FREE! TAKE ONE CENTRALPENNPARENT.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 FAMILY FOCUSED WARRING Growing pains: CAMPS? BOY Middle school SCOUTS VIE vs. K-8 FOR GIRL MEMBERS OLYMPIC DREAMS: MIDSTATE KIDS AND THEIR WINTER SPORTS Plus our Winter Fun guide! SAVE THE DATE FOR THE SATURDAY 10 AM 3 PM CAPITAL CITY MALL FEB. 3 CAMP HILL, CUMBERLAND COUNTY PLAN YOUR SUMMER WITH US! The one-stop shop of summer camps & summer jobs for kids o all ages. Free admission & free parking Exhibit + Sponsor Opportunities available! for the whole family! Call Parent at 717-323-5204 or [email protected] For more information, visit www.centralpennparent.com A Program of: Contact Olivia Berrigan | 717-323-5250 | [email protected] 2 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 | CENTRAL PENN PARENT CENTRAL PENN 1500 PAXTON ST., HARRISBURG, PA 17104 CENTRALPENNPARENT.COM | 717-236-4300 Editor s Note PUBLISHER, ShaunJude McCoach ' [email protected] As I write this, snow Now, I doubt my kids would partake in the is in the forecast. My cardboard grass sledding if we lived there still; kids are hoping school they’d seek bigger thrills than that. And up EDITORIAL will be cancelled, or at here, they find them. There’s snow tubing, ice EDITOR, Leslie Penkunas least delayed by two skating, skiing — and of course tons of great [email protected] hours. I’m picturing my back hallway, and hills for sledding. We highlight places to find ASSISTANT EDITORWEB, Josette Plank wishing we had a mudroom. frozen merriment — whether as a participant [email protected] or spectator — in our Winter Fun section. My son is at the age where he’d rather spend a EDITORIAL INTERN, Lindsay Garbacik snow day sleeping (certainly not shoveling our In February, South Korea will host the Winter drive, but that he does). My daughter, however, Games. Here in Central PA, there are kids still wakes up giddy, and regardless of passionately pursuing Olympic sports. We DESIGN conditions, will head outside to sled down our caught up with five to ask them about their hill. She’ll also traipse across the field behind love for their sport, how often they train, and SENIOR DESIGNER, Kady Weddle us to visit neighbors. It all leads to some very if they might be closing in on their dreams of AD DESIGNER, Jordan Mazuranic soggy clothes that will end up heaped in piles becoming future Olympians. running along our back hallway and in front of our laundry closet where the beleaguered While winter plays a starring role in this issue, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT dryer sits, waiting. it’s certainly not our only focus. In fact, we think now’s a great time to turn to thoughts MANAGER, Sherry Andersen Mittens, gloves, hats, scarves, socks, snow bibs of sun, sand and beach… and beyond. We COORDINATOR, Raquel Campbell and more will grace the floor, with puddles present a special travel section to help inspire of water adding to the mess as the snow and you to start planning your summer vacation ice coating the items begin to melt. I’d never now. ADVERTISING call myself a neat-freak, but this sight is PUBLISHER, ShaunJude McCoach sometimes more than I can stomach. At these There’s plenty more to read within these [email protected] moments, I long for Birmingham sledding. pages. So sit back, grab a hot cocoa and relax for a while. The piles of cold, wet outerwear Oh, sure, the Deep South has already gotten aren’t going anywhere. a rare wave of accumulating snow this 7 7 7 7 season, which most likely had kids in the neighborhood where we once lived trying Happy parenting! their luck sledding down the steep hills. But most probably didn’t have proper gear for Central Penn Parent is published 6 times a year by BridgeTower Media™, with that. In our five winters there, there wasn’t a a circulation of 25,000. Distribution of this publication does not constitute an saucer or blade sled to be found; cardboard endorsement of information, products or services. Central Penn Parent re- serves the right to reject any advertisement or listing which is not in keeping was the ride of choice. And those hills? They with the publication’s standards. Manuscripts and photographs, if they are to were “blanketed” with dormant Bermuda be returned, must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. grass. Perfectly dry. It’s amazing how well the Copyright 2017 by Central Penn Parent. Reproduction in whole or in part Leslie Penkunas | without permission is prohibited. Pick up your copy of Central Penn Parent cardboard-on-dried lawns worked. EDITOR the rst day of each month in more than 700 locations in Central PA! Libraries Book Stores Schools Children’s Retail Shops Daycare Centers Museums Pediatricians’ O­ces And so many more! Recreation Centers PUBLISHED BY MEMBER OF JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 | CENTRALPENNPARENT.COM 3 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 Contents 8 RELATIONSHIPS Rekindling romance after kids arrive 14 MIND ON HEALTH Raising resilient kids 22 KIDS & PETS 24 EDUCATION MATTERS Tackling the tough transition to middle school 26 PERSPECTIVES 8Features My internship at Central Penn Parent 6 WARRING TROOPS? 