Best of the 'Burgh: Kids & Family
From a children's book about a Monongahela Mermaid to a place where women can give birth in a home-like environment –– our favorite things for kids and family.
Best Mermaid Tale based on a Pittsburgh River
‘DELLA AND LILA MEET THE MONONGAHELA MERMAID’
Many 6- and 4-year-olds love playing outside and imagining fantastical creatures. Della and Lila Mitchell, with the help of their mother, Brianne, put their stories to paper.
Now 8 and 6, Della and Lila are coauthors of “Della and Lila Meet the Monongahela Mermaid,” a children’s book about two sisters who befriend a mermaid whose home is threatened by pollution.
The heartwarming book includes themes of conservation, family and community service, and its sales help to support the River Fund, created by the Mitchell family, of Brownsville, to provide educational and enrichment opportunities for children in southwestern Pennsylvania. “We want to encourage creativity in children,” Brianne Mitchell says. “We want children to look at our work and have them say, ‘Hey, I can do that too.’” {KR}
photo courtesy of Darling Let's Travel
Best Instagram #family #travelgoals
DARLING LET'S TRAVEL INSTAGRAM & BLOG
Many people have said they’d like to sell everything they own and travel the world. The Richardson family did it.
At the start of 2017, Kathryn Richardson closed Rosewood, her successful women’s boutique in Sewickley, so that she, her husband and their two little girls, Isla, 3, and Gisele, 1, could spend a year traveling abroad. She also started a blog chronicling their new adventures and changed the name of her popular Rosewood instagram (14,000 followers strong at last check) to Darling Let’s Travel.
The new account follows the family in vivid detail as they explore exotic locations across the world. After starting the year in Bali, the Richardson family has spent time in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and Thailand. {JS}
(instagram.com/darlingletstravel)
Best Place to Give Birth As Though You’re at Home
MIDWIFE CENTER FOR BIRTH & WOMEN'S HEALTH
When people talk about the hardest things they may ever have to do, giving birth often is at the top of the list. The Midwife Center for Birth & Women’s Health in the Strip District aims to make it easier, giving women the option of giving birth in a Jacuzzi, a queen-size bed, a cloth birth swing and other options.
“It is a more personal, home-like environment; that’s what a birth center is,” says Executive Director Christine Haas. “It’s a home-like environment but equipped for emergencies if needed … People come here because they want to avoid unnecessary medical interventions and C-sections, and our birth center, as well as birth centers nationally, have been shown to do that consistently.”
A recent expansion has made the nonprofit center the largest free-standing birth center in the United States, allowing women this option for bringing their babies into the world in a calm, serene way. {LD}
(2831 Penn Ave., Strip District; 412/321-6880, midwifecenter.org)
