By Mike Clary, Sun Sentinel

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — At 5 weeks old, with a crown of dark hair and big blue eyes, Anastasia Garcia is one of the newest faces of the economic crisis. She was born homeless.

“When we are lucky enough to be settled, we will tell her that things were not always as easy as you may think,” said Angela Garcia, 26, laying the infant down in a crib crammed into the corner of a small room at the Broward Outreach Center in Pompano Beach, Fla. She shares the room with her husband, David Henson, and their two older daughters, ages 2 and 6.

In Fort Lauderdale, Demali Staple’s youngest child, 4-month-old Jabari, is another recession baby, entering a world gripped by the worst economy in more than a generation. When Staple finishes work as a landscaper, she picks up her infant son and his brother Alvash, 3, at a day care center and they return to a room at Covenant House, a shelter for runaways and homeless youth.

“There are days when I want to give up,” said Staple, 21, a single mother. “But I don’t want my boys to go through what I went through. So I push myself.”

Throughout South Florida, social service agencies report sharp increases in the number of infants and very young children being sheltered in homeless centers.

In Palm Beach County, Dorla Leslie, executive director of the Center for Family Services, said the nonprofit organization has been “deluged over the past several months, and a majority are single mothers with young children, some with infants.”

All 18 rooms of a West Palm Beach apartment complex the center runs are full, with about 65 people, Leslie said. Half a dozen more families are being housed in motels.

“Moms and babies have been the largest proportion of our population lately,” said Jim Gress, executive director at Covenant House.

The reasons for a surge in homeless infants and young children might be no more complicated than the sagging economy. As jobs disappear, families and single moms who once were able to provide for their children no longer can.

A recent study by the National Center on Family Homelessness found that 1 in 50 American children are homeless.

For pregnant women and newborns, health concerns are magnified by poverty and homelessness. Studies show that homeless children are more likely than other children to have asthma and ear infections, and suffer from emotional and behavior problems.

“It is not ideal in any way, shape or form to have a baby in a shelter,” said Patricia Mantis of Broward County’s Coalition to End Homelessness.

Priscilla Garrett, 25, lived with her mother in Delray Beach until family problems led her to the Broward Outreach Center four months ago. On June 18 she gave birth to an 8-pound, 2-ounce girl; she and her daughter have returned to the shelter.

“I see myself as going through a transitional phase right now,” said Garrett, whose last job was as a Family Dollar store clerk.

Years from now, she said, she will explain to her child her personal history: “You were born in a place where friends were, with people who helped you and me.”

For struggling parents such as Garcia and Henson, shelter living with an infant means access to free diapers, some clothing and even a stroller. They also benefit from counsel supplied by Broward Outreach Center caseworker Shirley Favali.

Quarters are tight, a bathroom is shared with dozens of others, and there is none of the extended family support that many young parents rely on.

During weekdays, Alisa, 6, goes to camp while Garcia stays in the shelter’s family wing with her baby and Alexis, irrepressibly active. If Garcia can find day care for Alexis and the baby, she plans to begin looking for a job.

“We never thought this would happen,” Henson, 31, said of the couple’s spiral into homelessness that accelerated when he lost his construction job in January. “Really, I am shocked that I let us get this far down.”

Together for seven years, Garcia and Henson grew up in Hollywood, Fla., and lived there in a rented apartment. When they no longer could afford it, they moved in with Garcia’s mother. He worked day jobs through labor pools.

After a fruitless bus trip to find work in Texas, where Garcia’s father lives, the couple returned to Broward County this spring, broke.

Henson recently found a job in a Home Depot warehouse, and Favali said the couple are on track to qualify for a move to transitional housing, where they can stay rent-free for up to 18 months.

“I think they are really trying,” Favali said. “They are motivated.”

Staple also is trying. Born in Jamaica, she attended Piper High School in Sunrise until she became pregnant with Alvash. She was taking technical school courses and staying with her father until earlier this year.

Her second child was born after she found a space at Covenant House, a private Christian ministry that operates youth shelters in several U.S. cities.

“I am saving all the money I can,” said Staple, who catches a 7 a.m. bus so she can drop the kids off at day care before and get to work by 8.

