April 2006

Publisher's Note: Don’t Worry, Wonder!

Welcome to Spring! April is always a great month to celebrate as the earth wakes up after a cold winter. Our 27th anniversary is this month, and it’s especially sweet and full of promise for us. This April birthday issue is our sixth issue under local ownership. All the promise and hope that we had in taking over the responsibility for these publications is coming to fruition, and we’re happy to continue to grow the magazines to bring you the information you need when you need it.

I coined a phrase years ago that helps me remember a productive way of approaching the world: Don’t worry – wonder! In person, you’d see me talking with my hands as I state the phrase. I strain to peer through an imaginary telescope to illustrate worry, and I hold my hands out palms-up to demonstrate what comes from wonder.

Last fall the opportunity presented itself to me to acquire Puget Sound Parent and Seattle’s Child and to keep these wonderful community traditions and services in place for you and future generations. It was especially important for me to remind myself, “don’t worry – wonder.”

Worry constricts our options because we don’t know where we will get what we need and we’re fearful that we won’t have enough. Wonder is an open, childlike approach in which we have faith that we will receive what we need, even if we don’t yet know where it will come from. That faith – where we’re convinced that certain things will be achieved – allows the universe, if you will, to present us with the resources to reach our goals.

Here’s what we visualized and wondered how we’d accomplish: In the past six months we’ve published six issues each of Puget Sound Parent and Seattle’s Child, as well as the Northwest Family Phonebook, Northwest Educator and Summer Learning and Fun Guide. Plus, we held our fall Education Fair and our spring Camp and Summer Fun Fair and our second annual Preschool Preview Night. And all of this without an office – flying by the seats of our pants!

In February we came home to a new Seattle office location and with this “grounding” we can grow our presence (presents?) to bring you even more information and resources that you have come to expect from us.

So, for us it’s time to celebrate! In this issue we present our annual focus on birthday parties. In line with our 2006 emphasis on physical fitness and nutrition, we’ve highlighted active birthday party ideas, but you’ll also find plenty of resources to bring magic, puppets, entertainment or crafts to your child’s celebration. In the Health Notes column, you’ll find ideas for more nutritious birthday snacks.

Nature inspires wonder in children, and in this issue you’ll find ideas for sparking that wonder in “Viewpoint” and “Parenting Coach” columns on sharing nature with children and in a feature story about the wonderful Tacoma Nature Center. And if all that outdoor time wears your children out, you can learn about the importance of sleep in our feature story on the new book “Sleepless in America: Is Your Child Misbehaving or Missing Sleep?

We’d like to thank the South Sound parenting community and the local businesses that sponsor these publications for six months of patience as we re-settled ourselves, as well as for the 27 years of commitment to our active presence in your lives. Please let us know the ways you’d like to see us support you – and, please let the advertisers in these issues know how much you appreciate them!

Don’t worry – wonder!

Linda Watson
Publisher

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Northwest Parent Media
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