31 NEWS & NOTES Boy Scouts encroach upon Girl Scouts’ potential membership pool with new policy. 31 JANUARY & FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS! 11 OLYMPIC DREAMS Local kids pursing their passions. 32 ROLE MODELS A terrifi c fi rst grade teacher 15 WINTER FUN GUIDE 33 CALENDAR OF EVENTS With places to ski, snow tube and skate, a list of winter festivals, some fun outdoor crafts and more, it’s your cure for cabin fever! 28 SUMMER TRAVEL SECTION Beaches, mountains or Disney — it’s time to start planning. On the cover Figure skater Teah Banks, 10, and hockey player Gabby Snedeker, 11, at Twin Ponds East in Harrisburg. Photo by Kara Clouser of Conte Photography. Read more about Teah, Gabby and some other Midstate winter sport athletes in our cover feature, “Olympic Dreams,” starting on page 11. 4 JANUARY/FEBRUARY28 2018 | CENTRAL PENN PARENT Heart surgery at 4 days-old leads to a life of joy and celebration! Be inspired by Lilly at InspiredTogether.org/Lilly. CHI-11657-17-83286-1217 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 | CENTRALPENNPARENT.COM 5 EXTRACURRICULAR The Encroachment The Boy Scouts are admitting girls. What now? By Jake Miller For nearly 110 years, boys all across America have deal,” especially when her two older brothers were CEO of the Pennsylvania Dutch Council of the BSA, taken the Boy Scout Oath. Later this year, that will all Boy Scouts. Her parents seemed intent on having their covering Lancaster and Lebanon counties, believes change. In October 2017, the Boy Scouts of America three children involved at the same rate, so they enlist- that the draw for young girls to enter the Boy Scouts is (BSA) Board of Directors unanimously approved the ed her as a Cub Scout for several years “until she was that many families “are looking for one-stop shopping admittance of girls into its ranks. Beginning this year, kicked out by an official decree.” at the same location.” With parents’ busy schedules, girls will be able to enroll in the Cub Scout program; The BSA believes she was the first girl to enter its the change, he says, was “grassroots-driven.” additionally, programming will be provided for older ranks, and after the 2017 vote to include females, she girls so that they can advance and seek the highest won’t be the last. rank: that of the prestigious Eagle Scout. You’d think the decision would make Margot Gold- “Why break this tradition? My That leaves two lingering questions: Are the Boy stein (now her married name) a much happier camper, son is proud to have been a Scouts admitting females simply to increase their but as Time notes, the BSA decree states that “Cub membership by addressing a previously untapped 50 Scout dens will be single-gender even after girls are Boy Scout like his grandfather, percent of the population? And will girls take the Boy admitted in 2018.” Scout Oath? and my daughter is proud to Local reaction be a Girl Scout like her mother Bad blood? Georgia Smee of Swatara Township has plenty of According to the history-themed podcast Backstory, experience as a Scout. She was a Girl Scout for four leaders of the Boy Scouts sued the Girl Scouts of the years, and then became involved again when her older and grandmother.” USA back in 1920 over the usage of the term “scout.” boys needed Boy Scout leaders. She also led her god- That view is shared by Ron Gardner, Scout Execu- Though the case proved unsuccessful for the older, daughter’s Brownie troop. She appreciates what “both tive and CEO of the New Birth of Freedom Council of boy-based organization, it did offer the first sword- organizations” do, helping them “learn new skills, be the BSA, covering Adams and York counties. He says swipe at its all-female counterpart. around other boys or girls their own age, and learn he doesn’t see his organization competing with the Seventy-one years later, third-grader Margot leadership.” Girl Scouts for the same clientele. “This is not a bat- Mankes sued the Boy Scouts of America for the right Local Boy Scout leaders interviewed for this article tle,” he states. “Market research told us that about 90 to become a Boy Scout. Time Magazine reports that recognize that there are plenty of questions moving percent of families currently not involved in Scouting Mankes “didn’t understand why it was such a big forward. Still, Matthew Adams, Scout Executive and are interested in a program designed like the one we 6 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 | CENTRAL PENN PARENT arena, the honor seems to be celebrated more widely.