing family is about to invite “organized chaos” into their home. While Stringer points out that having a child often narrows one’s world to the immediate five blocks surrounding their apartment, he also looks forward to experiencing all that New York City has to offer once his children are a little older. “As I travel around the city, I hear 170 languages spoken from 200 countries, and it plays out in all of these neighborhoods,” he says. “It’s just magnificent.” He describes Max’s daycare center through this prism as well. “Seventeen-month-olds, all sitting around eating their snacks and you see all the diversity of the city: Caucasian, Asian, African American, Caribbean, Latino,” he says. “The kind of diversity they’re understanding is like no other place.” “We are the cultural mecca for kids,” he continues, speaking on behalf of the city. “So many of the museums and cultural centers have programs geared to children as young as 15 months—and that’s unique to New York.” For Stringer, New York City is “the center of the universe …the most magical place for kids and adults alike.” His passion for public service seems to be in his DNA. Stringer’s mother was a City Council member, his father worked for Mayor Abraham Beame, and his www.newyorkfamily.com
DADS WE LOVE cousin was former New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug. “I started campaigning for Bella when I was 12 years old and I thought that would change the world—and I’ve thought that for the last forty years,” Stringer says. Asked whether he’d encourage his own children to take the same path, he emphatically concurs. “If I have my way, yes, I think it’s the most honorable profession. Obviously, [they’ll] have to find [their] own way, but I’m going to do everything possible to expose [them] to the great part of what I do.” Visit stringer2013.com
HELping Our City’S yOungESt CitizEnS Richard Buery, President And CEO Of The Children’s Aid Society
By Sothea Shreck We say that children are the future, but how can they fulfill their potential when thousands of New York City kids live below the poverty level? The Children’s Aid Society (CAS) recognizes this reality and has dedicated its resources to helping NYC’s youngest survive and even thrive. As a local nonprofit committed to serving impoverished youth and their families, CAS has provided comprehensive, long-term programs and resources to children in need for more than 150 years. From the moment their child is born, parents can participate in Early Head Start programs that teach them how to build rich and engaging home environments for their sons and daughters. As children grow, CAS continues to offer multidisciplinary athome and in-center assistance, adolescent cultural and educational programs, and family counseling services, as well as primary dental, physical, and mental healthcare, all at local schools and community centers. Spearheading this remarkable organization is native Brooklynite Richard Buery, its president and CEO. As the first black man to lead CAS since its founding in 1853, Buery’s chief responsibilities include overseeing, planning, and implementing strategies to www.newyorkfamily.com
manage the direction of the organization. “It’s an interesting job because it changes every day,” Buery says. “In the morning I might be playing with a 3-year-old at a Head Start center and in the afternoon I’ll be asking a company for a milliondollar grant.” For the past 23 years, Buery has dedicated his professional life to nonprofit work. He has founded three organizations that benefit at-risk youth— the Mission Hill Summer Program, iMentor, and Groundwork Inc.—making him an ideal leader and role model for an organization like CAS. This year, he hopes to spread awareness about the new charter school that CAS has opened in South Bronx. “Children’s Aid College Prep Charter School opened in August 2012 to 126 kindergarten and first grade students,” says Buery. “The school will add a grade a year, and will eventually serve nearly 400 students in kindergarten through fifth grade.” By offering a wide range of social and educational services, Buery is helping to ensure that underprivileged students are getting the help and support they need to graduate. With so many responsibilities on his plate, this local dad rarely has a “normal” day in the office. In fact, he’s often juggling tasks such as spending time managing program initiatives, building corporate relationships, and engaging residents in the communities. “I love the opportunity to make a difference,” Buery enthuses. “I love service and the fact that I can make a contribution and a lasting change for people and communities that I care about.” When Buery isn’t working at the office or off scouting new program sites, he enjoys bike riding, playing basketball, and swimming with his family. He and his wife, Deborah, and their two sons, Ellis and Ethan, ages 9 and 7 respectively, can often be found exploring their neighborhood in New Rochelle, Westchester. Though his kids are fairly young, Buery makes a concerted effort to raise their awareness of his work with underprivileged communities. He often brings them to speeches and events, and talks openly with his boys about the circumstances he encounters each day. “When my boys were younger, they watched me present at an important conference,” Buery remembers. “They began to fight and were so disruptive that I had to stop mid-speech and scold them.” Despite the ups and downs of bringing his children to work, his efforts have paid off. When a younger Ellis was asked by his teacher to write about someone that inspired him, he chose his dad. With Father’s Day on the horizon, the dad of two hopes to enjoy the simple pleasures of home life: breakfast in bed, seeing a film, reading in his hammock, and having a nice dinner with his family. For a man who gives so much to the community, Buery doesn’t ask for much. Visit childrensaidsociety.org
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FOr ThE LOVE OF PErFOrmAncE ArT James Miles, Teaching Artist At The New Victory Theater
By Anna Sims Back in 2007, James Miles was a disillusioned actor. “I felt I was seeing the same stories being told over and over again. There was nothing new or inventive that appealed to me,” Miles remembers. “I didn’t know how to access those different levels of performance I was seeking.” Miles was working as a preschool teacher at Brooklyn’s Maple Street School when a friend suggested he apply for a teaching artist position at the New Victory Theater, Broadway’s only theater that exclusively performs kid-friendly shows. The frustrated actor found just the role he was looking for. Now a part-time teaching artist, the local father of two is able to use acting skills in an exciting environment that changes daily: the classroom. Plus, he can still work with kids while sharing his passion for the arts. In fact, Miles credits the venue with helping to transform his life: “The New Victory Theater has been one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.” The teaching role reignited Miles passion for acting because it allows him to make use of his improvising talent. “As all students are different, I realized I had to completely be open to new experiences and flexible enough to modify what I was teaching so that all students could succeed in the lesson plan,” he enthuses. “My background as an actor…has helped me be inventive and alive in the classroom.” Every year, about 33,000 NYC students and teachers visit the New Victory Theater for an educational show during school hours. It’s the job of Miles and the organization’s approximately 40 other teaching artists to “turn the classroom into the theater.” Working in pairs, teaching artists visit public, private, and religious schools throughout the city, educating
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students prior to viewings and helping them create art of their own following their theater experience. The teaching artists work with kids of all ages— from pre-K to high school seniors—but most of Miles’ students fall in the pre-K to seventh grade range. In his six years with the theater, he’s taught students about all types of music, art, and drama. Miles recalls with a laugh that on one occasion, he was able to correct a young student who guessed that a puppeteer was the result of a crying puppet. Miles loves working with kids and says his classrooms are “usually full of smiles and laughter,” but he also has high expectations for his students amidst all the joy. “This has proved to be one of my gifts: creating an environment where we all work, but the work is fun.” He also helps kids break out of their comfort zones. “In the classroom, it’s always been fun teaching students how to dance and rap,” Miles says, “especially for the kids who are really shy or the ones who are like, ‘This is not who I am. I do sports. I don’t know how to do this.’” When he’s not working, Miles strives to foster an appreciation for the arts at home in his 3-year-old twin daughters, Lily and River. The family enjoys painting, storytelling, and daily dance parties. Following a recent trip to the circus, Miles stuck a seven-foot piece of tape to the floor in his home so his girls could pretend to be tightrope walkers. Outside of their at-home performances, Miles and his family like to visit Prospect Park, the MET, and, of course, the New Victory Theater whenever they can. Beyond New Victory, Miles works as a teaching artist for the Disney Theatrical Group and Fresh Prep, an Urban Arts partnership project that uses hip hop music to help students prepare for the New York State Regents Exams. He also teaches acting classes at the Packer Collegiate Institute, the Buckley School, and New York University. He recently finished filming a movie produced by Spike Lee and frequently performs improvisations across the city. It would seem that the only thing this NYC dad isn’t doing right now is sleeping, but he doesn’t seem to mind. If anything, he’d love to add one more project to the mix. “I want to have my own talk show where I interview people in my house while they’re playing with my children. That’s always been a dream of mine,” he says. “I just want to keep improvising, keep having fun, and make people smile.” Visit newvictory.org
DAD, VErSiOn 7.0 LeRoy Temple, NYC Parks Department Chief Of Recreation (Brooklyn) By Chrissy Makris LeRoy Temple is the epitome of a family man. With seven children ranging from 5 to 23 years old, this continued on page 54
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Mount Sinai resident and single father is the leading man of “Team Temple”—which consists of four biological and three adopted children, two of whom were originally fosters. The hard-working dad has held the title of Brooklyn Chief of Recreation for just three years, but has been an employee in the NYC Parks Department since he was 16. “I started in the agency at Astoria Pool…during high school,” Temple says. “That was my way of paying for my own school clothes and getting the things that I needed.” A native New Yorker, Temple has worked his way up through the Parks Department since his summer job at the swimming pool more than twenty years ago. Today, he typically leaves for work at 5am and spends his mornings checking in at any of the eight recreation centers in Brooklyn to ensure that programs are running safely. Many of the programs that he oversees, especially summer camps and afterschool classes, play a crucial role in the lives of local families, offering working parents affordable or even free alternatives to the pricier options throughout the five boroughs. Most recently, Temple has been working on initiatives to bring non-traditional sports like rugby and kayaking to Brooklyn children. For Temple, the reward of being outdoors and witnessing the positive impact that the city’s various green spaces have on visitors and families is worth the twelve-hour workdays. “It makes you feel like you are providing something special for not just the eight million residents of this city, but also for all the people who visit the city and its parks on a daily basis,” he says. This upbeat attitude applies just as much to his family life. More than fifteen years ago, with three biological sons already at home, Temple and his now ex-wife had plenty of extra space in their lives for children. While they wanted a little girl of their own at the time, they recognized that so many kids were without families or caregivers—and thus the tumultuous but rewarding process of becoming a foster parent began. Today, Temple has fostered approximately 7580 children throughout the years. “A lot of the time, a child is being removed in the middle of the
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night and you get that phone call at 3am that says ‘We’re coming to your house with four kids and you just have to say ‘Alright, let’s go,’” he remarks. It goes without saying: Temple believes in providing something special for both his biological and adopted children as well as his extended family. He humbly credits his big heart and level head to his grandmother and his mother, whom he affectionately refers to as his “shero.” Growing up in the projects, Temple recalls one Christmas when he caught his mother stepping off the elevator with a six-foot air hockey table—a gift that she had lugged onto two city buses just to get home. That moment stuck with Temple throughout the years and made him realize, as an adult, that he can accomplish anything for the benefit of his family. “Anything I put my mind to, I can do,” he says. “I’ve had that inside me from a young age.” When he’s not hard at work with the Parks Department or helping guide those in need of direction, Temple naturally loves spending time outdoors with his children and girlfriend, Tanya. They enjoy camping, having kite races in the park, and attending the kids’ many sporting events. Instilling a playful sense of competition in his children, Temple says, encourages them to strive to achieve greatness in extracurriculars such as basketball and track. Temple acknowledges that raising such a big family can be difficult at times—especially when that means navigating New York with seven children in a minivan. But he maintains that his self-motivated kids really help to make large-family living run smoothly. “No matter what, we will all get it done together and no matter what we’re doing, we have a great team effort,” he says. Visit nycgovparks.org
