Hartford KidsOutAndAbout Newsletter
April 23, 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!)

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:

One day last week, I was driving home around 7 pm when I glanced out the passenger's window and saw a stunning rainbow stretched fully across the sky, glowing in front of dark gray storm clouds that were rushing away to the east. I was approaching a stop light. Left was the way home, where various chores awaited... but right was the way to the rainbow. My husband was driving behind me, and I knew that if I turned right, he was going to think I had lost my mind.

For a split second, practicality made its case: Don’t be silly; go home, you have stuff to do. But then another question darted into my mind: Am I a person who chases rainbows, or am I not? Once I framed it that way, the answer was easy.

For kids and grownups alike, this can actually be a helpful way to make all kinds of decisions. When the moment comes to act, it helps to ask not just What do I feel like doing? but Who am I? Am I a person who tells the truth? Am I a person who helps? Am I a person who persists when times are hard? Am I a person who stops to notice the beautiful things around me? We build identity one choice at a time for our entire lives. The clearer we are about who we want to be, the easier it becomes to know what to do in the moment, to give ourselves evidence that we are, in fact, that sort of person.

I hope the kids in your world grow up thinking of themselves as people who seek what is bright and good and full of wonder. It’s our job to show them that delight is often worth the detour.

—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.

• Children’s Free Week in the Museum at White Memorial Conservation Center 4/20- 4/26 - White Memorial Conservation Center, 80 Whitehall Rd, Litchfield, CT 06759, 04/24/2026 to 04/26/2026, 9 am - 5 pm
• Family Programs at Yale Peabody Museum - Yale Peabody Museum, 170 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511, 04/25/2026 to 04/26/2026, See website for specific program times
• Free spring mini photo session with Shoott! - Connecticut - Shoott, Broadway, New York, NY, USA, 04/25/2026 to 04/26/2026, See link for times
• Youth Fishing Derby at Eastbury Pond - Eastbury Pond, 39 Fisher Hill Road, Glastonbury, Connecticut 06033, USA, 04/25/2026, 8 am - 10 pm
• Hamden's Earth Day Celebration 2026 - 2901 Dixwell Avenue, Hamden, CT 06518, USA, 04/25/2026, 10 am - 3 pm
• Tiny Trekking Birding Edition! at White Memorial Conservation Center - White Memorial Conservation Center, 80 Whitehall Rd, Litchfield, CT 06759, United States, 04/25/2026, 10 am - 11 am
• Tiny Trekking at Pine Island - White Memorial Conservation Center - White Memorial Conservation Center, 80 Whitehall Rd, Litchfield, CT 06759, United States, 04/25/2026, 10 am - 11 am
• Free Touch-a-Truck at the Apple Barrel Farm Market - Lyman Orchards Farm Store at the Apple Barrel, 32 Reeds Gap Road, Middlefield, CT 06455, United States, 04/26/2026, 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm