Tag Archives: parenting

Roundup: Snow, Fire, Ice …

Posted on January 20, 2025 | 3 comments

Yesterday’s snow was slippery for some, beautiful for many.

Here’s a view through Ted Horowitz’s Wilton Road window:

(Photo copyright/Ted Horowitz)

This was the scene at Mark Taglia’s home. The flamingo is a street mascot, passed back and forth by neighbors on Mystic Lane off North Avenue.

(Photo/Mark Taglia)

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A pair of Saturday Father’s Forums — places for fathers to talk about parenting challenges and strategies — are set for January 25 and February 22. Both are from 9 to 10 a.m., at Toquet Hall.

They’ll be led by Vince Benevento, founder and CEO of Westport’s Causeway Collaborative. The forums are sponsored by Westport Together. For more information, click here.

Father and son.

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It’s purely coincidental — given the recent tragedy in Los Angeles — but the current exhibition at MoCA CT is called “On Fire.”

Curated by Ive Covaci, Anne Boberski, and the Westport Public Art Collections Committee, it includes over 75 works in a variety of media.

The exhibit explores the ways in which artists from the 1930s to today have envisioned and responded to the interrelationships of energy, infrastructure and the environment.

This 4th annual exhibition by WestPAC at MoCA is inspired by 8 paintings, “The Evolution of Heat,” created by Ralph Boyer in 1934 for the old Staples High School as part of a WPA project.

The paintings usually hang at Westport’s central fire station, so this is a rare opportunity to see them in a museum setting.

Contemporary works — including scenes of  local bridges, waterways and infrastructure — ask visitors to consider the past and imagine the future of our community.

The gallery is open Thursdays (4 to 8 p.m.), and Fridays,  Saturdays and Sundays (noon to 4 p.m.). The exhibit runs through March 2.

Upcoming programs include:

January 23 (5 p.m.): Exhibition tour with curators Anne Boberski and Ive Covaci, co-chairs of the WestPAC Committee.

February 27 (6 p.m.): Community conversation: “Art, Infrastructure, and the Environment,” moderated by Ive Covaci.

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Pamela Rae Schuller — a “comedian, speaker and advocate who brings a unique perspective to inclusion through humor and storytelling” — will be here on February 6 (7:30 p.m., Chabad of Westport).

Click here for more information, and tickets.

Pamela Rae Schuller

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A recent photo of a Cybertruck parked in a handicap spot at the Westporot Weston Family YMCA — without a visible sticker — brought this comment from the owner:

“I have Parkinson’s and a handicap sticker from CT for more than 2 years.”

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Right before the snow, Anne Bernier snapped this shot of Deadman Brook, near the Levitt Pavilion and Imperial Avenue parking lot.

“I thought it beautifully encapsulated these cold, bright, winter days in Westport,” she says.

It does — which is why it’s today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature.

(Photo/Anne Bernier)

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And finally … in honor of the 2 events happening simultaneously today, along with the Westport Together event on January 25 (story above):

(Sure, it’s a holiday. But in the nearly 16 years since “06880” began, we haven’t missed a day. If you enjoy this hyper-local blog, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)

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Posted in Arts, religion, YMCA

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Dave Smith Guides Dads’ Survival

Posted on September 7, 2022 | 3 comments

Wherever men gather — on the sidelines of their kids’ games, at a Compo cookout, by the transfer station — the conversations are the same.

“How’s it goin’?”

“Good. Kids, wife, work — all good.”

Then it’s on to the next topic: the coach, the meat, the trash.

Much of the time, of course, it’s not “all good.” Far from it.

The kids are acting up. The marriage is rocky. The job is stressful.

Most men don’t talk about that stuff.

Dave Smith does.

The Madison native — a baseball player at Trinity College, and graduate of Harvard Business School — his wife Jeanne and their 2 children moved to Westport in 2008.

They’ve had 2 more since then. His career as a leadership coach has flourished.

Dave and Jeanne Smith, and their 4 children.

But his side gig — a weekly blog called “Dads’ Survival Guide” — sets him apart from the stereotypical suburban father.

“It’s always been secretive that being a dad is a struggle,” Smith says.

“If it’s a secret, you feel isolated. And that can lead to drinking, substance abuse, gambling — or worse.”

“Worse” includes suicide. Several years ago, a friend took his life.