OnE VEry Fit FAthEr David Kirsch, Fitness Expert And Author Of The Ultimate New York Diet By DJ Duckworth You may know David Kirsch as the celebrity trainer who whipped Victoria’s Secret supermodel and TV star Heidi Klum into runway shape just weeks after she gave birth. But you may not realize that while the local fitness expert is busy sculpting—or “Kirsching”— the bodies of some of the world’s most beautiful women, he’s also raising a pair of adorable daughters as a single father in New York City. Kirsch always knew he wanted to be a father, but, like a lot of parents, he wanted the timing to be just right. In 2007, with his business stable and still growing by leaps and bounds—he founded David Kirsch Wellness 25 years ago—the Manhattan-based professional knew he was ready to take a big personal step: adding children to his life. In his mid-40s, single, continued on page 56
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and with the use of a surrogate, he started that family. Twin girls may not have been part of his initial plan, but the active Kirsch was more than fit to welcome Emilia and Francesca into his arms as soon as they were born. As one of four children himself, and the only boy in the bunch, Kirsch was up for the challenge. “You were meant to have girls,” his mother reassured him. Along with three sisters, Kirsch grew up under the influences of a “very pushy Jewish mother” and perhaps equally tough (if not more so) Eastern European grandmother. Even the family dog was female. “I got women very quickly and I knew I had this down,” Kirsch remembers. Having waited many years before starting his family, Kirsch takes his role as a father very seriously and spends as much time with his girls as possible. “I didn’t go out for dinner for a year and a half,” he says of having babies in the house. “I bathed them, I fed them, I cooked their food. It was very important to me to be with them.” Running a successful business and raising twins without a lot of help is no easy task—even for someone with as much stamina and energy as Kirsch. But as he indicates, he’s not willing to relinquish any of his daddy duties. “I drop them off at school. I pick them up at school. I’m not going to change that,” he insists. Naturally, he’s caught some flack from fellow fathers for his intense involvement. “They’ll say, ‘You’re making us look bad. You don’t have to be at every drop off or pick up. We’re not. You can have the nanny come.’” As unconditionally supportive as he is of his children, Kirsch gives clients a bit of a harder edge when he determines their wellness plans. “You are not coming to me because you want me to tell you that you look gorgeous,” he says. “You are coming to me because you know there is something you want to look better… My eye looks at everything and particularly focuses on the things that don’t seem
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right. I know the prescription... Tied into that is diet and lifestyle.” It’s a tough love approach, but it’s how the wellness specialist approaches his own family’s health as well. “I teach experientially, the way I live my life,” he says. His 3-and-a-half-year-old girls eat organic foods, oftentimes helping their dad whip up some of the recipes found in his three wellness books. They skip fruit juice, opting for water instead. And you won’t find cookies and cakes in Kirsch’s kitchen cabinets. But that’s not to say the girls are deprived of kidfavorite sweets. “They know when we have a cheat, like a cookie or piece of cake, that it is a treat,” Kirsch says. “At synagogue on Friday, when they had their challah bread, they had a little grape juice, so that was like a treat for them,” he says with a nod. Reflecting back on their first few years as a family, Kirsch laughs and says the girls were so well fed that they looked like baby Buddhas. Now as toddlers, Emilia and Francesca are on the go and giving their dad even more exercise than his day job requires. The Kirschs pack scooters on their stroller and go to the park after school to play before heading home for dinner. But, like any family, days at the playground won’t last forever. Kirsch knows that when puberty hits, the parenting rules may change for him. Having grown up with a trio of sisters, however, he’s prepared to tackle anything that his two growing daughters throw his way. As Kirsch says, “I can be very maternal, but in the end, I am their dad.” Visit davidkirschwellness.com
CAtEring tO KiDS Thomas Stevens, Co-Founder Of Freshmade NYC
By Pearl Shin While the catered offerings at children’s birthday parties and other kid-friendly events typically consist of foods such as gluey mac and cheese and fried chicken fingers, a local cooking school offers www.newyorkfamily.com
DADS WE LOVE
www.newyorkfamily.com
within Freshmade NYC kitchens is recreated in their home in the Bronx, where everyone rolls up their sleeves and gets cooking. “We definitely bake and make fun treats… [The kids] make their own eggs, bacon, muffins, fruit tarts,” the dad says of weekend mornings. One of their favorite vegetables is zucchini, which they like to stir-fry or bake into muffins. As a family, they hardly ever go out to eat because delicious food can always be made and prepared in their very own kitchen. With inviting items like baked quinoa-veggie balls, sweet potato-chickpea sliders, and turkey and cheese pinwheel “pops” on the Freshmade NYC menu, both kids and adults can appreciate the creative considerations that Stevens and his team put into their food. Offering children the best options is often the first step toward improving eating choices. Stevens takes it a step further—he makes developing healthy habits fun. Visit freshmadenyc.com
TESTing ThE WATErS FOr LOcAL high SchOOL STuDEnTS Murray Fisher, Founder And Program Director Of New York Harbor School
Andrew Schwartz
something quite different for developing young palates. Thomas Stevens, the co-founder of Freshmade NYC, proposes healthier alternatives that are appealing to both parents and children alike. Stevens’ business not only delivers prepared seasonal and organic foods anywhere kids congregate, but it also hosts healthy cooking classes for ages 2 and older. Given that the city itself can feel like a chaotic kitchen with pots boiling over at every turn, Stevens provides the time and space for families to get together and cook wholesome meals in a fun and creative environment. It all started when the NYC father of two worked at a health food place on the Upper East Side—an experience that lent him a stronger sense of health consciousness. Stevens’ life experience already included culinary school, restaurant gigs, working at the Children’s Aid Society, and raising two boys of his own, so the blending of food and family life was a natural progression. He also credits his upbringing, in which he didn’t always have the healthiest options in front of him, that made him believe all the more in the importance of good nutrition. “We grew up on a lot of fat and fatty foods,” he laughs. “[But] I’ve taken a lot of what I learned and put a spin on making it healthier and better.” With switches such as grilled, lean organic chicken breast instead of big pieces with all the skin and fat still on, the dishes that Stevens assembles, like his BBQ chicken wraps, can taste just as good as the original. What Stevens enjoys most about his job is seeing families come together for a culinary experience they won’t get just anywhere in the city. “We actually sit down and the kids learn how to set the table and how to work together in the kitchen,” Stevens describes. “The kids also get to spend time together and they learn that everything Mom and Dad make is not all bad—that veggies aren’t so bad—and they’re much more interested in tasting the end result.” Part of the Freshmade NYC experience is visiting local farms in the after school programs. “The kids learn how to plant their own herbs and kale… [They] not only learn how to prepare fresh foods, but see where it comes from,” Stevens says. Beyond engaging children with where their food comes from, Stevens makes healthy cooking more accessible by couching it in a very basic concept for kids. “We present them colorfully—that’s important,” he says. “We’re always talking about the color of the foods, eating the rainbow and how good it is for the body when you eat all the different colors,” Stevens explains. What also captures the kids’ attention is literature, which he incorporates into every class. “Kids love books and stories,” he says. “No matter what kind of a story it is, as long as it’s fun and interesting, they’re really into it.” While Freshmade NYC offers a plethora of fun classes full of various activities and dishes, the kids love juicing and making smoothies more than anything else. “It’s a fun process and though it’s healthy, it seems more like a treat,” Stevens explains. Stevens’ own children, 10 and 7 years old, join his classes every Wednesday, and the joy they find
By Nick Bell New York City is home to one of the world’s largest natural harbors. It seems only natural that there be an institution focused on the lessons one can learn from the city’s overworked estuary. So began the narrative of Murray Fisher and the New York Harbor School. While working for the environmental watchdog Hudson Riverkeeper as a recent Vanderbilt grad in the late ‘90s, Fisher discovered his passion for education and environmental restoration. “I was working the river, investigating pollution, working with kids, and it hit me,” Fisher remembers. “There’s such a wide range of skills and aptitudes and interests that go into this, there should be a school that structures continued on page 58
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FOODiE FAthEr hELpS NEW YOrkErS kEEp ON truckiN’ David Weber, Founder And President Of The NYC Food Truck Association
Andrew Schwartz
its curriculum around this very nature of work.” Established in 2003 in conjunction with the Urban Assembly, the New York Harbor School (NYHS) enters its tenth year with a burgeoning campus on Governors Island and a growing cadre of impassioned students and faculty. As the school’s founder and program director, Fisher has stewarded the academy from the initial application and grant process and through its infancy in landlocked Bushwick to its current harborside location. As a local Career and Technical Education school, NYHS provides graduating students with industryrecognized credentials in the marine field, in addition to a traditional academic course of study. “Our goal is that every student graduates with two things in their hands: an acceptance letter to a four-year college and technical credentials in a marine field, so they could walk into a job with the necessary entry level qualifying skills,” Fisher says. Programs of study range from aquaculture—which involves farming underwater organisms—and marine biology to technical vocational training in ocean engineering and vessel operations. As a limited unscreened school, NYHS offers enrollment to any student in the five boroughs; the current student body draws from 96% of the city’s school districts. Says Fisher, “It’s a small school where every student is known well, and it’s an extremely diverse school in terms of geography, socioeconomic, ethnic, and academic backgrounds. It’s very hard to serve that wide a range, but it’s a challenge that we really cherish. We believe that a diverse educational setting is precisely where young people learn best.” Vital to the school’s mission is the restoration of the local estuary, the eponymous waterway. “New York Harbor is our classroom. Wouldn’t it make sense if we, as an institution, were more committed to making our local environment a cleaner, betterfunctioning ecosystem?” Along this line of thinking, Fisher and his staff developed the Billion Oyster Project, aimed at building and promoting thriving oyster colonies throughout the harbor. “That means a more robust, bountiful classroom for our students and a healthier local ecosystem. They clarify the water, create habitat, and slow down wave and current activity—which is vital if you want to fight the issue of storm surges, which, as we’ve seen, can be a major problem.” As a new dad with an infant daughter, Grayson, Fisher finds himself thinking more and more about how his own child would experience the school. “I think it would be a shame to devote yourself to promoting a school and not be totally certain about sending your own daughter there,” he notes. But while Grayson is still many years away from the ninth-grade entry point, it’s evident that she’ll soon start to learn many of the school’s great lessons about stewardship directly from her father.
