Today’s Missoulian carries the news that the Missoula Breastfeeding Coalition has signed on 100 local businesses to its campaign. This means that these businesses, which sport a sticker identifying themselves as “breastfeeding friendly,” support the goals of the coalition and the Missoula City-County Health Department in providing an encouraging environment to breastfeeding moms and their babies.

As the comments posted with this story online illustrate, this support is badly needed. I’m always a bit taken aback by the level of scorn heaped upon breastfeeding moms. These women have to decide for themselves and their children what age is best to stop breastfeeding, what level of modesty is called for in a particular situation and how to go about the delicate business of feeding a baby in a public place.

Kudos to the Breastfeeding 100, as I hereby dub them, for being among the first businesses in Missoula to officially declare their awareness of this reality.

- MM

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Photo by MICHAEL GALLACHER/Missoulian

Praise for the long-awaited playground equipment at Pineview Park near Rattlesnake Elementary School keeps pouring in. Praise and – well, not criticisms, exactly. More like concerns.

My family recently had a chance to check out the new playground, which includes more traditional equipment like a slide and swing set in addition to the fancy space-age climbing stuff pictured in this post.

Also, the playground now has a lot of things that spin in circles, but most of them seemed aimed at kids older than my 5-year-old. The “sit-and-spins,” as I overheard one parent dub them, were certainly too intimidating for my fearless daughter, although I did see a slightly younger boy use one with no trouble.

The new playground has inspired a lot of discussion in my neighborhood. One neighbor told me that while her family really likes the new playground, it does not seem to be set up in a way that encourages group play. But all in all, the playground seems popular and Pineview is an even more fun place to hang out because of it.

Anyway, what with the ongoing discussion and comparisons of playgrounds sparked by Pineview, I’m thinking it might be a good idea to pay a visit to various playgrounds in the area and post periodic reviews of them here, on Missoulamom.com. I’m no playground expert by any means (the outdoor rec equipment of my childhood consisted of rocks, sticks and Devil’s Club), but I can tell when kids are having fun – and that’s the hallmark of any good playground, right?

- MM

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A teddy bear picnic at a pizza garden? This isn’t some childhood fantasy – it’s real life.

Or at least, it will be at noon, when the Children’s Museum will host a group of kiddos (and their favorite teddy bears) at the Western Montana Fairgrounds’ pizza garden (located near the hockey rink). The pizza garden is a pizza-shaped garden filled with living plants that grow good toppings for pizza – plants like garlic, tomatoes and herbs.

It’s a gardening opportunity and a picnic opportunity. If you don’t have any lunch plans, pack up a sack lunch and the kids.

And if you happen to drive by the festivities – don’t worry, you’re not hallucinating.

- MM

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Whenever I start to doubt my standing as a Good Parent, I just remind myself that I have duly kept every appointment to let near-strangers stick my helpless little girl with sharp objects.

Yes, I am one of those people who really, really does not like needles. I don’t want them anywhere near me, and I most certainly do not want them anywhere near my child. Nevertheless, needles are what we use to immunize our children against a host of life-threatening viruses. And rubella, diphtheria and polio are far worse than the two-second pain of a shot.

Unfortunately, it seems too many Montana parents are letting their fear of needles override their common sense. Our state ranks dead last in the nation for its rate of childhood immunizations. Only 59 percent of Montana children have completed the schedule of immunizations recommended for their age.

The state Department of Public Health and Human Services is working to improve this by collaborating with local health departments and private providers to better track children whose vaccinations are not current and help remind their parents to get those shots lined up.

More immunization info is available on the state’s website. It’s especially important that children who will enter public school in the fall get those vaccinations taken care of pronto.

This includes my daughter. Willow starts kindergarten in the fall and thus needed to get caught up on her immunizations. This meant a recent trip to the doctor’s office and three needles – two in one thigh and one in the other. Talk about traumatic – for me.

Willow, though, apparently understood the need for the shots.  As we were leaving the doctor’s office, with still-teary eyes, my sweet (and exceedingly polite) little girl called down the hall to the nurses who administered the vaccinations,  “Thank you for my healthiness!”

- MM

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This incredible photo in the Missoulian made my whole family crazy this morning.

Willow was captivated by the tiny triplets and described each in detail: “This fawn is ready to go to sleep. This fawn is getting a drink. This fawn is kissin’ its mama.”

For our part, my husband and I couldn’t stop saying “Fawns on the lawn. Fawns on the lawn. Fawns on the lawn.”

I think we’re all a little giddy with spring/summer.

- MM

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Missoula Community Access Television and Raptors of the Rockies are teaming up to offer a week-long afternoon camp for kids called “Wild Shots.”

The public service announcement says that “Campers will learn how to use digital cameras, both still and video. Computer editing and the use of a television studio is also available. Hands on training, building teamwork, lead up to a public screening and live television show on the last day of camp cablecast to more than 17,000 Missoula households on MCAT’s Channel 7.”

The camp, geared for ages 9 to 13, meets from 1:15 – 5:45 p.m. Monday through Friday, June 21-25. On Wednesday, the kids will meet at 10:30 a.m. to visit the Raptor Ranch and then spend the afternoon filming eagles, hawks, falcons and owls.

Cost is $100, and includes a year-long MCAT membership. Call (406) 542-6228 or send an e-mail to mcat@mcat.org for more information or to sign up.

- MM

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Watson Children’s Shelter is the emergency shelter for children who have been removed from their families, usually because of drugs, domestic violence or other problems no kid should be exposed to.

As most Missoulians are aware by now, the shelter is nearing the finish line for its capital campaign to raise money for a new building. The shelter can only take so many kids at a time, and has had to turn some children away in the past. The new shelter is being planned to make sure that doesn’t happen in the future.

This morning I got a press release from Missoula Baskin Robbins owner Matt Loomis, who announced that his ice cream store on Brooks Street will be hosting its first-ever Watson Children’s Shelter Night on Monday, June 28 from 5-10 p.m. On that night, the store will donate 100 percent of its profits to Watson’s.

This will be the first time I’ve ever marked my calendar to visit an ice-cream store.

- MM

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Kids love to play with swords. When I was a little girl my sister and I would swish wrapping-paper tubes at each other, and now I find myself reminding my own daughter several times in an afternoon that the dogs are only interested in the sticks she’s waving around because they are hoping for a game of fetch.

Why do kids love swords? Don’t ask me – that’s a question for the Missoula Youth Fencing Association, which just this morning sent me the following public service announcement about its upcoming summer camps.

- MM

Summer Fencing Camps Beginning Soon

Looking for something fun and different for the kids this summer? The Missoula Youth Fencing Association (MYFA) is offering a full slate of summer fencing camps for ages 5 and up.

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Every year, the Muscular Dystrophy Association coordinates more than 5,000 volunteers to give more than 4,300 young campers an unforgettable camp experience – for free.

Right now, the MDA is looking for volunteers age 16 years or older – “able to lift and care for a young person between the ages of 6 and 17″ – according to a recent MDA news release.

Admittedly, I paused over the image of a 16-year-old volunteer lifting a 17-year-old camper, but this statement by MDA President and CEO Gerald C. Weinberg got me back on track again:

“MDA summer camp is an incredibly valuable experience for the young people we serve. It’s a week during which they build confidence and independence, and participate in a full range of activities that often aren’t accessible to them.”

While the summer camp is touted as a life-changing experience for campers, the release says that volunteers can expect to gain something priceless too.

The primary responsibility of each volunteer camp counselor is to act as a companion to a camper who has a muscle disease. This means helping campers eat, bathe and dress, plus the fun stuff like arts and crafts, fishing and horseback riding.

The MDA is in the middle of gathering enough volunteers to run its upcoming summer camp at Camp Paxson in Missoula from July 5-12.

For more information or to get a volunteer application, call (406) 655-9000 or visit www.mda.org/clinics/camp.

- MM

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“No child left inside.”

That’s the lettering on the bottom of the new Montana license plates designed by state painter Jamie Hoffman. According to today’s Missoulian story, money raised from the sale of the plates will help the National Wildlife Federation run programs that encourage kids to get outdoors.

“We just want kids to spend more time outside, even if that’s just walking down the street,” Susan Scaggs, manager of operations for the National Wildlife Federation’s regional cent in Missoula, says in the story.

For each plate sold, $20 will be given to the organization for its kids programs in Montana – including the Great American Backyard Campout later this month. That’s taking place June 26-27 at Travelers’ Rest State Park near Lolo. For more info, call Missoula Parks and Rec at 721-7275 or check out the website.

- MM

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