5 thoughts for family connection
14th May Posted by Tony Deis on May 14, 2009 in Raising Kids I grew up in an Italian family. A big one. My identity is wrapped up in mia familia. Here are 5 thoughts that could help strengthen those bonds so important to all of us... 1) Make a family recipe book. Simply ask everyone, including Uncle Earl, for their favorite recipe. If you're food snob, don't be so quick to judge; include Aunt Sofie's popcorn balls in spite of that. Then take it to the printer, adding a cover with a photo or drawing of Great Grandma's house. My family did it. It was called the Rinella Family Cookbook. Perhaps one day we'll release it under TrackersSTUDIOS. If you don't have the extended family around, do one better, make it a neighborhood cookbook. 2) Dig the slides up and have a real slideshow. Someone has to have a slide projector lying around. Remember that "click" as the carousel turned. You hopefully didn't throw the slides out when you digitized them (I know my dad didn't, he keeps everything). The kids will wonder what the heck is up and I will also bet you that they'll love it. Make them pull out the sleeping bags and have the show on the patio on a summer evening. 3) Go fishing. I seem to put this in all my blogs lately. What can I say, its great advice.Especially for the kids and parents. If you head East, stop at Joe's doughnuts in Sandy, OR. 4) Learn to harvest mushrooms. Again, this was a staple for good Italian families. Find a skilled teacher then look for the easy and safest ones: boletes, chanterelles and oysters. Can kids do this? With the right fungi and education, yes! Check out these awesome resources: the incredible book All the Rain Promises and More and a TED talk by Paul Stamets (fungus is awesome). Mushroom hunting is an adventurous day in the woods. Just be sure to lost proof your kids with simple navigation techniques. Demand a Trackers "family day" so we can help that lost proofing happen. 5) Have weekly dinners with the extended family and neighborhood. Make it a potluck featuring those cookbook recipes. Eventually when you release version 2 of the cookbook people will be sick of the popcorn balls and they will move onto something that will please us food snobs. Did I write that out loud? Class roll...
Nature of the Village September 6-12
Summer Camps Still some room but not much. Camps are filling very fast. We want to see your family there. Register soon. Clarification from last week's post... I noted that our lead instructors are fingerprinted and background checked. I wanted to tell parents our intern staff is also fingerprinted and background checked. You can be assured that everyone we hire to work with kids at Trackers is thoroughly reviewed to see if they are perfect fit and best match to work with your family. Please contact Tony (me), with any questions: 503-453-3038, tony@trackersnw.com |
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