Creating Family Traditions From Irene Wagner Inside this issue ...

Co-Op
COMMUNITY
NEWS
DECEMBER
2011
Creating Family Traditions From Irene Wagner
Structure, repe22on and rituals are
vital to toddlers and preschoolers.
Tradi2ons solidify the family unit and
ground the child. “This is who I am
And what I do”. Tradi2ons also give
children something to hold onto
whenever their world feels shaky. As
we know family rituals or tradi2ons are
important and, at the same 2me are
challenging to implement with families
being busier than ever before.
One of the best stabilizing tradi2ons is
the family meal. This helps to provide a
secure, predictable tradi2on in which
you spend 2me together as a family. It
is a 2me when family members can talk
about how the day has gone for each of
them. Discussions and sharing can
lorem ipsum dolor met set
occur. Family values of taking turns and
usingquam good manners nunc parum can be prac2ced.
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It is oFen the liGle things that children
remember and count on. Some
examples are: family game night, family
pizza night and bed2me stories. Some
families have rituals as simple as
special words shared at bed2me.
Tradi2ons can also help to ease
transi2ons. A parent may sing the
marching song as she and her toddler
walk from the house to the car. A
special aFer-­‐school snack or dinner
may be prepared on the first day of
school.
As your children grow, some tradi2ons
may no longer work. This provides the
opportunity to establish new tradi2ons.
This can be a collabora2on with family
members, including the children,
sharing their ideas for a new tradi2on.
Think about what purpose you want
the tradi2on to serve, be crea2ve and
design something that easily fits into
your lifestyle. Since tradi2ons are
repeated, keep them simple so that
they are sustainable.
RESOURCES
Beth Herrild, www.quesSorbalance.net
New Tradi2ons: Redefining
Celebra2ons for Today’s Family
By Susan Abel Lieberman
The Surprising Power of Family Meals:
How Ea2ng Together Makes Us
Please submit photos for future newsletters
to: aschlameus@gmail.com
Support Our Coops
Please remember to send out
a letter to Washington state
legislators to support
Community Colleges/Parent
Education programs, based
on the PAC sample letter.
Inside this issue:
Creating Family Traditions 1
Calendar & Parent Ed Art. 2
PAC Lecture Update, and SPS
Registration Dates 3
Indoor Activity Article 5
Feb PAC Lecture Flier 6
Preschool Fair & Fundraising 7
Smarter, Stronger, Healthier and
Happier, by Miriam Weinstein

CALENDAR
December
12 PAC Meeting
19 School Out - Winter Break
January
3 School Back - Winter Break
9 PAC Meeting
30 UW Bookstore PAC
Fundraiser Starts
31 Pre-enrollment for
kindergarten ends
February
5 Last Day of UW Bookstore
PAC Fundraiser
9 PAC Lecture by Amy Lang
13 PAC Meeting
20 Presidents Day (no school)
21-24 Mid-Winter Break (no
school)
27 Open Enrollment for
2012-13 School Year starts
In Store AND Online
University of
Washington Book Store
Fundraiser
January 30 - Feb 5,
2012, the UW Book
Store will donate 15%
of all purchases either
in store or online to
PAC scholarships
A Gift that Lasts a Lifetime
By: NSCC Parent Ed Instructor Betty Williams
How many gifts will your child get that hold her/his attention for long or
provide much learning benefit? For a gift that gives much to your child’s
future, suggest to relatives and friends that they donate to a college fund.
My parents provided regular contributions which I used to start both a GET
fund (Guaranteed Education Tuition – the WA state 529 program) and an
Education IRA. Both of these have been extremely helpful to have now that
we are paying for my daughter, Jessica, to attend college. The only good
thing about how much tuition has risen at state colleges is that the value of
the GET fund has grown along with it. The fund applies to any college or
university that accepts federal financial aid. Jessica is using the funds to
attend Lewis & Clark College, a private college in Portland, Oregon. The
value is the same, whether your child attends a public or private school, and
is based on the tuition at Washington’s most expensive public university,
either the University of Washington or
Washington State University.
For more information look at their
website: www.get.wa.gov
For information on a toy guide to
share that promotes "Toys & Gifts that
promote learning" please look at this
site: http://www.truceteachers.org/
guides.htm
Mark Your Calendars,
Coop Registration Dates
for 2012-2013 are Here!
March 8: Priority
Registration Period ends,
assignments March 9
March 22: Cross-over
Registration Period ends,
assignments March 23
March 31: Open
Registration begins
CO-OP Openings!
Infants
North Seattle (Tues)
Toddlers
Broadview
Northgate (Wed Eve)
NSCC (Wed 3-5p)
Olympic
Victory Heights
Pre 3’s
Broadview
Meadowbrook
Northgate Multi-Age (2-5s)
3-5’s
Broadview
Crown Hill (AM & PM)
Latona
Meadowbrook
Northgate Multi-Age (2-5s)
Multi-Age & 5’s
Meadowbrook 5’s
Northgate Multi-Age (2-5s)
Not sure where to send a potential
new coop member that needs help
navigating what coop to become a
part of?
A general contact email address has
been created:
coops.northseattle@gmail.com

First PAC Lecture, a Success by: Peggy Bourlier
On a stormy November evening more than one hundred people
turned out for the first presentation in our PAC Lecture series,
"Creating Healthy Families by Putting Yourself and Your
Relationships First." The speaker, Melissa Benaroya, based her
presentation on the works of Drs. John and Julie Gottman, who
developed the idea of the Sound Relationship House in which
they prove that through simple steps people can strengthen their
relationships and meaningfully connect with their partners and
children. Benaroya's energetic and engaging presentation
introduced participants to the concepts of setting healthy
priorities, building an emotional bank account with a partner,
making bids within a relationship, and expressing your needs.
Parents throughout the room contrasted the reality of how they
schedule their lives with the ideal of how they would like to
manage and prioritize their time.
With humor and great understanding of the life of a parent,
Benaroya then discussed the concept of how to build an
emotional bank account with a partner that would serve as a
safety net for a couple during times of stress or difficulty. She also
illustrated the idea of how we are all constantly making bids for
attention within our relationships, both consciously and
unconsciously, and how we as partners have a choice how we
respond to those bids. I certainly recognized myself in many of
her examples, and judging from the laughter and nodding so did
many other attendees. Benaroya explained how Gottman
identified the "masters" and "disasters" of relationships, citing that
the masters had five positive interactions with their partner for
every one negative interaction. The disasters had the opposite
pattern.
While as busy frazzled parents it is easy to get overwhelmed by
the daily demands and push your own needs and your adult
relationships aside, Benaroya showed that building a sound
relationship is not magic and that simple, achievable steps can
make a big difference. Her take home messages for the evening
were as follows: always put your own oxygen mask on first (in other
words, you can not take care of others if you aren't taking care of
yourself), small things often make a difference, you always have a
choice in how you react or behave, and children's behaviors are
often bids for attention. While I can not say that I always follow
these guidelines or even come close, Melissa Benaroya's
presentation helped me examine my own behavior in a new light
and inspired me to at least start trying to build up that bank account
in our own home.
Collect Your Used
Parenting AND
Children’s Books
Let's continue to collect our used
children or parenting books to sell
at the PAC lectures. If you have any
gently used books you'd like to
donate, please contact your PAC
representative.
Book Club
Enrique's Journey is true story,
written by Sonia Nazario, about a
Honduran boy who travels to the
United States to find his mother who
is working illegally in North
Carolina.
For more information about being a
part of the NSCC Book Club go
here: http://
libguides.northseattle.edu/
Check out NSCC Resources:
Emergency Assistance
Helps students in emergency
situations receive financial aid with
tuition, books and personal
expenses..
https://northseattle.edu/types-aid
Workforce Education
Assists students who need basic
skills and/or specific job training to
prepare to reenter the work force.
https://northseattle.edu/workforceeduction
Important Dates for Enrollment
for Seattle Public Schools
now-1/31: Pre-Enrollment. Everyone
should try to pre-enroll, even if you want
to attend a school other than your
attendance area school. To apply for a
school other than your attendance area
school, you will need to complete a
school choice application (available Feb
27, 2012), in addition to the preenrollment
forms.
2/27-3/9: Open Enrollment
2/27: School Choice forms available
3/22: Crossover period ends

