6 minute read

PERSPECTIVE

Next Article
AS WE GROW

AS WE GROW

perspective perspective Generosity learning, being and doing Twenty-five and counting Doing our best to serve the heroes

Ayoung man approached me in a parking lot yesterday. “My family and I are staying over there and if we could get five dollars we could get a pizza. If we could get ten we could get two and that would cover us.” I had no idea whether his story was true. He looked as though he was living rough, though—gaunt, sunken cheeks, despairing eyes. Without hesitation, I pulled out my wallet and handed him ten bucks. I don’t know just why I did it. He wasn’t threatening. He wasn’t over imploring. He just seemed to really need a boost right then and interacting with him right there a couple of feet away, I just felt it was a moment. It’s not that I’m on a mission to give away all of our money. I walk and drive by plenty of people who are asking for a little push. And I’m not driven to help others by a sense of guilt or even a feeling of being lucky enough to have it and these others don’t and so therefore it’s my social obligation to do it. Nor do I get a big sense of satisfaction. I have a hard time pinpointing why I feel compelled to help out sometimes, whether scooping a sidewalk for a neighbor or stopping to push a car, and other times not so much. Every fall, a neighbor of ours comes by with his air compressor and blows out our sprinkler lines. He makes the rounds in our corner of the neighborhood and gets everyone ready for winter. He doesn’t ask for anything. He just does it because he can. It is not a transactional offer in any way. Theresa Baer writes this month in her Learn and Live column about teaching children to be generous and to volunteer. She also offers some ideas about where and how. The idea is to help children to be aware of others’ needs and to understand that they, themselves, have something to offer. The goal is for them, really all of us, to not just do generosity as an activity that we have come to understand as something that we should do because we’re lucky enough to have something and those other people are struggling. Where we’re really headed with this is for our children to see people who are just like they are, who just want to be happy just as they do and who don’t want to feel bad just as they don’t want to. We want to get beyond the them and us feelings. We don’t just drop money in a can and walk by. We stop. We talk and engage with people who are just like us. In the end, we want to be generosity, not just do generosity, though the path to being generosity, it seems, lies through the path of doing generosity. ‘Tis the season, Scott We published our first issue of Rocky Mountain Parent magazine in June 1996, 25 years ago. It was called Front Range Parent when we launched, and I’ll spare you the story of the name change, but it involved attorneys and a weird twist from a Denver-based parent magazine that no longer exists. Anyway, Kristin and I were just thumbing through that first issue. What a little walk down memory lane. Our kids, Aly and Andy, were on that first cover along with Ashley Royals. Turns out that we’ve been publishing for a generation and Ashley’s daughter, Hailey, is going to be on our cover next month. Isn’t that fun? Andy’s child is due any minute and I’m guessing that Baby will make the cover this year too. In fact, this year we plan to seek out parents who were cover kids and put their kids on the cover. I’m talking to you, Cameron! The back-cover advertiser was CSU Sports Camps. Kristin remembers M.L. Johnson calling in before that first issue saying, “I want your back cover!” That was a great start. A couple of businesses that advertised in that first issue are still with us today: Canyon Concert Ballet and Karate West. Congrats to them for still serving parents too! We started the magazine with a profound desire to be a resource for parents in northern Colorado, with an emphasis on health, education, recreation and the occasional dive into other compelling topics. We’ve met a boatload of wonderful people along the way and found support when we’ve least expected it. It’s been a journey for sure. It started as an idea when I was in journalism grad school with two young children. It struck me that parents are heroes. They get up every day, work, run the household and then, on top of all the challenges of just living in this world, they do the most important thing: They care for their children. I carried that idea with me and when a friend sent me a newspaper clipping (yes, via mail) of a family in Oregon that had started a locally based parenting magazine, I split from my partners in another publishing venture, and we dove into this. And yes, starting a business on a shoestring with two kids is not really a secure, possibly responsible, thing to do. But it worked out, pretty much. They survived and are contributing members of society. And we couldn’t have done it without a committed team who have been with us for years. Advertising Director and co-owner, Greg Hoffman, has been the driving force behind revenue since 1997. Emily Zaynard, Creative Director, has been making us look good since 2008, and Distribution Manager, Susan Harting, has been making sure that the magazine gets out to where you can find for nearly a decade. Thanks team! Well, enough for now. I’ll probably have some more of these strolls over the year. I hope that you’ll join me.

Scott

OCTOBER 2019 • Volume 24, Issue 6 JUNE 2021 • Volume 25, Issue 1 PUBLISHER Scott Titterington, (970)221-9210 scott.rmpublishing@gmail.com PUBLISHER Scott Titterington, (970)221-9210 EDITOR scott.rmpublishing@gmail.com Kristin Titterington, (970)221-9210 kristin.rmpublishing@gmail.com EDITOR Kristin Titterington, (970)221-9210 CREATIVE DIRECTOR kristin.rmpublishing@gmail.com Emily Zaynard emily.rmpublishing@gmail.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR Emily Zaynard ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR emily.rmpublishing@gmail.com Greg Hoffman, (970)689-6832 greg.rmpublishing@gmail.com ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Greg Hoffman, (970)689-6832 DISTRIBUTION MANAGER greg.rmpublishing@gmail.com ADVERTISING SALES EXECUTIVE Susan Hartig susan.rmpublishing@gmail.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER ADVERTISING SALES EXECUTIVE Susan Harting COVER PHOTO susan.rmpublishing@gmail.com Cheri Schonfeld, Courtesy of Sky’s Open Design - skysopendesign.com COVER PHOTO istockphoto.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Theresa Baer, Lea Hanson, Katie Harris, Lynn U. Nichols CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Theresa Baer, Lea Hanson Kris Kodrich, Lynn U. Nichols

ROCKY MOUNTAIN PUBLISHING PO Box 740 Fort Collins, CO 80522 Voice 221-9210 • Fax 221-8556 editor@rockymountainpub.com www.RMParent.com ROCKY MOUNTAIN PUBLISHING PO Box 740 Fort Collins, CO 80522 Voice 221-9210 • Fax 221-8556 editor@rockymountainpub.com www.RMParent.com

Rocky Mountain Parent magazine is published monthly by Rocky Mountain Publishing, Inc. Rocky Mountain Parent magazine is published Publication of this paper does not consitute an enmonthly by Rocky Mountain Publishing, Inc. dorsement of the products or services advertised. Publication of this paper does not consitute an enRMP reserves the right to refuse any advertisedorsement of the products or services advertised. ment for any reason. The opinions expressed by RMP reserves the right to refuse any advertisecontributors or writers do not necessarily reflect ment for any reason. The opinions expressed by the opinions of Rocky Mountain Publishing. contributors or writers do not necessarily reflect ©2019 Rocky Mountain Publishing, Inc. All rights the opinions of Rocky Mountain Publishing. reserved. Reproduction without express written ©2021 Rocky Mountain Publishing, Inc. All rights permission is prohibited. reserved. Reproduction without express written permission is prohibited.

OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS: OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS:

This article is from: