Editor’s Note: October 2015

Our editorial team horsing around with Georgina Bloomberg and her son Jasper.
Our editorial team horsing around with Georgina Bloomberg and her son Jasper. Photo by Lindsay May for Classic Kids Photography.

I was catching up with a parent friend about the beginning of the school year, and she mentioned, with percolating delight, how all three of her kids were now at the same school—which has made her mornings about 9,000 times less stressful than they were last year. Listening to her, I realized that I may have achieved an even higher level of convenience-based parental nirvana. My kids, now 15 and 11, don’t go to same school, but even better, they go to school by themselves. I still have some value: Preparing breakfast and lunch and making sure they’re out the door at a time that keeps them on track to arrive at school on time. But then my mornings are feeling much more leisurely than they used to. More time to walk the dog. More time for a snatch of reading. More time to get to work.

The spirit of independence seems to be infusing their school work as well. My daughter, the 15-year-old, is producing a play at school, and my son, in his first year of middle school, just recently asked my wife and me not to check his homework anymore, especially his writing. I’m pretty sure this is partly a ploy to avoid feeling like he should do more revising. But maybe it’ll backfire on him: Maybe by acting more independent he will actually become more independent.

Lately, I’m finding myself thinking more about how to be a parent than I think I have in a few years. I believe it’s because my children’s core personalities are more clearly coming into focus as they get older—and I’m searching myself to better distinguish between my impulses to try to improve on what’s there and to just love what’s there. The homework question may be a part of this.

But part of my mood may be just that it’s fall, a time when we often re-dedicate ourselves to our most serious pursuits. Hopefully, this issue will offer you a few good nuggets of fun and insight to parent with.

Happy October!

Eric Messinger

Editor, [email protected]

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The Coding Space

<p>The Coding Space is on a mission to help kids develop computational thinking skills, intellectual confidence, self-expression, and independence through learning to code. Our virtual Spring 2021 group classes balance screen time with opportunities to create and explore at home. Students make new friends while experiencing our signature 4:1 student-to-teacher ratio, playing games, and tackling self-paced coding projects. With full- and half-semester registration options as well as after-school, evening, and weekend classes, The Coding Space offers convenient engagement and education for kids.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Just for New York Family subscribers: get 10% off* any class registration with promo code: NYF10.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><em>*Terms and conditions apply.</em></p>

Kids Country Day Camp

<p dir="ltr">Kids Country Day Camp is a sports, adventure, and recreational day camp for children 5 - 12 years of age. They  are located on 10 beautiful acres in the heart of Suffolk County, Mount Sinai. The campus is comprised of  indoor and outdoor recreation areas, athletic fields, sports courts, playgrounds, and water activity areas. The  summer camp session runs for 8 weeks excluding the 4th of July holiday. Various combinations of weeks and  days provides complete scheduling flexibility. Activity hours are from 9:00am to 4:00pm with additional before and after care available for your convenience. Before care hours are from 7:00-8:30am and after care hours  are from 4:30-6:00pm. Rates include lunch, snacks, refreshments, arts & crafts and activity materials, sports equipment, and 2 camp shirts.</p>

The Churchill School Summer Program

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',sans-serif; color: #3a3a3a; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Churchill School Summer Program is a two-week program where students entering grades one to four will participate in literacy activities based on the Wilson Fundations Program and a variety of camp activities. By helping your child retain academic skills he/she will avoid the “summer slide” and begin the school year as a confident learner. Every morning students will begin their day with a Fundations lesson led by a member of the Churchill faculty and will participate in a full day of summer fun including:</span></p> <p> </p> <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"> <li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Noto Sans Symbols',sans-serif; color: #3a3a3a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre; margin-left: -17.25pt;"> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 14pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',sans-serif; color: #3a3a3a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Arts and Crafts</span></p> </li> <li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Noto Sans Symbols',sans-serif; color: #3a3a3a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre; margin-left: -17.25pt;"> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',sans-serif; color: #3a3a3a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sports</span></p> </li> <li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Noto Sans Symbols',sans-serif; color: #3a3a3a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre; margin-left: -17.25pt;"> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',sans-serif; color: #3a3a3a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mindfulness and Yoga</span></p> </li> <li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Noto Sans Symbols',sans-serif; color: #3a3a3a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre; margin-left: -17.25pt;"> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',sans-serif; color: #3a3a3a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Games</span></p> </li> <li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Noto Sans Symbols',sans-serif; color: #3a3a3a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre; margin-left: -17.25pt;"> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',sans-serif; color: #3a3a3a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Daily trips to the playground</span></p> </li> <li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Noto Sans Symbols',sans-serif; color: #3a3a3a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre; margin-left: -17.25pt;"> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 14pt;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',sans-serif; color: #3a3a3a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And so much more!</span></p> </li> </ul>