By Nick Bell Street vending is an iconic New York City staple with a long and storied history. In recent years, a number of local culinary entrepreneurs have bypassed traditional cart fare like hot dogs and soft pretzels and introduced specialized cuisines to local pedestrians, from homemade Colombian food to dumplings to Belgian wafels to raw juices. The proprietors of this new wave of portable provisions form the backbone of the New York City Food Truck Association (NYCFTA), which is led by Rickshaw Dumpling Bar co-founder David Weber. Weber and his business partner Kenny Lao initially considered the food truck ideal for testing the viability of expanding their Flatiron District dumpling establishment to other parts of the city. But Weber could sense that the regulations for street vending were incredibly outdated, and he wasn’t alone in the sentiment. He organized with other food truck entrepreneurs and the NYCFTA was born in January 2011. “We wanted to unite groups of vendors to meet and share best practices,” Weber remembers. The collection of like-minded purveyors was primarily interested in community development and achieving “a singular voice to address what improvements needed to be made to the regulations.” When Hurricane Sandy approached in late fall 2012, Weber and his wife were expecting their first child. As the scope of the storm became clear, members of the NYCFTA realized it was their moment to give back to the local communities that supported their businesses. Rickshaw and other trucks were moved to high ground, and their inventory was donated to local food shelters. www.newyorkfamily.com
“We targeted locations where we could do the most good,” Weber says. “High concentrations of people and families in need in residential areas that had been hit hard.” Fully mobile and self-sufficient, each with their own generator, the trucks proved to be the perfect response vehicles; the only limitation came in resources. “The trucks had all the time in the world to donate, but very little disposable money of their own,” says Weber, “and it quickly became obvious that we were going to need sponsors.” Enter JetBlue, with corporate financing, and, of equal import, plenty of prepackaged water and foodstuffs. Additional outreach soon brought MorganStanley, UBS, Glamour magazine, and other corporate sponsors into the fold. The NYCFTA also started a community fund on Indiegogo that raised more than $24,000. Further coordination with the Mayor’s office led to a full-fledged dispatch system with 20 trucks responding in real-time to the city’s needs for hot meals. “It was really an ideal match because we brought the trucks and the means for direct outreach, and they brought both the resources to pay for all the stuff and the knowhow of what locations were most acutely in need of assistance,” Weber says. In less than a month, the joint distribution efforts delivered more than 350,000 hot meals to victims of the hurricane. As Weber describes, it was “a monumental effort to scale-up, to go from a tiny institution with a single part-time employee to a sprawling public food distribution program inside of less than a month—it was exciting, rewarding, and definitely intense.” With Baby Sebastian arriving after most of Sandy’s ill effects, Weber now focuses on the challenges of overseeing a burgeoning association along with the trials of fatherhood. He’s found the demands of parenting to be “so far beyond anything I’ve ever anticipated,” and, as so many other parents would agree, “so much more rewarding than anything I’ve ever imagined.” “Things that I thought were hard and substantial in my life—I’ve started a couple companies, wrote a book, ran a lot of big projects—I kind of thought of having Sebastian as another big project… It’s so much more than that. It’s really given me a lot of perspective on what’s possible.” “I think that the best part about hospitality is dealing with customers. Any day you work as a cashier or on the truck and you’re interacting with local residents and pedestrians—that’s what makes it all worth it. Connecting and interfacing with guests and delivering positive energy and enthusiasm through my food—that’s really what it’s all about.”
