For some reason, moms and food are inextricably linked. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that mothers are the first food source for their babies, or that women are primarily the ones who prepare and serve meals in many cultures. Or is it just that we remember our moms as the only people on the planet who care if we have just … one … more … bite … of … peas?

While I think children are born with a palate all their own, there’s no doubt in my mind that moms also have a lot of influence over their dietary choices. So while I’m lucky that Willow likes vegetables – in fact, she’ll pick carrots for a snack any day – I have to credit much of this to the fact that she’s grown up surrounded by small gardens. The child wouldn’t touch a pea until we let her roam my aunt’s garden in Frenchtown, where she could snap them right off the vine.

Our own little backyard garden is now in its second year, and Willow loves to “help” me weed. She’s taken a great interest in the different plants, and at this point, anything that comes out of that garden – be it radishes, beans or tons of zucchini – she’s guaranteed to at least try.

And I’ll just bet it’s the same with all the kids whose parents are starting or maintaining their own gardens. Fortunately, we have a helpful new resource in the form of 1,000 New Gardens Missoula. 4 & 20 blackbirds has more on the story here.

I also noted the news today that Montana Sen. Jon Tester’s mother, Helen Tester, has died at the age of 89. Tester, in addition to being one of Montana’s two delegates in the Senate, runs an organic farm up north, in Big Sandy. And so it only seems appropriate to share my sincere condolences to this family of Montana farmers.

Finally, I want to highlight the sweet Missoulian story about 103-year-old Elizabeth Olson, Missoula’s “grandma to all,” in which it’s apparent this sweet lady has a real sweet tooth. Tonight, after my family gleans whatever’s ripe from the garden and builds our dinner around it, we’ll be making peanut butter cookies in her honor.

What’s a well-rounded dinner, after all, without dessert?

- Tyler Christensen

No Comments »

Yesterday I was handed a copy of “Bad Mother” to borrow, and I wasted no time diving into it. The book is by Ayelet Waldman, whom some may recognize as the woman who (in)famously announced that she loves her husband more than her children.

According to the book jacket and intro, which is about as much as I had time to read while Willow was scrubbing off the layers of weekend grime in the bathtub, “Bad Mother” is an exploration of the good mother/bad mother dichotomy, and more specifically, how it is impossible to be a “good mother” as it’s currently defined. That makes us all “bad mothers,” and sadly, it makes us all eager to find and judge other mothers as being even worse than ourselves.

But an interesting countertrend is evident as well, and you can see it in all the “confessional” mom blogs out there. Before I ever heard of Waldman’s book, I was getting e-mails from friends with links to these stories about other moms who forgot to buckle their 3-month-old into his car seat and drove across New Jersey, or who suddenly realize their child has eaten nothing but mac-n-cheese for a month, or who said a bad word not just in front of, but to, their preteen.

And these e-mails usually go something like: You think that’s bad? Just wait’ll you hear about the horrible thing I did.

It’s such a relief to me that we can share these stories and chip away at that whole “bad mother” judgement. After all, what mother hasn’t allowed her child to share a popsicle with the dog without saying a word, just because she desperately needed a moment of peace and quiet?

Not me. You?

- Tyler Christensen

No Comments »

It’s summertime, and school is out, and once again I find myself wondering: Where do all the children go when they are not in school? Day care? Baby sitters? Summer camps?

I pondered this as I read Sunday’s Missoulian story about how many summer camps are not seeing as many happy little campers this year. Camp operators suggested it was primarily due to a down economy. But those kids still have to go somewhere; they’re too young to be left at home all day by themselves, and every care option costs money.

Then I got an e-mail suggesting I pursue this line of thought a little more closely. “Now what about the families? Who’s watching the kids this summer? Are moms cutting back their work hours to be home more? Are laid-off dads making themselves useful by taking the kids on daily outings? Are there thousands of additional kids hanging around complaining of boredom?” The e-mail asked. “A lot of parents use summer camps to keep their kids busy while the parents work; most see summer camps as a way of enriching their kids’ lives. Kids often get a lot out of their camp experiences. But not this year? Not amid recessions and pandemics? Then what? I think this is something for momblogger to opine about.”