With the baby in her arms, and Alvash bouncing on a couch, Staple looked around a lounge-type play room in the former motel that Covenant House runs as a family center.

“This is not the life I imagined, being in this position,” she said. “I’d still like to be a nurse, or get my GED and go into the military. But, look, I’m here now.”

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(c) 2009, Sun Sentinel.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

By SARA KINCAID, Bismarck Tribune

Construction continues on the sixth-grade wing at Mandan Middle School.

Outside on Monday, a space was prepped for concrete while indoors drywall was hung. The sixth-grade wing is to the east of the main building, and is connected to the main building by a hallway near the Family and Consumer Science classrooms.

The project will cost about $2.2 million. The district will pay for the project through a state school construction loan and a general obligation bond. The payments will come out of the district’s building fund.

When it is completed, the wing will have 14 classrooms, a music room, some specialty rooms and a commons area. About 250 to 260 sixth-graders will start there in December.

All the classrooms will be wired for technology, including computers and Promethean boards. The commons area will have computer stations.

The sixth-graders will use the gym, cafeteria and library in the main buildings, as well as specialty areas like band. The schedule for the sixth-graders will be slightly different than for the students in the main building, business manager Joe Lukach said. This way, all three grades at the school can use the gym for physical education class and cafeteria for lunch.

Once the drywall is up, ceilings will be installed and then the flooring.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@bismarcktribune.com.)

By Cassandra Spratling, Detroit Free Press

DETROIT — About 40 men, women and children spill from the charter bus on Detroit’s Belle Isle. They know they are in the right place because the people already there are wearing T-shirts with bold, blue letters — “Lifting Our Voices as Family” — this year’s theme of the Dugger Family Reunion.

“We’ve been having reunions since 1981 or 1982,” says Genevieve Douglas of Detroit as she checks meat on the grill. “We get together every year.”

Versions of the Dugger reunion will play out at parks, hotels and union halls throughout the summer as families across America connect and reconnect with one another.

But every connection isn’t a fond family affair, many organizers will tell you.

They have stories of relatives who show up without paying their share of the party costs, arrive with five people when they registered for two, or show up without registering at all — making planning difficult.

“Unfortunately, those are really common problems,” says Edith Wagner, editor of Reunions magazine. “And you know what? Families usually know exactly who the people are who are going to do that.”

But responding to tricky situations when planning or while in the midst of a family reunion can be difficult, organizers acknowledge.

It takes plenty of advance planning, constant communication, a dose of tough love and heaping helpings of patience and humor.

“We had people call a few days before and ask, ‘Is it too late?’” says Romona Sipes, 62, of Detroit, the main organizer for 400 members of last month’s United Martin Family Reunion in Detroit.

The vast majority were on time, she says, but a few waited until the last minute. “After a certain date, you have to cut them off because you have to turn in your numbers.”

Their banquet was June 27; anyone not registered by June 25 simply couldn’t attend.

This year, the Duggers put color-coded stickers on name tags handed out when people arrived. A yellow sticker meant you paid for your T-shirt. A red sticker meant you owed money. And a green sticker meant that you paid the $15 banquet fee.

“We try to be as diplomatic as possible,” Douglas says. “We say, ‘We don’t have you registered for each of the people you have.’”

Douglas says they don’t make a scene on the spot and sometimes ask the offending relative to make a donation toward the cost of future reunions if they really can’t afford it at the time.

About 300 people attended the Clayton family reunion in Detroit this year. The organizers charge $100 per family of four for a weekend packed with activities.

But a few people didn’t pay anything.

“That happens all the time,” says LaNette Porties of Clinton Township, Mich., who helped plan this year’s gathering. “What can you do? You don’t want to turn people away. So when they don’t pay, the rest of us have to step up and do it.

“Why say anything? They know they’re wrong.”

Wagner says many of the problems that arise happen with all family gatherings: “Uncle So-and-So drinks too much and then gets rowdy,” she says.

But there is a way to anticipate the problem. For example, if you know there’s a family member likely to drink too much, either make it an alcohol-free event or have someone always on standby — perhaps siblings — to keep Uncle So-and-So under control.

She has heard of families who pick and choose which relatives get invited to their reunions, but she advises against that.

“A family reunion is for everybody,” she says. “It’s not like a wedding where you can decide, if you want, not to invite Uncle So-and-So.”

Wagner also advises budgeting for the unexpected by charging a few dollars more than the predetermined costs.

Ayana Ball, 27, of Detroit, who planned this year’s Mumpfield reunion for 150, says that advice would have come in handy.

“This is what happened to us — we paid for this shelter, but we didn’t know until we got here that there was a charge for electricity. And it had to be a money order,” Ball says.

The Derrick-McGruder family had a rather unusual problem the last time they got together.

A few family members arrived at the picnic and chose to sit apart from everyone else.

“They didn’t mingle, and they had their food separate from us,” says Janet Derrick-Curtis, 51, of Dearborn, Mich.

To avoid that problem at this year’s gathering on Belle Isle, reunion planners sent out letters saying that the picnic would be potluck, all the food would be placed together and seating would be arranged so that everyone is together.

“We want to be united,” Derrick-Curtis says. “That’s why we have the reunion.”

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TEN COMMANDMENTS OF REUNION ETIQUETTE

1. Thou shalt not forget ordinary manners nor common civility, just because thou art amongst brothers and sisters.

2. Thou shalt tolerate the tiresome relative (at least for a little while).

3. Thou shalt not play footsie with a distant cousin or thy cousin’s spouse.

4. Sniping and carping about a reunion’s lack of organization is an abomination.

5. Thou shalt orchestrate spontaneous praise unto the reunion organizer.

6. Thou shalt agree to disagree, and steer clear of such topics as the Vietnam War, abortion rights, gay marriage, gun control, Waco.

7. Thou shalt not use intimate details of your kids’ lives as conversation fodder. (Boasts of accomplishments are acceptable, but be discreet.)

8. Thou shalt not reveal devastating family secrets unless thou hast arranged therapeutic support systems.

9. Thou shalt not publicly criticize the bad manners or poor behavior of any child not thine own.

10. Thou shalt flatter thy kinfolk. All nieces tap dance divinely, all babies are beautiful and all aunts look as wonderful as ever.

Source: “Family Reunion,” by Jennifer Crichton (Workman Publishing, $13.95)

___

FAMILY REUNION PLANNING TIPS

Alert family early and often about reunion costs.

Stagger fees. Charge the least for people who turn in their payments early; charge more the closer it gets to the due date.

Communicate clearly. If a family rate is for a maximum of four family members, the literature going out should make that clear.

If giving souvenirs, make them available only to those who have registered in advance.

Assign one person to be accountable for money and keep clear records.

Assign a small committee to handle calls, e-mails and letters. It also should remind people of upcoming payment due dates.

Consider allowing people to register for parts of the reunion if a general fee covering all activities is beyond what some members can pay.

Collect a bit more money than you think you’ll need to be sure you can cover unexpected costs.

Let family members know that if they don’t pay, someone — usually the host family or primary organizers — has to pick up the costs.

Source: Reunions magazine and metro Detroit families

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(c) 2009, Detroit Free Press.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

By Robert W. Butler, McClatchy Newspapers

I’ve had no luck thinking of a precedent for the wildly successful “Harry Potter” films.

Has there been another series of eight motion pictures following the same characters over a decade — characters played by the same actors from film to film?

Well, of course there’s Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and before that George Lucas’ “Star Wars” saga. But neither offered the unexpectedly moving spectacle of watching child actors mature into adults. We’ve seen something similar with long-running TV series (“The Wonder Years,” ”Malcolm in the Middle”), but not in a big-budget motion picture.

Every seven years since 1963 documentarist Michael Apted has turned his camera on the same diverse group of British schoolchildren as they mature into middle age and beyond. But his “Seven Up” series is fact, not fiction.

No, I believe the “Potter” franchise is unique in cinema history.

As a parent I marvel at the way these films — the most recent, “Half-Blood Prince” opened Wednesday — allow us to eavesdrop on the physical, emotional and intellectual growth of its characters … and the actors who portray them. In a weird way it’s almost as if Harry/Daniel, Ron/Rupert and Hermione/Emma are our own kids, and we’re watching their lives unfold through photos and home movies. Classroom triumphs, sporting events, first kisses … take away all the f/x and hocus pocus and it’s still a stirring saga of personal development.

