Local election

Consider running for council

I would like to call attention to the other election. I am asking Islanders to take their attention off the engrossing national campaigns for a bit and consider the election we are having on our Island.

Every two years, we elect all nine members of the Vashon Island Community Council. While theoretically we each have a say in how we run our federal government, we each have a much more direct influence on how we are governed on a local level.

Granted that the community council is an unofficial governmental body, in practice it has been able to greatly influence how King County deals with Vashon.

Any perusal of The Beachcomber’s back issues will produce numerous examples of the county paying attention to us — everything from matters of zoning to public safety to preserving Maury Island intact.

If you have been pondering running for one of the slots, I can tell you from personal experience that serving on the council is a very rewarding experience. Not only do you get to work with some great people, but you have the gratification of knowing that you are helping steer Island affairs for the benefit of Vashon today and for its future.

Filing for office closes this Friday, Sept. 26. Call a member of the community council’s nominating committee: Yvonne Kuperberg at 567-4005, Lee Ockinga at 370-0709 or Kari Ulatoski at 567-0587. I look forward to seeing your name on the ballot.

— Jennie Hodgson

Parenting

It’s parents who help kids succeed

Having sent two daughters off to school on the local bus here on Vashon many years ago, I felt some empathy for Sam Collins (“More funding is needed for youngest residents,” Sept. 17).

However, I couldn’t feel Sam’s same level of stress because of the way my wife and I raised our children. Here are a few tips. Hopefully they will provide some relief for the next generation of stressed-out Island parents.

• Plan ahead. This means that when you decide to have children, you may actually have to alter your lifestyle and cut back to save money for the future.

• Set realistic priorities. In this case, the priorities should be for the benefit of the child, not the parent. It may mean a one-income family until the child reaches age 5.

• Put yourself in the child’s shoes. Children gravitate to their parents. They would rather spend time with their own parents. I doubt if many kids have ever said they wanted more time away from their comfortable home and their parents. Parents are not equaled by nannies, babysitters, grandmas or total strangers in a generic day-care facility.

• Analyze the statistics carefully. As an educator, I read and analyze volumes of statistics. I agree with Sam and don’t dispute the need for early intervention services for children with special needs and unique circumstances. I do not agree, however, that the government should take over daily parenting activities, especially in the zero-to-2 age range. That can be better done by a child’s own parents who know the child’s specific needs.

• Don’t worry like Sam when he says, “As I send my daughter off to school I cannot help but wonder if I have given her the great start that research indicates is so critical to her success.” I never worried because my wife and I provided the bulk of that great start. We then handed our kids off to great teachers who built kind young citizens from our own family foundation.

Parenting is the most important job and its responsibilities, joys and sorrows should not be passed onto others. It is not public funds that make children successful but the personal investment by their parents.

— Steven Nourse, PhD.

Teens

We need you to be tough, creative

I want to respond to Gianna Andrews and Avalon Koenig’s thoughtful column about what summer on Vashon is like for them as teens (“When school’s out, boredom sets in for many Island teens,” Sept. 17).

They were concerned about the lack of things to do on the Island in summer and how hard it is to get to the city. They said the Island can be like a prison in the summer, and how wonderful it would be if us adults would help them raise money for a bowling alley.

I read their piece in the context of this week’s news about bank failures and against the greater backdrop of resourse depletion. It is my belief that we are in a period of unprecedented historical change. In this light, Gianna and Avalon’s column seemed, well, ironic.

I view teenagers as one of our most important resources. They are strong, creative, impassioned and capable of performing highly skilled jobs. Here are a few summer ideas that come to my mind.

Since gas prices will only go up in the future, start a bike club. The kids who start it could get trained in bike repair and in turn train others how to maintain their bikes. Then organize races, like the “Tour de Vashon.” Create routes, explore Seattle trails and never worry about breaking down.

Start a Vashon pea-patch and sell at the farmers market. Start a long-distance, Puget Sound swim group. Build a small building. (You don’t need a permit if it’s under 12-by-12 feet.)

Pool your money to start micro-businesses or to create a documentary.

I’m sure they could come up with many more ideas.

But let me give you a little advice from someone who has chosen to live here: Don’t call this Island a prison in a country with the highest incarceration rate in the world, and don’t use the word “bored” in the this period of the greatest change any of us have seen in our lifetimes. You don’t have time.

You don’t need us to build you a bowling ally. We need you. We need you to be tough, resourceful, creative and skilled to rise to the challenges that lie ahead.

— Celina Yarkin