Hartford KidsOutAndAbout Newsletter
March 12, 2026

Local in-person events this weekend

FREE events this weekend

Local in-person events next weekend

2026 Summer Camp Preview

Maple Sugaring

Easter Fun!

It's CSA Sign Up Season!

Big List of Private Schools

Local Preschools

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

Fri, Mar 20: World Frog Day at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
Fri, Mar 20: Mystic Seaport Ship Modelers Model Tugboat Show
Sat, Mar 21: CT Maple Weekend at Sweet Wind Farm
Sat, Mar 21: Maple Moon Living Exhibition – An Indigenous Song & Dance Market at Pequot Museum
Sun, Mar 22: 21st Annual Mystic Irish Parade - With Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce
Sun, Mar 22: Easter Bunny visits the Aquarium at Mystic Aquarium!
Fri, Mar 27: We Can Do It: A Celebration of Women's History at The Bushnell
Sat, Mar 28: Easter Egg Hunt for Dogs at Riverfront Park
Sat, Mar 28: Easter Eggspress Trolley - Connecticut Trolley Museum
Sun, Mar 29: Women's History Days - At Old Sturbridge Village
Sun, Mar 29: The Very Hungry Caterpillar Day at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art
Fri, Apr 3: Easter Egg Hunt at Indian Rock Nature Preserve
Mon, Apr 13: Fashion Design Camp
Sat, May 16: Colonial Flanders Festival at Flanders
Sat, May 30: 17th Annual Robin Hood’s Medieval Faire

Dear KidsOutAndAbout readers:

For much of the country this year, March simultaneously is bringing hope that spring may in fact return to North America AND the awareness that every car is at risk for the foreseeable future. All winter long, water seeps into asphalt cracks, freezes, expands, melts, and freezes again, and bit by bit the driving experience becomes a game called Avoid the Crater. 

But lately I’ve started seeing the repair trucks out there again, their bright-vested workers moving methodically from hole to hole with their shovels. Every time I pass them, it gives me a lift, not just because it means someday soon I'll start seeing flowers out in the real world, but also because potholes are one of those perfect reminders of what humans do. Playrooms, projects, and paperwork start out neat, but over time, weather, wear, gravity, and procrastination take their toll. No matter how strict the system, order gradually slides toward chaos. And then humans step in and make it right again.

I saw the cycle in action at the KidsOutAndAbout office last week: Our storage room had slowly become a museum of random supplies, half-filled bins, and Christmas decorations that had been tossed in with a hopeful Future Us will deal with this someday. Fortunately, my colleague Michelle, who works in our data department, is also a genius organizer. A few hours after Future Michelle stepped in and applied logic and elbow grease, the little room had transformed from a cluttered cave into a serene space.

The quickening of the seasons seems to bring that same energy into our homes: Closets get sorted, garages get swept, junk drawers finally meet their match. It feels good, not just because the space looks better, but because fixing things reminds us of something important: Disorder is normal, but it’s not permanent. Humans can step in and bring brightness back.

So here’s to spring cleaning, organized shelves, and freshly patched roads.

Our tires, and our spirits, roll much more smoothly because humans fill potholes.

—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.