How prescient of the films’ producers to sign virtually all of the performers to contracts guaranteeing they’d be around for the whole series. The only time they’ve been forced to recast a major character was when Richard Harris, the original Dumbledore, died. The role was assumed — beautifully — by Michael Gambon.

The “Lord of the Rings” and “Potter” films prove conclusively that a movie doesn’t have to have a conventional beginning, middle and end — providing they can be viewed as part of a much greater continuum.

My main beef with individual “Potter” entries is that they lack structure. Taken as a one-shot enterprise, they feel sketchy and incomplete. But put them all together — and rest assured that for decades to come fans will be watching them in chronological order in marathon viewing sessions — and you have an entirely different animal.

Whether any other literary effort will spawn this sort of cinematic doppelganger remains to be seen. Lord knows Hollywood has been trying, bringing to the screen effects-heavy versions of popular children’s literature.

The hope, obviously, is to establish a franchise to rival the financial success of “Harry Potter.” But most of these movies have flopped.

“Harry Potter” and “Rings” have changed the way we approach literature on film. No longer does a story have to be compressed so that it can be consumed at one sitting. In fact, the public has a huge appetite for long, complex stories that play out over many hours.

British TV has had numerous triumphs with its faithful adaptations of literary classics. Harry himself, Daniel Radcliffe, played young David Copperfield in a three-hour, 1999 TV version of Dickens’ novel. And the 1995 five-hour BBC production of “Pride and Prejudice” has become a home video perennial.

But would any of these have worked if they’d been released as feature films? I doubt it.

A production like “Lonesome Dove” could stretch over several nights on television. But I doubt that audiences would pay to see four separate “Lonesome Dove” films down at the megaplex, especially if they had to wait a year between entries.

The problem is that it takes a monster hit like the Potter series to make a feature film series feasible.

Still, long-form storytelling is flourishing. Over the Christmas holidays the Butlers watched the entire five seasons of HBO’s “The Wire” on DVD. It was way better than watching one episode a week, with long months separating seasons.

Heck, it was better than almost any movie I’ve seen in ages.

If you’re going to film epic literature — Dickens, Tolstoy, Hugo, J.R.R. Tolkien, J.K. Rowling — you can’t cut corners. You must take the time to embrace the depth of these artists’ visions.

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Robert W. Butler: bbutler@kcstar.com

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(c) 2009, The Kansas City Star.

By Nara Schoenberg, Chicago Tribune

Kids these days!

Why can’t they download a video, set up a Facebook page, send out a text or communicate with their parents through a simple video phone service such as Skype?

Grandparents are often depicted as hardened technophobes, yet some are asking these very questions as they try to drag their adult children and grandkids into the 21st Century.

“I’m seeing it,” says Georgia Witkin a senior editor at Grandparents.com.

“The grandparents have the affluence, they have the time and they have the motivation” to pursue new technologies, particularly those that facilitate communication with the grandkids.

“This is an extension of play for them, whereas the parents are so busy driving the kids to games or trying to juggle work and baby-sitting that it’s a luxury for them.”

In general, young people are still more tech-savvy than seniors, but some surveys show that older Americans are narrowing the gap. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 72 percent of adults 50-64 are now online, compared to 36 percent in 2000.

Recent interviews with 105 people 99 and older, conducted for Evercare by UnitedHealthcare, found that 21 percent went online, 12 percent used the Internet to share photos and 3 percent used Twitter.

Witkin, a grandmother of three, says that her own daughter, a mom and a lawyer, is a BlackBerry whiz but needs help in other areas: “When it comes to downloading things, so she can see outtakes of (videos) I’ve made of her with her friends, I get back messages almost every day: ‘I can’t open it.’ And then I get on the phone and I’m explaining how you do it.”

Maryan Pelland, 60, a freelance journalist (womendaybyday.com) who has written for publications including the Chicago Tribune, says that she was the one who suggested Skype when her daughter’s husband was deployed in Iraq.

The free service effectively turns your computer into a video phone ‚Äî you and the person you’re calling can see each other on-screen as you talk.