The Great Indoors for Seattle Toddlers
Excerpt taken from Kali Sakai’s blog post on her blog “Evidently”
To live in Seattle, is to accept that it rains a lot and going outside nine months of the year requires bundling up and/
or precautions to keep dry. As an adult, you can go one way or the other: become an outdoor-loving mossback or
just embrace your inner-hermit and take refuge inside. I am the latter at heart which clearly disappoints my hikingfiend
of a father.
But with kids, you don't want to be an extreme of one or the other. However, the weather is beginning to turn so
that means caregivers of small children have to load up their arsenal of potential places to take stir-crazy kids.
Here are my favorite indoor destinations for Toddlers (in random order):
Third Place Commons (Lake Forest Park): I wrote up a profile on this place on Red Tricycle earlier this year. Food Court, play area,
bookstore, super cool community space with a unique vibe. And a photo booth.
Nurturing Pathways (Phinney Ridge): We have done this dance and movement class for 3-4 sessions and love the connections between
movement and brain development that the instructor discusses as we do fun, interesting activities. I suggest the class at Phinney Ridge taught
by Christine, the founder.
Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center (Ravenna): Great indoor tot play room that is big with lots of cars, trikes, toys and things to do plus a
fantastic outdoor play area if the weather's nice. Tot room has a schedule and costs $2/kid to enter.
Twirl Cafe (Queen Anne): Pay-to-play space with food. A good option when not wanting to stay central to the city.
Vios Cafe (Capitol Hill): Greek Restaurant and one of the best indoor play areas I've ever seen in an eatery.
Mosaic Coffeehouse (Wallingford): In the basement of a church with it's own separate entrance. Large, well-equipped play area. Food/drink
is a pay-what-you-want set up.
Children's Museum (Queen Anne): We have never been personally but we know plenty of parents who love this place.
Woodland Park Zoo/Zoomazium (Phinney Ridge): The zoo plus an indoor play area dedicated to smaller kids with lots of programs, activities
and live presentations with animals.
Kids Quest Museum (Factoria): We made the trek to the Eastside for this. A little spendy but totally worth it. So much to do and see--very
unique. Get there early.
Shoreline Library Storytime (Shoreline): Definitely a drive but it is hands down the best story time we've been to. Songs, interaction, take
home papers with letter of the day, music. And it's FREE.
Central Market (Shoreline): They have mini-carts that the kids can push. A fun, interesting place to roam around in with live crab & lobster
tanks, a huge salad bar and hot lunch options. While you're there, pick up groceries or stuff for dinner. Two-fer!
Seattle Aquarium (Waterfront): We received a membership as a gift and we make the most of it. They have a program called Toddler
Time that does activities just for kids under 5 years.
Om Kids Play Gym (Wallingford): This has been recommended to us but we have yet to go. Looks like a playspace with things and instructors
to interact with. Have heard from two sources that it's pretty cool.
Issaquah Community Center (Issaquah): Toddler (1-3 years) indoor playground (8am-Noon weekdays) with lots of trikes, cars and active toys
for $2/kid.
Additional activities include, but are not limited to:
- Gymboree & Little Gym
- Community Centers (pools, music, signing, dance, sports, gymnastics, open gym time, seasonal activities) http://www.seattle.gov/parks/
centers.asp
- Parent & Baby Yoga: example - http://www.seattleholisticcenter.com/
- Stroller Strides
- Seattle Public Library Story Times
- The Seattle Art Museum
- Jamtown Music Center (first class is free)

Give the Gift of
Coop
Any donation small or
large is welcome this
holiday season. Donate
your taxable donation by
mailing your check, made
out to PAC, with
Scholarship Fund on the
memo line, to:
NSCC Parent Ed Program;
Attention PAC Treasurer;
9600 College Way North;
Seattle WA 98103.
Or by participating in the
iGive program (see
below).
Contact Us
Web Master
Carlos Mossman
Email website updates to:
coop.webmaster@gmail.com
Editor
Ali Schlameus
E-mail Submissions & photographs to:
aschlameus@gmail.com
NSCC Cooperative Preschool Program
206-527-3783
(NSCC Parent Ed Office)
www.northseattlecoops.org
January Preschool Fairs
Parent Map's 2012 Preschool
Preview -­‐ North SeaGle/Shoreline
Date: Tuesday, January 10th
Time: 5:00 pm -­‐ 8:00 pm
Where: Shoreline Community
College
MOMS Club of SeaGle -­‐ NW 2012
Preschool Fair
Date: Saturday, January 21st
Time: 10:00 am -­‐ 12:00 pm
Where: The Family Center at St.
Alphonsus, 5816 15th Avenue
NW
We'll have a table at both fairs to
promote our coops. Please consider
volunteering-­‐-­‐it's a great way to get
the word out about our wonderful
community.