community

How to Start Composting with Your Family

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 12 Comments

How to Start Composting with Your Family (Photo: Tumbling composter)

Sometimes, I question the decision to teach my four-year-old how to compost. Like when he spent 10 minutes today ripping up a tiny piece of newspaper to add to it. Or touched the composter after I turned it and it was dripping with decomposing goo. Thankfully, he didn’t put his hands in his mouth. At least not this time.

Despite the gross moments, composting with kids is worth it. As a way to reduce waste and save money, it’s a worthwhile skill in and of itself. It’s also a pathway into so many other lessons in ecology, food waste, and biological cycles.

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In Defense of Adults Playing PokemonGo

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 1 Comment

In Defense of Adults who Play PokemonGo.jpg

Some people just hate fun. At least that’s the impression I get from all of the “I have better things to do than Pokemon” posts on social media. But these people are far sillier than the game they’re making fun of.

Play is a fundamental part of human life. It’s the most important for children, who are seriously suffering from a decline in the hours spent in play over the last few decades. But it’s essential for adults as well. In The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin reports that people who make time to have fun are 20 times happier than those who don’t. Play sparks creativity, provides relaxation, and perhaps most importantly, brings joy.

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Finding Hope in Dark Times

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 2 Comments

Finding Hope in Dark Times

Trigger Warning: Orlando mass shooting, homophobia, Islamophobia

In the wake of the Orlando mass shooting, it’s hard to maintain hope and not fall into despair. But despair paralyzes. Despair too often makes it about our emotional reaction rather than the victims’ or their families. Despair is unsustainable. In contrast, hope inspires and motivates.

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve seen about maintaining hope is from beloved children’s presenter Mr. Rogers. “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” While I had heard the quote before, I was reminded of it by fellow blogger Alana at Parenting From the Heart in response to the Orlando shooting.

With so many bad things in the local and national news, looking for the helpers provides a place to plant your feet.

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Resources for Family Biking and Biking with Kids

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 2 Comments

The Best Resources for Family Biking and Biking with Kids (Photo: Group of families with their bikes)

 

My son and his cherry-red bike loops around the park, over and over again. There’s not really anything exciting about the park, just following a narrow path along some grass, ducking behind the building with the bathrooms, twisting through the playground, and cruising by the pavilion. But he’s riding it as if it’s the Tour de France, pedaling his heart out with the joy of biking.

While we haven’t quite graduated to the road, I love how clearly he is in love with biking. As a kid who loved biking with my parents and a mom who finds freedom on the bike, few things could make me happier.

But I haven’t built his love of biking by myself. I’ve definitely had some help from the family biking community, a world-wide group of parents who love to bike and want to pass it on to their kids. Whether you want to know the best way to carry your kid on your bike or the best bike to purchase for your kid, here are some great places to get started:

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They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love: Embodying Community

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 1 Comment

They Will Know We Are Christians by our Love_ Embodying Community

As I wrote about back in November, my church is going through a significant transition. While I seriously thought we wouldn’t continue on, a few members have really kept things afloat. During the time we’ve been looking for a pastor, we’ve had a series of guest speakers. Because our usual organizer, Jan, was going to be at her husband’s high school reunion last Sunday, she asked me to organize the service. Here’s the sermon I gave, based on the passages Acts 4:32-35 and Romans 12:14-16. 

Finding true community is rare. Finding true Christian community is even rarer.

I found true Christian community in college, when I broke bread in the cafeteria with my friends and my hall mates of different denominations gathered on Sunday evening fouir prayers.

I found it in rural Maine, when Chris and I lived on a cooperative farm. We gathered each morning for bagels and to recite St. Francis’ prayer before serving those who suffer most.

But those were unusual circumstances. Those supposedly aren’t situations that you can find in ordinary “adult” life.

In fact, an otherwise wise person – a priest – told me I wasn’t going to find a church like those places.

And yet I have – here.

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Bike Month: Family Bike Profiles, Kristen Bonkoski

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 2 Comments

Family Biking Profile_ Kristen Bonkoski, Rascal Rides

May was Bike Month! Although it’s now June, I’m finally wrapping up my Family Bike interviews because I got so many responses from awesome people. Over the course of five weeks, I profiled Kathleen from Portland, Stacy from Buffalo, NY, Kate from D.C., Leanne from D.C., Sarah from Chicago and Mike from Fairfax, VA. Keep an eye out for a final post on the best family biking resources I know of.

This final profile is of Kristen Bonkoski, who lives in Salt Lake City, UT with her husband and son. She and her husband run the website Rascal Rides, which has the goal of #morekidsonbikes. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Bike Month: Family Biking Mini-Profiles, Sarah Sparks Floyd and Mike Essig

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 3 Comments

Bike Month_Family Biking Mini-Profiles

Today is the last day of May, which is National Bike Month! To celebrate, I profiled a number of awesome families who bike with their kids for transportation and recreation. So far, I’ve interviewed Kathleen from Portland, Stacy from Buffalo, NY, Kate from D.C., and Leanne from D.C. I planned on running one profile a week, but I actually received too many responses for the five weeks of the month! So I’ve got two shorter ones today and one final one later in the week. 

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Family Biking Profiles: Kathleen Youell

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 4 Comments

Family Biking Profiles_ Kathleen Youell-2

May is National Bike Month! To celebrate, I’ll be profiling some awesome families who bike with their kids for transportation and recreation. Later on, I’ll also highlight some excellent resources for family biking.

Here’s the fourth of my Bike Month family biking profiles, following Leanne, Kate, and Stacy. This interview comes courtesy of Kathleen Youell, who lives in the bike utopia of Inner SE Portland, OR. (If only we were all so lucky!) She has two children, a son who is almost eleven and a daughter who recently turned nine. While her family is originally from Sacramento, they moved to Oregon about eight years ago. She runs portlandize.com, tweets @kyouell and is one of the administrators of the PDX Cargo Bike Gang Facebook group.

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