“Dads who had known him well had no idea he was struggling,” Smith says. “It broke our heart to realize he had struggled alone.”

He organized a few “dad barbecues,” to get conversations going. Then COVID hit.

“Wow! If things were not hard enough for dads before …” Smith says.

He does not downplay the difficulties facing moms. But, he says, women are more socialized to talk things out, and seek support from friends. “Men put on an act. We never admit anything is wrong.”

In the early days of the pandemic, Smith began writing. His subjects were ideas that hit home: dealing with teenagers. Dealing with money. Dealing with emotions.

Screenshot from a “Dads’ Survival Guide” post.

He sent his stories to friends. They passed them to others. Dads are not big on writing back, he says, but occasionally he hears “Man! I’m going through the same thing!”

Smith says up front: “I don’t have the answers. I just try to put a voice to our struggles. I put it out there, that we’re all struggling with the same things. And it’s okay to talk about it.”

Simply hearing another man put words to feelings is a revelation to some men, Smith says.

His posts on marriage and parenting issues get the most response. He recently wrote about reactions when a child lies.

Kids’ emotional well-being is an important topic. So is the mental health of dads themselves.

“A lot of dads struggle with depression,” Smith says. “But there’s nowhere besides AA or rehab where you can talk about it.”

His goal is to continue to be “as open as possible. I want to put a voice to values and beliefs. Dads tend not to think about things like that.”

Dave’s “Dads’ Survival Guide” forces them to think.

So perhaps the next time one man asks another “How’s it goin’?” the answer may not be “all good.” Get ready for an answer that may be far more honest than that.

(To be added to the “Dads’ Survival Guide” distribution list, email davidosmith7777@gmail.com) 

(Dads — and moms, and everyone else — can help support “06880.” Please click here to donate.)

 

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Posted in Children, Sports, Teenagers, Westport life

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Positive Parenting Postcards

Posted on May 19, 2021 | 2 comments

Parenting is hard.

Everyone knows that. It’s like saying “I-95 sucks.”

But every Westport parent has gotten that reminder 3 times in the past 3 weeks. Colorful postcards arrived in local mailboxes. They bore our “06880” zip code. They began, “Parenting is hard….”

Then they offered tips, to make talking with your kids a bit lest difficult.

The cards come courtesy of the Westport Prevention Coalition. A subcommittee of Westport Together — the collaboration between Positive Directions, Westport Public Schools and PTAs, and the Department of Human Services — its current charge is to raise parental awareness of teenage behaviors around alcohol and drugs.

That’s particularly important now, says Positive Directions prevention director Margaret Watt.

As Westport opens back up after the pandemic — with proms, graduation and other rites of spring looming after 15 months of unprecedented demands on adolescent life — parents may not realize what the “new normal” is like.

“Westport has sometimes turned a blind eye toward teenage drinking,” Watt says. But recent focus groups revealed that during COVID, some youngsters held Zoom drinking parties. Marijuana use may have also increased during quarantine.

The front side of one of the postcards …

Each postcard bears a different message.

One assures parents that teenagers value their opinions, and learn from observing priorities and choices.

It advises parents:

  • Talk about your expectations and rules.
  • Be open about your own stress, and model healthy ways to handle it.
  • Make fun family time a priority.

Another postcard reminds parents about Connecticut’s “Social Host Law.” Anyone over 18 faces arrest and imprisonment, lawsuits and legal fees, loss of homeowners insurance, and fines of $2,000 — one for every underage youth — if alcohol is used on their property. That’s true even if an adult is not present.

A third postcard notes that “new” marijuana — not the kind they might have smoked years ago — has been engineered to be “many times stronger than nature.” The card covers vaping THC, and the effects of the drug on brain development and addiction.

… and the back.

Each card includes a QR code, to scan for more information.

Four more are planned. All 7 end the same way: “Talk early … talk often.”

Feedback has been excellent. The postcards are seen as eye-catching, concise and informative. One parent contacted the Coalition immediately after receiving the first card, grateful for the info and conversation starters.

Future mailings may also include residents without school-age children. After all, it takes a village — not just a parent — to raise a child.

And it’s hard.

(For more information, click here. To volunteer with the Westport Prevention Coalition, email mwatt@positivedirections.org.)

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Posted in Children, Teenagers, Westport life

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