“I showed it (to my daughter) and she was amazed,” says Pelland, who, in turn, was thrilled when her daughter mastered the technology. “It’s very nice to feel like I can still do something that (my kids) can’t,” Pelland says.

Sally Olds, 75, author of “Super Granny: Great Stuff to do With Your Grandkids” says that she was on Facebook, getting “poked” by her 16-year-old granddaughter, at a time when her daughter Nancy Olds was still resisting the trend.

Nancy Olds, a test developer at the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J., who has since joined Facebook at the urging of a friend, confirms the basic chronology.

“(Mom) beat me to it,” she says.

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GET YOUR ADULT KIDS UP TO SPEED

Show, don’t just tell. Kids and grandkids may have an easier time grasping a new technology if you take a few minutes to sit down with them and show them how to get started.

Pick your battles. Rightly or wrongly, working parents think they are very, very busy. If they’re accustomed to one technology (say, e-mailing) you may want to join them rather than trying to get them to convert to texting.

Play the grandkid card. Parents may be willing to take a little time to master Skype, or another video phone service, if it’s a way for their little darlings to bond with the grandparents.

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(c) 2009, Chicago Tribune.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

By Jann Blackstone-Ford and Sharyl Jupe, Contra Costa Times

Q: My ex and I can’t talk to each other. Our breakup was really nasty and someone suggested we only communicate by e-mail or text. But her text messages are really awful which makes it difficult when we exchange the kids. What can we do?

A: When a divorced couple comes into my office telling me they can’t talk to each other, I hesitate suggesting text messages or e-mail. Sometimes, e-mail is the lesser of the two evils and necessary when couples think they can’t communicate, but relying on text messages is really asking for trouble. First, they are short and can sound argumentative even though they are not intended to be. Consider the question, “Where are you?” If you are in love and dating, “Where are you?” can mean, “I miss you. Please hurry.” When you are at odds, “Where are you?” can mean, “You’re late again and I’m really sick of it.” Ultimately, the best way to communicate is to talk — where someone can hear the inflections in your voice and understand your true meaning.

When communicating with an ex, it’s best keep the discussion about the kids and not about the past or who did what to whom. I always suggest that battling parents approach each other in a businesslike manner. In other words, if you were at work and you had to interact with a co-worker you didn’t like, you wouldn’t openly fight with him or her because you might lose your job. You would look for ways to cooperate. You would try not to push their buttons. You would just do your job and then go home. It’s the same premise when communicating with an ex who gets under your skin. Just talk about what is necessary — the kids. Look for ways to cooperate — for the kids’ sake. Do your job and move on.

That’s when angry divorced parents really turn up the heat. “You don’t understand,” they say. “My ex was the worst ex anyone could ever have and I never want to speak to him (or her) again.” And, there lies the key to why you can’t talk to each other. You don’t want to. You are stuck in the anger, revenge, or jealousy and can’t get past it. Meanwhile the kids are going back and forth between houses. Try to remember this: You are now forging a new relationship as co-parents. It is not an extension of the relationship that didn’t work. Because you were not good at being partners does not mean you cannot be good co-parents. You can. Just do your job.

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(Jann Blackstone-Ford, Ph.D., and her husband’s ex-wife, Sharyl Jupe, authors of “Ex-Etiquette for Parents,” are the founders of Bonus Families (www.bonusfamilies.com). Reach them at ee@bonusfamilies.com.)

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(c) 2009, Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.).

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

By Armin Brott, McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Dear Mr. Dad: This is my second marriage, and I’m totally committed to my new wife. But even thought I hate to admit it, her two kids from her previous marriage are driving me crazy.

They play one of us against the other, and my wife — being their mom — usually takes their side in any disagreement. How can we keep our marriage stable and still come to some agreement on disciplining the kids?

A: For some couples, second marriages are a breeze. But most experience all sorts of problems in merging two different households with different traditions and ways of life. When kids are involved, the potential problems multiply exponentially. In fact, it may be even harder on kids than on the adults. At least adults have some control over the situation. Kids have almost none.

