CBC Radio recently aired an interesting interview on with Dr. Paul Kershaw, an associate professor in the College for Interdisciplinary Studies at UBC, who has started an initiative called Generation Squeeze. We’ve all either heard of or personally experienced the Boomerang Generation, where children we thought we had successfully launched into the world return to our family homes, usually for economic reasons.

No parent would expect a 13 month old child to simply get up and run around. We do not expect children to walk, swim, skate, or ride a bike without nurturing assistance, encouragement and guidance from adults. We support and guide our children in their physical development as they learn to crawl, take their first step, and use a spoon. A child about to take her first step faces many challenges as she learns to balance and move one foot in front of the other.

Last night a whopping 28 Rosslanders showed up at the Rossland Chamber of Commerce/Rossland Telegraph-sponsored all candidates’ forum at the Miners’ Hall, most of them the sort of highly-engaged and informed locals who regularly play their parts in the life of this community and all of whom entered the room last night with a well-developed sense of who they’ll vote for and who they’ll not. So not much was accomplished.

J.D. Salinger once said, “Mothers are all slightly insane.” … and I could not agree more.  I mean, we have to be, in order to put up with all the chaos that raising children brings.  It’s a 24-hour job that consists of playing the roles of chef, chauffeur, nurse, referee, janitor, therapist, and teacher all while demanding cat-like reflexes, the patience of a saint, and a really strong stomach. (Kids seem to ooze out of EVERY orifice!)