I took that as my cue to stop wondering and start poking into this. So I’ve been asking around, and so far, I’ve learned that the moms and dads I know with school-age children have made arrangement for their kids by hook or by crook. Nobody I know is cutting back their work hours, not in this uncertain economy, but several parents I know naturally see their work slow down in the summer months, and plan for child care accordingly.

This is all anecdotal, of course, but if you care to share your experience please drop me a line at oped@missoulian.com.

- Tyler Christensen

1 Comment »

That’s right, the night is nearly upon us – so if you haven’t made plans to attend what promises to be the biggest, funnest bash for moms since, well, the Mother’s Day Eve Bash last month, you should plan on it now!

The party this Saturday, June 27, at spectrUM marks the official launch of the Mamalode Web site. Mamalode is a Missoula-made magazine “for the whole mother,” as the tagline goes. The first free issue was birthed in May, and a second issue is expected to arrive before the year is out.

Publisher Elke Govertsen, who is also the driving force behind the annual Mother’s Day Eve Bash, sent me an e-mail update about the Web site launch party with these details: “We are going to mingle, watch a Mamalode promo video (8 min), get a tour of the website (8 min) and then screen the film “The Giving” that was reviewed in the magazine (17min). Then more mingling and margaritas.”

I tell you, the woman knows how to put on a party.

- Tyler Christensen

No Comments »

I may not be an expert on fatherhood, but I think four and a half years of close observation qualifies me to make an authoritative statement or two about fathers. And while I may not know exactly what it takes to be a great dad, I do know a great dad when I see one.

The guy who never once balked at changing a fetid diaper? That’s a great dad.

The man who got a twisted neck and far too little sleep for years because he opted to nap on an uncomfortable couch with a sleeping baby on his chest? A great dad.

The fisherman who makes sure his daughter catches not one, but two fish of her own before he ever reels one in? A great dad.

The world is full of really great dads, but like Connie Schultz says, our appreciation of them doesn’t always match our Father’s Day efforts. This Father’s Day, I hope all the great dads out there are told just what they mean to their families. This Father’s Day, I hope all the great dads of the world know that, to us, they really are the World’s Greatest Dad.

Especially this one.

- Tyler Christensen

No Comments »

A friend e-mailed a link to this video of a fast-talkin’ baby, and I’m sorry, but I just have to post it. I love babies.

I remember when Willow was just a wee one – it seems like yesterday – and she would make cute noises all day long. Between bouts of crying and screaming, that is.

And then her first words: “da da” and “coo coo” (for cookie) and then, out of the blue one day, “chickadee,” the name of our dog. You’d think “ma ma” would be so much easier to say than “chickadee,” wouldn’t you? Not in Willow’s world.

- Tyler Christensen

2 Comments »

Watson Children’s Shelter will be providing the public a rare opportunity to tour its building at 2901 Old Fort Missoula Road on Friday. The shelter provides a safe place for children whose families have fallen apart for whatever reasons.

In recent months, the shelter has seen an unprecedented increase in the number of children needing emergency shelter – but since Watson’s can only house 16 at a time, it has had to turn many children away. The shelter’s executive director, Fran Albrecht, has told me how this just breaks her heart, and renews her committment to building a second shelter.

So on June 19, from 2 to 4 p.m. folks can go down to Watson’s and see for themselves how the nonprofit help heal hurt children – as well as plan for the new shelter. While Watson’s has recently gotten some good news on the funding front, it’s going to take community support and community dollars to make this second shelter a reality.

For more information about Watson’s plans for a second shelter – and some gut-wrenching statistics, check out www.oneisntenough.com.

- Tyler Christensen

No Comments »

By the time we reached the trail, midway up the mountain, the night was black. No moon, no streetlights or porch lights, not a flashlight among us.

The little boys, a half-dozen of them, no more than 8 years old, huddled closer around. One grabbed my hand. Another whispered, “I don’t know if we should do this.” The others made not a sound.

“Trust me for just a minute, guys,” I assured my little Cub Scout den. “You’re really going to like this.”

