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Just imagine! OK, yeah, an over-used expression. But is your imagination getting the workout it needs? Are you as playful as you could be? And do you parent to bring out the best in your child's imagination? Should that even matter? It won't get 'em into a good college. Or will it? Turns out, imagination goes a long way towards success, in school and in life. Find out why in this month's feature, "Why imagination matters."
Then, while you're thinkin' about thinkin', spare a thought for stress levels, too. New mom? Take time for yourself - it's crucial! Kid having an awful time at school? Could be a class mis-match Also this month - scare up some Halloween fun at Seattle's weirdest museum.
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NEW FEATURE:
View our entire October issue online, cover-to-cover: Seattle, Eastside, Snohomish, and South Sound editions.
Getting School Ready: Ready for launch? Handling senior-year stress Out & About:
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Feature: Why imagination matters Media: This month's featured media Regulars: Online only:
From our Readers: Letters to the Editor |
About this issue
A slice of humble pie
I get my nails done annually in a sleepy strip mall in depressed Michigan City, Indiana, where our family congregates each summer. I look forward to talking with John, the heavily accented Vietnamese owner, regardless of his chain smoking, long, scraggly nails, and out-of-control chin hairs. I check in on his daughter, now 15. “Is she a good student?” I ask. “Yes,” John whispers. “Perhaps she could get into Indiana Univeristy?” I add, thinking about how much my eldest had wanted to go there. John mumbles with absolute conviction, “Harvard.”
Paradigm shift for me! I leave well-manicured, eager to share the story with my three kids. John had to first imagine a world of endless possibility for his daughter — or at the very least, encourage her dreams.
I had just read an advance copy of Imagination First (“Why imagination matters”) by luminaries Eric Liu and Scott Noppe-Brandon, and John’s story had me mesmerized. This dad, unlike one of the opening vignettes in which a father quashes his daughter’s dream to become an astronaut, is leading the way in “what if?” John told me how he takes his honor student daughter to every concert she wants to go to in nearby Chicago. How can he afford it? I wondered, since I can’t figure out how this guy puts food on the table. The answer is simple ingenuity: He buys five tickets on Ebay, then sells three to cover their ticket and travel expenses.
Join ParentMap as we learn more about infusing our lives with more play and imagination from Imagination First authors Liu and Noppe-Brandon on Oct. 16 at Seattle’s first Imagination Conversation.
Seattle should lead in the area of imagination, given our vital and talented populace. So it’s no stretch of the imagination to see why so many Seattle-area parents are up in arms over the proposal to lower graduation requirements to a “D” average. Wherever you live, we want to hear your thoughts on this subject on our blog.
Skip the usual trick-or-treat scene and grab your bigger kids for a ghostly dose of history. The Haunted Lock-in at the Museum of the Mysteries is “part mystery, part science, part history,” and all fun!
— Alayne Sulkin, Publisher/Editor