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Jennie Perillo
In Her New Cookbook, A Local Blogger Traverses The Intersection Of Food And Family By Christine Wei Many of us adopt wry or self-deprecating manners when we speak of how much we like food, but Jennie Perillo is completely earnest when she declares that food, in her eyes, equals love. “Cooking is a way to show the people that you love how much you care about them,” she says. “You literally take a blank canvas of ingredients, and you’re creating something for them.” Perillo is the lyrical writer and recipe developer behind In Jennie’s Kitchen, a popular Brooklyn-based food blog, and the newly released Homemade With Love, a cookbook intertwined with gripping vignettes of family life. A video producer in her first career, she was spurred by her father’s death in the late ’90s to rethink how she wanted to spend her professional life. After a few years of honing her chops in personal
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QUALITY TIME
cheffing, restaurant biz, and event planning, she finally set out to become a food writer in 2007. I meet Perillo at the Union Square farmer’s market on a sunny spring morning—by lunchtime, the good stuff is usually gone, she shares in an almost conspiratorial tone. As we hop from favorite vendor to favorite vendor, the NYC foodie raves about how hydro-farming had provided fresh produce this past winter and rejoices over a beautiful head of lettuce that reminds her of some past Parisian market finds. It’s easy to see the pure joy she finds in great flavors as well as food’s prominence in her personal story. Perillo first dipped her toes into cooking between her freshman and sophomore years of high school. In a household where convenience food had largely taken over the dinner table, she decided that while her mother worked as a supermarket cashier, she would use her free summers to take command of creating healthier family meals. In retrospect, it seems that a lot had come to hinge upon these dinners. “[Mine] was a bit of a tumultuous childhood, because my dad, unfortunately, was an alcoholic. But I always remember us sitting around the table, even if it was just TV dinners we were eating, no matter how crazy and hectic that family life was,” Perillo recalls. “That’s the thing that always stuck with me. My mom did that. And that’s one way that I connect with her.” Today, the local mom of two is fully conscious of the critical role that food plays in her own family. Cooking is a way to center oneself around what’s important—the people you cherish. “It’s the time when you talk, when you get to catch up,” she says of gathering around the kitchen table at mealtime. “My daughters are in pre-K and fourth grade. They’re in school longer than with me during waking hours, so dinnertime is a moment for us to just reconnect.” Having the girls contribute to creating this time together by setting the table and clearing plates also gives them a sense of responsibility and independence, she adds. After our stroll through the greenmarket, we sit down at a nearby Turkish café to dig into Homemade With Love alongside quiche and coffee. In practical terms, the hardcover tome serves diehard foodies as much as it does novice chefs and busy parents. Filled with gorgeous photography and just the right amount of instruction, it takes a big-picture approach with tips for stocking the pantry and also deconstructs impressive-sounding dishes into manageable steps. Sophisticated but easily accessible in flavor and technique—think grilled cheese dressed up with www.newyorkfamily.com
apple and pancetta—the recipes require no fancy equipment and often include time-saving shortcuts. But more than a pleasant read with delicious ideas, Homemade With Love will strike a deep emotional chord with anyone who has ever loved and ever lost. Very much present in the cookbook is the life that Perillo had shared with her late husband, Mikey, who unexpectedly passed away two summers ago. “Mikey really believed in the goodness of people. He loved life, he loved laughter, he loved humor,” she says emotionally. Yet she can’t help but smile when reflecting upon how fatherhood had opened Mikey up. “I would come home on Saturdays from the farmer’s market, and it would be very common to find him in the room with our daughters playing dress-up with a tiara and a boa, having a tea party.” Whether referencing her late husband’s favorite ingredients or detailing how a date night at a restaurant inspired a sauce that turned their daughter on to mushrooms, the cookbook weaves together a moving tribute to Mikey and family life, to past and present. Readers see the way in which cooking not only wraps those you love tightly around you, it also becomes a means of navigating what life throws your way. For Perillo, it gave her a “sense of control in a world that seemed to no longer make sense.” Her visceral, nearly page-long account of putting Mikey’s favorite chicken pot pie recipe to paper—an extremely grueling small step toward closure—lies at the heart of this message. At this point in our conversation, I realize that, as much as Perillo’s perspective on food resonates with me, what I’m most inspired by is the purposeful spirit with which she’s come to view her projects. “Homemade With Love, in a lot of ways, is a goodbye. Every other recipe I’ve developed at this point in my life, even though they’ll remind me of Mikey depending on what ingredients I use, he won’t taste them,” she says. “But it’s [also] a decision to move forward, as much as my heart would love to stay in the past.” Her cookbook—much as her blog—is a bittersweet token of her refusal to simply go through the motions as she takes care of her daughters and herself. Though Perillo admits that she’s thought of shutting her blog down and moving away with her girls, she can’t turn her back on the opportunity to make a positive impact. She cites a mom-to-be whose partner died after a car accident who now sees where Perillo is 21 months later and is given hope that she can get to that place, too. “That’s why I put it out there,” the food blogger says plainly. Perillo ultimately believes that cooking for people is giving them an heirloom, that “a recipe keeps a little bit of people alive long after their gone.” In a way, Homemade With Love is Perillo’s (and arguably Mikey’s) heirloom for their daughters. But the delicious guide to getting into the kitchen isn’t just a template for tested dishes; the passion and energy behind it will move you to create some family memories of your own. Just like a weekday morning chat with Perillo, sitting down with Homemade With Love leaves you thankful, energized, and hungry—for food and life and love. www.newyorkfamily.com
JeNNie Perillo’s
Lemon Buttermilk Doughnuts These baked doughnuts are ready in 15 minutes, have a refreshing burst of lemon, and are incredibly light, both in texture and on your waistline. Makes 6 doughnuts. 1 scant cup whole wheat pastry flour 1/4 cup granulated natural cane sugar 1 tsp baking powder 1/8 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp sea salt Freshly squeezed juice and grated zest of 1 lemon Scant 1/2 cup buttermilk 1 large egg 1 tbsp (unsalted butter, melted Confectioners’ sugar (optional) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 6-count doughnut pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest. In a measuring cup, use a fork to beat the lemon juice, buttermilk, egg, and melted butter until well blended. Pour over the flour mixture and use a wooden spoon to stir together until just combined. Evenly spoon into the prepared doughnut pan and bake for 8-9 minutes, until the doughnuts are lightly golden and spring back when touched. Let the doughnuts cool in the pan for 2 minutes. Unmold the doughnuts and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Use a small strainer to sift confectioners’ sugar over the tops before serving, if desired. Need a chocolate fix? Omit the lemon juice and lemon zest. Reduce the whole wheat pastry flour to 3/4 cup and add 1/4 cup dark cocoa powder to the flour mixture. Stir 3 tablespoons brewed coffee into the milk mixture and proceed with the directions as listed in the recipe. Recipe reprinted with permission from Homemade With Love © 2013 by Jennifer Perillo, Running Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group. June 2013 | New York Family 61
home&away
TRAVEL
L-R: Mimicking the Mittens butte in Monument Valley; the official Four Corners monument.
Red Rocks, Cliff Dwellings, Restored Railroads, And Gold Mines: An NYC Family Goes West! By Eric Messinger It’s been two summers since my family and I took our first big road trip, mostly following a south-to-north itinerary from Phoenix to Denver, with lots of glorious detours along the way. It was all new to me and my two children—Elena and Adam, who were 11 and 7 at the time—though my wife, Rebecca, had made some of the stops years ago on a summer teen tour. What a testament to the trip—and to the things we saw, the adventures we had, and how well we generally got along—that I can still recount the trip’s day-to-day highlights without referring back to my notes. In broad strokes, we planned it to have two distinct parts: the first half of the trip was about seeing amazing things; the second half was about doing amazing things. But really, every day had some of both. It began in Phoenix. We arrived in the early afternoon and immediately drove north until we came to
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our first wondrous sight, the red rocks of Sedona. The transition was magical, from scrub and cactus to some of the most beautiful land formations I’ve ever seen—and a boutique luxury hotel called L’Auberge de Sedona, whose dining patio overlooks a creek. Once there, we were tempted to stay longer than the intended one night, but after ogling the rocks at sunset and then again in the morning, we somehow managed to head north as planned for a five-hour car ride to tour another brilliant red-rocking landscape. Monument Valley rests on Native American land along the Arizona-Utah border. If you haven’t been there, you’re probably more familiar with its iconic buttes than you realize from movies and TV commercials: imagine craggy and other-worldly bursts of beauty with unassuming names like The Mittens and The Three Sisters. Do a late afternoon to sunset private tour with a local guide, who will have access that you won’t driving around by yourself. Considering that Sedona and Monument Valley offer some of the most amazing natural spectacles in the world, we thought our trip was off to a good start. It got even better. The next day, we headed east to Four Corners, the only spot in the continental United States where four contiguous states meet. Every tourist in the area makes the stop and takes a picture straddling the four states. We followed suit and compared notes with other travelers with creative Southwest itineraries. Next up was Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. The park has been scorched by wildfires over continued on page 64
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continued from page 62
Other SoutHWeSterN SPotligHtS Families Will lOve By Christine Wei Albuquerque, NM As the hip sister of artsy Santa Fe, Albuquerque is ripe for quirky adventure. Get the lay of the land from up high with more than 300 resident balloonists—this is, after all, the balloon Capital of the World. On the ground, tour the Acoma and Zuni pueblos with a pueblo member, enjoy a traditional pueblo meal, and hear the 16th century lore of the mythical Seven Cities of Gold. Finally, get the ultimate nature experience at the Albuquerque biological Park, encompassing everything from a zoo and aquarium to a botanic garden and fishing lakes. SAN ANtoNio, tX This Texan city provides the same dose of cowboy culture but is less humid and more bearable than many of its popular neighbors. Get the full rodeo experience at Charro ranch, which features live music, cattle herding, and horse ballets. Find natural science at The Witte Museum’s interactive H-e-b Science treehouse, which even adults find themselves getting into. For the water lover, nothing beats a close-up encounter with sting rays at Seaworld’s Aquatica—or the JW Marriott’s whopping six acres of pure water fun, including a 1,200-foot lazy river, 35-foot-tall tube slides, and even an onsite “rapids” simulation. SedoNA, AZ We can’t get enough of this red rock respite. At L’Auberge, don’t miss stargazing with dennis Young, featuring his homemade super-powered telescope with a NASA-grade mirror. Off-site, adventurous kids can test their bravery on an open helicopter ride with Arizona Helicopter Adventures—or let the currents of the creek shoot you down the region’s many hiking trails (consult the experts at the Hike House for the best spots). Bonus: kayaking through Alcantara Vineyards makes for great intergenerational unwinding.
the years, but its world famous ruins—the remnants of early continent dwellers who lived there from about 600 to 1300 A.D.—are remarkable to behold and contemplate, especially the dwellings that former inhabitants had built on cliffside landings. It’s amazing to see the primitive but ingenious dwellings that allowed human beings from an earlier time to organize and survive (though Mesa Verde has a very nice modern hotel and dining hall for 21st century adventures). After Mesa Verde, we began our slow ascent up through Colorado. The first stop was Durango, a small mountain town with a pleasant mix of decent shopping and restaurants and lots of outdoor fun. We stayed at the DoubleTree by Hilton, a fine place to decompress after the overwhelming wonders of the past few days. The next day, we took a restored
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A glimpse into another time at Mesa Verde National Park.