Our quest: a nighttime hike on Mount Sentinel, less than 1,000 feet above the gravel pit, within shouting distance of my house. But all of those familiar sights and sounds had disappeared in the 10 minutes it took us to dash uphill. It was dark as could be, and I had six very frightened boys on my hands.

I grabbed a little piece of each one, a shirt, a hand, a finger, and started walking. “This is the trail we walk on all the time during the day,” I said. “It’s just dark. Be super quiet and something very cool will happen.”

We headed away from the canyon, toward the bend in the trail that would take us onto the face of Mount Sentinel. Gradually, our eyes adjusted to the darkness and our breathing quieted, keeping time with our slow march along the trail. Soon enough, still in the darkness above Pattee Canyon Drive, I whispered to the boys, “Stop. And look up on the hill.”

Sure enough, there above us on the hill were a half-dozen or more deer, their eyes the only clue to their presence. The night’s sentinels upon Mount Sentinel.

“Deer,” came the whispered announcement. “Lots of deer.”

“Cool, huh? Let’s keep going now.” Hands clutched my shirttails again, and we continued along the path, bound for that elusive bend.

When it came, and we curved onto the face of the mountain, the boys’ gasps were audible.

“We’re seeing something no one has ever seen before!” one announced.

“What is that?” another asked.

“It’s Missoula,” I said.

Their fears forgotten, the boys scurried along the trail, pointing out sights and “discovering” their town. Getting them to eventually turn around and head back for home was a struggle. This time, when we headed back into the darkness, no one held my hand.

Fact is, I soon “lost” the boys in the darkness.

That is, until they popped out of the trailside bushes and yelled, “Boo!”

I thought about that nighttime hike recently when an e-mail arrived from Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell, lamenting how little time children spend outdoors these days. My Cub Scouts are grown now; some are schoolteachers, some medical students, some businessmen. It was hard to believe that children had changed so much in two decades. And sad.

We ran Kimbell’s letter on the Missoulian’s Opinion page last week, hoping to help get children – and their parents – back outside. The more I thought about her words, the more I remembered the joy of sharing the outdoors with my children as they grew up: Going to Girl Scout camp at Stillwater Lake with my daughter, leeches and all! Building giant frontyard snow forts after the biggest snowfalls. Canoeing across Lake McDonald in a big, way-too-heavy canoe my dad and brother had built one winter long, long ago. Hiking to Grinnell Glacier and Hidden Lake and Avalanche Lake and the Ptarmigan tunnel, all in Glacier Park, and other just-as-wondrous trails across the border in Waterton Lakes.

All of which prompted me to write this overly long blog entry, cajoling anyone and everyone to get outside with their children or grandchildren or just their friends and neighbors. How else will we ever hear: “We’re seeing something no one has ever seen before!” And know, in our own special way, that it is true.

- Sherry Devlin

1 Comment »

Here’s a sweet story about two longtime educators retiring from Missoula County Public Schools. Caroline Pockolick is leaving Washington Middle School after 41 years in the Missoula school system, and George Sendon is leaving his post as Willard Alternative High School’s principal.

Also on Sunday, a report from the American Enterprise Institute gave Montana’s universities poor marks for graduation rates. According to the story, the study lists the University of Montana’s grad rate at a measly 42 percent, and Montana State University’s at 48 percent.

I also want to point out this opinion piece from U.S. Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell, urging folks to get their kids involved in National Get Outdoors Day this past Saturday. I can say we participated – the whole family went camping Saturday night, and we had a blast. Willow and the dogs played in the dirt, played in the water – heck, they even played with salmon flies – and got eaten by mosquitos despite the gallons of bug spray we used. Can’t wait to do it again!

- Tyler Christensen

No Comments »

First, we have Jane Bennett, who has been reassigned to Willard Alternative High School after six years at Hellgate.

Then, we have Chief Charlo Elementary School principal Mark Thane, who is leaving for an executive administration job with Missoula County Public Schools. Thane has been with Chief Charlo from the beginning, since 1995.

In both cases, I found the outpouring of support from students notable – and a direct reflection of the impact these educators have had on Missoula’s children.

- Tyler Christensen

No Comments »