Some children resent their parents’ remarriages, while others may feel bewildered by new expectations. And they react just like anyone else who has to copes with an uncertain and frightening situation: They do whatever they can to regain some control. Sometimes that plays out as deliberately pushing their parents’/step-parents’ buttons, or, as you’ve seen, pitting the two off each other. None of this, however, relieves them of the obligation to respect the new step-parent.

The place to start is with a behind-closed-doors meeting with your wife. Talk about your expectations and hers. What kind of behavior is acceptable? What isn’t? Because she’s the biological parent, it’s important that you come up with a plan that she can and will enforce. The kids are less likely to resent taking direction (and discipline) from mom than from you. Several important things to keep in mind, though.

–Biological parents tend to under-discipline their kids — especially in the eyes of step-parents. That’s often the result of a perfectly well-intentioned desire to reduce the stress in the kids’ lives (after all, they’ve been through enough already, haven’t they?).

–At some point, you’re have to step in. It’s tempting to try to leave everything up to the biological parent, but that’s not an effective long-term solution.

–Keep your expectations reasonable. Creating a well-oiled family machine will not happen overnight — if it does at all. Some experts say that it can take as long for a new family to gel as the age of the children.

–Know your place. You want the kids to like and respect you but you’re not their father. So set your sights on building a solid relationship that’s independent of their mother. The stronger that relationship, the more likely the kids will be to take direction from you.

To the extent possible, try to present a united front and to make sure that everyone knows what happens if they either follow or break them. The trick is to come up with fair and reasonable consequences that won’t overwhelm the kids. Timeout, loss of privileges, and extra housework are typical responses to non-compliance in many families. If you and your wife can’t agree on household rules or discipline, this is a good time to discuss the situation with a trained counselor who can offer an objective perspective. It may take just a few sessions to work through your differences and come to agreement on what the kids should and shouldn’t do. Be prepared to compromise.

A lot.

When (not if) you and your wife disagree, be sure to listen to each other respectfully. The kids will eventually grow up and leave home. Hopefully, your marriage will last long after they’ve gone.

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(Contact Armin Brott, armin@askmrdad.com, or visit his Web site, www.mrdad.com.)

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(c) 2009, Armin Brott

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

ADRIAN SAINZ, AP Real Estate Writer

Parents who want to pry their children away from the television or lure them from the video game console might want to consider putting a playset in the backyard.

Commonly found in neighborhood parks and apartment complexes, playgrounds have evolved from a simple metal swing set or a single slide to a complicated apparatus made of plastic with tunnels, climbing walls, bridges, multiple swings and serpentine slides sticking out in a couple of directions.

Smaller versions of these playsets for the backyard can cost above $1,000 and be delivered and installed by a company. Or an intrepid dad can buy a set of plans or a playset kit for a few hundred bucks and build it with the kids.

Regardless of the approach, parents must make sure these playsets are safely built. Manufacturers, for example, have eliminated the use of wood treated with potentially hazardous additives after an uproar over the issue about a decade ago.

With safety in mind, parents and kids can enjoy backyard playsets together for years, adding on accessories and equipment as the child ages. It’s a way for youngsters to engage in physical activity and broaden their imaginations with their friends in their own magical castle or imposing battle fort.

“The big draw of play structures and play spaces outside is to make them a little wild and mysterious while inside the safe circle of the family home,” said Barbara Butler, owner of Barbara Butler Artist-Builder Inc., a designer of custom outdoor playsets. “You’re creating a space for imaginative play and physical play.”

There’s a litany of companies that sell outdoor playground equipment: Some of the largest are PlayNation Play Systems, Rainbow Play Systems, Backyard Adventures and PlayCore. Interested parents can visit company Web sites for direction on where to find retail outlets that sell their products or order from them directly.

Meanwhile, independent operators like Butler can create a custom playset to match the family’ needs and the dimensions of their individual back yards.

Considering the size is an important step in the process. The yard’s length and width should be measured. Drastically sloped back yards may be a challenge. And make sure the chosen section of the yard drains properly.

You want to make sure children have enough room surrounding the playground so they can frolic freely, without having to worry about crashing into a fence, patio deck or mom’s flower beds.

Next, think about the age of your children. Younger kids might benefit from just a sandbox or a swing set, until they get older enough to climb and slide. As the children get older and more athletic, parents can add to the playset to fit the child’s need or interests.