railroad up from Durango to Silverton, a historic mining town, traveling up and around the mountainside for about three and a half hours. But the real treat was visiting a historic mine, and then a wider tour of the surrounding mountains with a guide who was a former miner (with an expertise in explosives) and about as learned as someone could be on matters of geology, mining, climate, and the history of the area. Remember how I told you there are two halves to this trip? To give the second half its due, I need to bypass a few more of our adventures in the southern end of Colorado (except to say: visit the town of Ouray and enjoy the hot springs that are piped into the town pool). There was a transition day of driving about five hours north to our final accommodations, the Osprey at Beaver Creek, where we stayed for a few days before flying out of Denver to return home. Beaver Creek is well-known as a family-friendly ski mountain, but like a lot of the great Colorado sky towns, it’s just as wonderful as home base in spring and summer for all sorts of outdoor adventures: hiking, fly fishing, mountain biking, ATV touring, river rafting, white water rafting, the works. And the Osprey itself—contemporary, spacious, comfortable, luxurious, and located right at the base of the mountain—was just the perfect place to stay. I want to give a special shout out to its lounge, which was an oasis of delicious food in a town where we didn’t have much luck on the culinary front. But everything else was great, and we built each day around a big adventure: first an ATV guided tour of Beaver Creek mountain, then rafting on the Colorado (a slow part of the river, which was fast enough for my family), and, finally, a day of fly fishing, which I’ve been dreaming about every since I saw the movie “A River Runs Through It.” I was not as good at it as Brad Pitt was. I’m not sure how much of our grand road trip has seeped into my children’s memories, but hopefully they’ll at least remember that we shared a big adventure as a family. Inspired by the trip, I’ve been ready to take on another for a while now, maybe picking up where we left off, sort of, and starting in Yellowstone to head up to Canada. What do you think? eriC MeSSiNger is the editor of New York Family. www.newyorkfamily.com
PRESENT
The
2013
Please join New York Family at the Blackboard Awards to honor the city’s top teachers Hosted by: Craig Melvin MSNBC anchor and NBC correspondent
Wednesday, June 12 th, 2013 Cocktails: 5:30 PM Awards Ceremony: 6:15 PM
Fordham University Law School, between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues
RSVP to BlackBoardAwards@ManhattanMedia.com
the last word
builDinG a Better Nerd a local Dad Contemplates the unthinkable—that His son may not share His Passions for indie music and superheroes
One Of my favOrite albums is lou reed’s “new york.” On one track, “beginning of a Great adventure,” reed sings, “it might be nice to have a kid that i could kick around; a little me to fill up with my thoughts.” He sings about teaching his potential kids to be uber progressive and creating his “own little liberal army in the woods.” this song pops into my head from time to time when i think about who my son might turn out to be. i’m a firm believer that a kid is going to be who they are, no matter what you want or don’t want. if you were hoping for a body-building navy seal, but your child has emo club kid Dna, you’re kind of out of luck. but that doesn’t mean that i haven’t tried to influence my four- and a half-year-old kid a bit, even if i haven’t always been consciously aware of trying. We all do it to some extent, right? take music. it’s not by accident that the only “kids’ music” i play for him is they might be Giants. yes, i think “Here Come the abC’s” is a great album, but the bigger reason is that i’ve been a tmbG fan for twentyfive years and i want my kid to like them, too. (When he looked at me a few weeks ago and said, sincerely, “i like they might be Giants, Daddy,” i teared up.) and i will admit that i have done my best to fan the flame of his fondness for superheroes. i’m not forcing them on him, right—just, if there’s an appropriate toygiving occasion, i’ll make sure he gets a new action figure or two. i think someday he’ll be proud that he was the only kid in class that had adam strange and the red tornado. (look ‘em up.) the kid isn’t allowed to watch tv or movies yet. but once he turns five and the ban is lifted, i intend to sit down with him and enjoy the kinds of things that blew my mind when i was a boy. i want to revisit “star Wars” and “raiders of the lost ark” and “the Godfather” through his eyes. (Obviously we won’t
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watch all of those as soon as he turns five. i think you need to be at least seven to really appreciate Coppola.) i’m not insisting that my boy grow into the same kind of nerd that i am. i’m just providing him with the compass to head in that direction himself. and if that means that i occasionally ignore his plea for a berenstain bears book or brush off his request to play his spongebob album, i can live with that. look, i know that he’ll probably come home at age twelve and proclaim his love of the 2021 equivalent of Justin bieber (*shudder*). When the day comes that he rejects my tastes and declares me unfit company for reasoned, thinking individuals, i’ll do my best to take it in stride and see it as part of the circle of life, or the game of life, or what-have-you. i’ll be weeping, internally, but i’ll try to put on a brave face. Of course, there’s also the scary possibility that this geekification will go tOO well. i’m a nerd, but i’m still a functional adult, capable of having conversations about politics and literature and such. What if he takes it to the next level and becomes one of those guys in their 30s, living in our basement and getting into heated debates at the comic book shop over whether or not superman could beat the Hulk in a fair fight? (He could. but that’s not the sort of thing you want to be seen debating in public.) i don’t see that happening. We don’t have a basement. also, he’s already much cooler than that. i guess what i’m hoping for is that he’ll always have an appreciation for these things i love, even as he seeks out new things on his own, the way i sought out lou reed and they might be Giants. and i pray to God that the whole One Direction thing will have run its course by the time he’s buying downloading albums. JOE WACK currently teaches science to elementary school children in the bronx. He lives in Harlem with his wife and son. www.newyorkfamily.com
Illustration by Justin Winslow
By Joe Wack