Sorry for the second send this morning! The first edition of this newsletter had a glitch that erased much of the content.

—Deb

Hartford KidsOutAndAbout Newsletter
April 9, 2026

Local in-person events this weekend

FREE events this weekend

Local in-person events next weekend

2026 Summer Camps

Fun On the Farm

Local spring hikes

Family Photographs

Post your organization and events to our site (It's all FREE!)

Fri, Apr 17: Pirate Days - At Mystic Seaport Museum 
Fri, Apr 17: Family Field Days at Old Sturbridge Village
Sat, Apr 18: BATS COUNT! Evening Bat Count at the Green Barn with Gerri Griswold at White Memorial Conservation Center
Mon, Apr 20: Children’s Free Week in the Museum at White Memorial Conservation Center 4/20- 4/26 
Wed, Apr 22: Earth Day at Oak Grove Nature Center 
Sat, Apr 25: Day Out with Thomas: Let’s Rock, Let’s Roll Tour at Essex Steam Train and Riverboat
Sun, Apr 26: Build Your Own Bat House at Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory & Gardens
Sat, May 2: Woodbury Parks & Recreation Mother~Son Spring Dance
Sat, May 2: Free First Saturday at Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Thu, May 7: SHEN YUN 2026 in Stamford
Sat, May 9: Opening Day at Lake Compounce
Tue, May 12: Once Upon A Time: Cinderella & Jack and the Beanstalk at The Bushnell
Sat, Jun 6: 17th Annual Robin Hood’s Medieval Faire
Sat, Jun 13: Historic Garden Tours - Life on the Webster Farm at Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society

Dear KidsOutAndAbout readers:
 

As I write this column, three Americans and one Canadian are hurtling home from a trip around the Moon, inside a machine that had better do exactly what it’s supposed to do. For years, every person involved in the mission obsessed over every detail at every stage until as little as possible was left to chance. “Failure is not an option,” an ethos long associated with our quest to explore outer space, makes perfect sense when we're talking about Artemis II.

But decades ago, the attitude leaked out of the space program and into everyday life, and that was a mixed blessing. When I was a teenager, “failure is not an option” might as well have been tattooed on my brain: For me, not only was failure not an option, but anything below an A grade wasn’t an option, either. I was so afraid of not being perfect that if I felt unprepared for a test, I’d stay home “sick.” I looked successful from the outside, but because I was working so hard to avoid mistakes, I played it safe. So I didn't actually accomplish much aside from some sharp-looking letters on a report card.

It took me years out in the real world to realize that real accomplishment usually looks less like gliding and more like bumping into things until you find the way through. So these days, failure and I are best buddies: I've replaced "failure is not an option" with "nothing ventured, nothing gained" as I inch toward and away from success each day. Even writing my column each week is an act of resilience: I add and then murder my words until they say what I mean, and I'm always aware in the end that it could be better.

One of my goals when I was homeschooling Madison and Ella was to make failure safe and ordinary... cheerful, even... a sign of progress. Kids need chances to try things that might flop: recipes that taste weird, projects that collapse, math problems they have to redo, conversations they wish they’d handled better. I wanted them to understand that when the stakes are low, failure is not a tragedy, it’s just how learning works.

It doesn't usually feel fun, or comfortable. But it's the only way to fly.

—Debra Ross, publisher of KidsOutAndAbout.com, co-author of The Eclipse Effect: How to Seize Extraordinary Moments to Build Strong Communities

KidsOutAndAbout.com: Discover more. Do more. Connect more.

If you like my publisher's column, you can easily scroll through past columns in the "Notes from Deb" section of our site.