Cost is an obvious factor in the process. The least expensive way is to buy plans from a company that designs playsets for a few hundred dollars and build it yourself, but that requires the additional cost of lumber, tools and other supplies.

“That’s for the real do-it-yourselfer,” said Dave Seitz, executive vice president of PlayNation Play Systems.

Playground companies also sell kits that include the materials but require self-installation. That approach is cheaper than playsets that are delivered and installed by a company — expect to spend from $800 to a few thousand dollars under this strategy. The most expensive kinds of playsets are custom built, rising to $5,000 or above with a slew of accessories to go with it.

Parents should know the materials. The pressure-treated wood industry discontinued the use of chromated copper arsenate (CCA) as their primary preservative for residential construction projects because of health dangers related to the compound. So, avoid any used playground equipment described as using CCA-treated wood.

More affordable playsets are built of strong plastics, maybe with some redwood or cedar mixed in. All-wooden sets will generally cost more than all-plastic products.

The area surrounding the playground should be free of dangerous obstacles such as low hanging branches, sprinkler heads or large rocks.

The ground surface around the playset should absorb shock. There should be a minimum depth of 9 inches of loose fill material such as wood mulch or chips, engineered wood fiber or shredded/recycled rubber for equipment up to 8 feet high, and 9 inches of sand or pea gravel for equipment up to 5 feet high, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Some lighter play equipment may need to be anchored to keep it from tipping over while kids are playing on it.

Accessories can be added onto the playset to add to the sense of adventure. A ship’s wheel turns a fort into an explorer’s galleon. Binoculars, periscopes, telescopes, rope ladders, tire swings, crawl tubes, hammocks, fireman poles and other add-ons enhance the experience beyond the slides or swings.

“If you put in a great play space in your backyard, you will become the place where kids want to come to play in the neighborhood,” Butler said.

As the fun and adventure begin, parents must know the safety risks involved and some ways to prevent injury.

Each year, about 50,000 injuries occur on home playground equipment and are treated in an emergency room, according to the commission.

Eighty percent of those injuries happen when children fall down. Other injuries occur when children are hit by swings or other moving parts, or suffer cuts from protruding bolts.

Patty Davis, a commission spokeswoman, said several deaths occur yearly, with the most common cause being strangulation on ropes, cords or leashes. Others die in falls or when their heads or necks get stuck in narrow spaces.

Children, especially younger ones, should be supervised when they play, but injuries take place even while an elder is watching.

To lighten the safety risk, Davis says all climbing ropes should be tightly attached to the equipment at BOTH ENDS to reduce the risk of strangulation. No free-swinging or loop-forming ropes allowed.

There should be enough clear space — at least 6 to 9 feet surrounding the play structure — to allow children to come of slides safely and give them space to run around. There should be no protruding hardware such as large bolts or hooks.

Davis says spaces between ladder rungs, railings and portholes should be smaller than 3.5 inches or larger than 9 inches to reduce the chance for a child to get stuck.

The commission recommends checking the nuts and bolts for tightness at least twice a month. Also check for wood splinters and deterioration of swing seats, ropes, and chains.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

By Christopher D. Kirkpatrick, McClatchy Newspapers

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Cost-saving “staycations” might be all the rage, but the idea makes married mother of two Tanya Morris queasy.

As other families save money paring down travel during this recession, Morris and her brood do the opposite and downsize living expenses to better afford trips and even a week at science camp for her kids.

The extra effort even allowed the family to add an extra trip this year — a getaway to Asheville over the Fourth of July long weekend for a family reunion.

“We’re real conscious of it. I’ve been more diligent about clipping coupons, with buying groceries on sale and doing without,” said Morris, who lives in Rock Hill, N.C., with her husband and two elementary school-aged boys. “There may be things we want, but we don’t buy them to make sure we have enough money to go on vacation.”

Their philosophy stands in marked contrast to a national trend of families’ canceling or downsizing trips as they cope with furloughs, lost salaries and the rising price of basic necessities, including gas and food.

They’re not wealthy: Morris’ husband, Jacob Stowe, works two jobs and makes less than $50,000 a year. But the two believe in saving on unnecessary expenses and spending their money in sensible ways, even giving to a favorite charity each year, Morris said.

