Issue link: http://hvparent.uberflip.com/i/423257
4 Hudson Valley Parent ■ December 2014 7 Making memories 25 holiday traditions to start now! BY PAM MOLNAR 8 I am a Hudson Valley parent Stephanie Heimann-Roland: Parenting with focus BY KATHLEEN WILLCOX 10 Favorite docs guide Annual review of the best healthcare professionals 19 The other side of motherhood Real faces of postpartum depression BY KATHLEEN WILLCOX 26 O, Tannenbaum! Hudson Valley's best tree farms 28 Take your vitamins? The lowdown on supplements for kids BY MALIA JACOBSON In this issue COLUMNS FEATURES 6 Editor's Journal: Learning to cope. BY KATY WEBER 30 Calendar: Great places to go and things to do 36 Marketplace: Hudson Valley products and services 38 Dining Out: Cancun's Family Mexican Restaurant ON OUR COVER HV PARENT READER FEEDBACK What do you say to your kids when they ask for gifts that are too expen- sive or inappropriate? "My kids asked me for a Play Sta- tion 4, which is $399! I said, 'Well, I have your dad's paycheck so after we run all the errands and pay the car payment, we will see what we have left.' I paid the enormous car pay- ment, went grocery shopping, paid for little league, bought gas, paid car insurance. Came home and counted what we had left for the week. They were shocked by how fast money gets used up. Learned the value of a dollar that day. Now they hardly ask for anything unreasonable!" — Gena Marie Lisanti "That they're too expensive or inappropriate. Truth all the way." — AnneMarie Andrews "I say we can't afford it and fi nd another choice that we can. My daughter just turned 9 and that's the way it's always been. I'm very blunt about expenses here. They will never get an understanding of it if they don't see it. She has to earn her things and maintain them to keep them. If there is an expensive item that she really has her eye on, then she saves for it and we meet in the middle." — Tracy Vanderbeck "I say no. Kids don't need an explanation on economics, budgets, or value for cost. Just say no and stand your ground. We are about to encounter the most entitled bunch of ingrates in history and we made them that way." — Christina Vazquez This month's cover kid is Ronald Zuill, 14, from Middletown. During our photo shoot at Hurds Family Farm, Ronald chose a beautiful tree for his family to take home. He hopes to nd a new Xbox under the tree on Christmas morning. Photo by Michael Bloom 26 28