“Livermore women write Tri-Valley hiking guide - San Jose Mercury News” plus 1 more |
| Livermore women write Tri-Valley hiking guide - San Jose Mercury News Posted: 20 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST By Rebecca F. Johnson LIVERMORE -- Nancy Rodrigue and Jacky Poulsen have hiked together for more than a dozen years, learning the ins and outs of trails around the local terrain. To share their knowledge, the Livermore residents wrote "Tri-Valley Trails: Hiking Adventures in the Greater Livermore, Amador and San Ramon Valleys," a guide to 67 hikes at 10 locations. "We just think the Tri-Valley has so much to offer in the way of great hiking," Poulsen said. "And all the hikes in our book are within about half an hour of the intersection of (interstates) 580 and 680." Rodrigue began a hiking group about 20 years ago that Poulsen later joined. At the time, the only trekking area the group knew about was Del Valle Regional Park -- which became a key motivator to writing the guide. "I would have loved this book," said Rodrigue, who owns Rodrigue Molyneaux Winery with her husband. "If I had it in the beginning, it would have made a huge difference." Rodrigue and Poulsen developed the idea for the book about a decade ago and honed it over the past few years, hiking each trail multiple times. Each hike is delineated by distance, degree of difficulty, altitude, approximate time to complete, and highlights such as history, shade, colors and views. All the write-ups include hand-drawn maps, which Rodrigue and Poulsen advise supplementing with one from the park district. The pair aimed the book at both novice and advanced hikers. They are hoping it motivates people to start or join hiking groups. They're especially interested in encouraging family members to hike together."I really think it's a great thing for people to do with their kids," said Rodrigue, who sometimes hikes with her grandchildren. "It's a neat family activity." Hiking for the two women, who are well-known in the area -- a half-dozen people greeted them by name on a recent Sunday morning hike at Sycamore Grove Park in Livermore -- is an accessible, inexpensive and relaxing way to get exercise as well as socialize, Rodrigue said. "People get so busy with their lives they don't take the opportunity sometimes to just talk," said Poulsen, who volunteers for the Livermore Police Department. "Hiking is a great way of doing that." And their love for nature is, for lack of a better phrase, second-nature. A great blue heron, a giant fall leaf and a turkey vulture caught their eyes along the Sycamore Grove trail and gave them pause. Nevertheless, the two wanted to focus on the trails -- as opposed to comprehensively detailing plant or animal life -- writing the guide in a simple, uncomplicated manner so hikers could easily photocopy a page or toss it in a backpack. "There were so many variations we went through before settling on this actual format," Rodrigue said. Kim Grandfield, co-owner of Sunrise Mountain Sports in Livermore, where the book has been selling well as a holiday gift, said it includes pretty much every hike he would expect, plus a few more. "Certainly it's a very timely and appropriate book for this area," he said. "There has never really been anything like it." For Rodrigue and Poulsen, seeing the book come to fruition when it first hit stores in November has been a positive and sometimes overwhelming experience. "It's been just really rewarding since it's been so well-received," Poulsen said. "A lot of people are buying it. Now we're anxious for people to be using it, you know, getting out there." In addition to Sunrise Mountain Sports, "Tri-Valley Trails" is available at Towne Center Books in Pleasanton, Rakestraw Books in Danville, Rodrigue Molyneaux Winery in Livermore and at www.lulu.com. The 188-page book lists for $15.99. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| When To Guide, When To Let Go Of Teenagers? - NPR News Posted: 19 Dec 2010 11:46 PM PST December 20, 2010 Audio for this story from Morning Edition will be available at approx. 9:00 a.m. ET
 Dennis J. Provost for NPR Yolanda Hilario and her younger teenage son, Noel, sit in their living room in South Central Los Angeles on Dec. 15. Hilario is trying to balance guidelines and independence for her two teenage boys. No one ever said parenting teens was easy. And decision-making for and about teens can be mind-boggling. But Harvard psychologist Richard Weissbourd, author of The Parents We Mean to Be, has some advice. "I think we're in the midst of a giant social experiment," he says. "It's probably unprecedented in our history and may be unprecedented in the history of humankind. We are trying to be closer to our kids." And there are clear benefits to that closeness. When we really listen to our kids and spend time with them, we know them better and can better guide them in decisions about academics and social life. On the other hand, parents can easily run into resistance from their teens, who are working toward independence, autonomy and adulthood. Allowing Independence We're in the midst of a giant social experiment. We are trying to be closer to our kids than ever before. Take the situation of Yolanda Hilario, a Los Angeles resident and mother of two boys, one 17 years old and one 11. Hilario describes herself as "often frazzled" in day-to-day decisions about when to step in and actively guide her children and when to let them make their own decisions. It was so much easier, she says, when the kids were younger. The teen years are scary especially when you consider these are the years kids practice adult behavior and end up making lots of mistakes, she says. Right now, Hilario is in the midst of a dilemma with her 17-year-old: He wants his mom to drop him off a block away from school. He's yearning for independence and that's probably just fine, Weissbourd says. "I would respect a teenager's wish to want to be dropped off a block away and for the teenager to look as if he or she is independent," Weissbourd says, adding it's probably important to respect relatively minor requests like this one. Setting Limits However, there are times when a parent has to be more active in guiding their teen. Clearly, when it comes to risky and dangerous activities like drug and alcohol use and sexual intimacy, Weissbourd says parents have a responsibility to be clear about when kids cross the line. Teens have to understand their family's values and standards and what is expected of them. But some situations can be confounding. For Hilario, the process of applying for college became a struggle. She didn't take over the process but she worried constantly that her son was not going to get the applications in on time. He did wait until the last minute, but ultimately got them done. At that point, Hilario had a discussion with him about the real-life consequences of procrastination. This was "exactly the right move," Weissbourd says. He says that sometimes kids procrastinate because they really can't achieve the concentration they need. Sometimes they really don't want to do something, including applying to a particular college their parents might want them to go to. But discussing consequences after the fact is valuable, Weissbourd says. "It's important to be able to explain to your child that there are consequences of doing things in a shabby way and too late," he says, adding that, in future situations, parents might want to help kids map out a plan and timetable. The concern about Hilario's younger son is more worrisome. Hilario lives in South Central Los Angeles, a tough neighborhood known for gang violence. She worries her 11-year-old is vulnerable to peer pressure. She already sees that when he opts for tough play on the playground instead of going to the library or music room to practice his clarinet. He sometimes gets into trouble as a result of the tough play, and Hilario worries that he could end up in far more dangerous and risky activities as he gets into his teen years. Weissbourd suggests Hilario explore more opportunities for her son to pursue his interest in music. If kids feel real accomplishment in an activity valued by other kids and adults, then, Weissbourd says, self esteem will follow, along with the confidence to say "no" to risky behavior. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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