They grow their own vegetables and reject cable and satellite TV in favor of rabbit ears and a digital converter box. They drive their trash and recyclables to the local drop-off center rather than pay for home pickup. They have a fixed rate mortgage and Internet access that’s dial-up and only $10 per month.

But they cherish their vacations.

So this year, with a relentless recession at hand, the 37-year-old stay-at-home mom ramped up the savings even more by driving less and going out to fewer dinners and events with friends. She and her husband put off buying a new bedroom dresser they need, and Morris started following her kids obsessively around the house turning off the lights to save on the power bill.

She also started searching for more free community events, including outdoor concerts provided by the Charlotte Symphony and Shakespeare on the Green in uptown. She and her kids attend free events at ImaginOn, which offers interactive educational events and a children’s theater.

“The economy has hurt. My husband still has both of his jobs, but the cost of living has gone up,” she said. “We don’t make plans to go out and do anything extravagant. Basically, we try to squeeze as much functionality out of the money we have. I think some people let their money and their belongings run their life. We try to make our little bit work for us.”

She says it’s important psychologically for her family and others to get away on vacation, especially when economic times are tight. Some simply can’t afford it. But her husband works at CarMax and another job and has steady income. He’s also attending college in his spare time, she said.

“By the summertime, he’s really stressed out,” she said. “And the kids are at home and after awhile they start to get a little cranky seeing each other all day. I find taking a vacation and doing something different improves their attitude.”

When planning the getaways, Morris works hard to find the best deals using tricks she’s developed over years, such as renting condominiums from local owners instead of staying in hotel rooms. She finds those rentals through www.vrbo.com or www.homeaway.com.

For the Independence Day weekend, Morris took over the family reunion planning and rented a house in Asheville, N.C., for a week to see family and celebrate her father-in-law’s retirement. The shared expense is $250 a night per visiting family.

“I said, ‘Why don’t we meet some place that has a big resort town, big houses for rent that can sleep 20 people,’” she said. “We found it. There’s a ping pong table in the basement for the kids and trail bikes, and we can cook there.”

The couple also goes to Atlanta each year without the kids for a science fiction-themed convention.

Her family lives in Atlanta and she can drop off the kids and then have some adult time with her husband. They meet up with a group of friends each year they see at the convention. They have fun socializing and staying out late.

And they save on the accommodations and dinners, she said.

“A lot of people stay in hotels. People spend $250 a night, we spend $125 renting a condo,” she said. “People in the hotels, they end up eating at the local restaurants. We have a kitchen.”

The family’s going to Hilton Head later this year and used their tax refund check to reserve the accommodations well ahead of time.

“It’s gas money to get there and grocery money. It doesn’t cost anything to go to the beach.”

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(c) 2009, The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.).

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

By Roger Moore, The Orlando Sentinel

I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER

Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual content, language, some teen drinking and drug references, and brief violence.

What it’s about: A high school valedictorian confesses his nerdy love of the school hottie in a speech and it changes his life.

The kid attractor factor: Hayden Panettiere in a high school setting.

Good lessons/bad lessons: Nothing ventured, nothing gained; if you join the military, you must be on steroids; and if all your friends say you’re gay, you must be.

Violence: Beatings, the threat of more beatings.

Language: Lots of profanity.

Sex: Sexual situations.

Drugs: Under-age drinking, a coke joke.

Parents’ advisory: For a “graduation” teen comedy, this is oddly pitched to an older crowd. Take the PG-13 seriously.

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BRUNO

Rating: R for pervasive strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity and language.

What it’s about: Sacha Baron Cohen takes on the guise of a gay Austrian fashionista and sets out to shock the world.

The kid attractor factor: Sacha Baron Cohen.

Good lessons/bad lessons: Guns and gay come-ons don’t mix on huntin’ trips.

Violence: Yes, supposedly real.

Language: Quite raw.

Sex: Nudity — and when they say “crude sexual content,” they mean it.

Drugs: Beer, hash pipes.

Parents’ advisory: Like “Borat,” only less subtle, more deserving of the R rating — offensive to gay and gay-basher alike.

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