Winter Family Activities

Hi all, Megan here – the Early Childhood Counselor here at PANK. I know we’re all struggling with this recent drop in temperatures and feeling contained within our homes to avoid those blustery winds and cold chills.

If you’re looking for ways to nurture positive relationships with your kids as we’re all stuck inside together during these cold wintry days, look no further! There are plenty of ways to engage with your kids in positive, fun, and even helpful ways, all in the comfort and warmth of your own home! Here are a few of my favorite suggestions!

FAMILY GAME NIGHT: Pull up a chair, or two or three or four, and get the family involved in good old-fashioned fun with board games or card games! This is an excellent way to connect with our kids, outside of screens, and even relive some of our favorite moments from our own childhoods. (Trigger warning for those who are still sore about past Monopoly games...) Use of games can help practice frustration tolerance, problem-solving, and appropriate social skills, such as taking turns and patience! You can even throw a fun mix into classic games, such as Uno and Candy Land, to explore feelings or life experiences with your kids.

COOK/BAKE TOGETHER: Who doesn’t love a helping hand around the house? Cooking or baking with kids is a great way to teach life skills, as well as facilitate practice of following directions, self-control, patience, and time management in a fun and creative way! Not to mention, it ends with a yummy meal or treats. Pull up some of your old family recipes to bond over, or have fun seeking a new idea to try and seeing how it turns out!

FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT: Snuggling up on the couch to watch a family favorite or checking out the newest release on Netflix can be a great way to connect and relax with your family. Remember to be present in the moment – all other electronics would preferably be put aside to enjoy that moment together! Make some snacks or grab a bag of popcorn from your local theater to pizzazz it up even a little more! This shared experience can allow for further connection and conversations about the movie as you share about your favorite characters, moments, songs, etc.

ARTS AND CRAFTS: Why not brush up on your artistic side with some art activities? These can be as old-school as sock puppets for a puppet show, as intentional as some homemade balloon stress balls or sensory glitter bottle for a calm-down tools, or as heartwarming as some self-depicted family portraits that will definitely be fridge- (or frame!) worthy! Letting kids explore their artistic side is liberating and fun for self-expression. And it’s okay for us, as adults, to get messy too once in a while!

None of these up your alley?

Try instead some puzzles, hide and seek, scavenger hunts, pizza parties, or just draft a to-do list for warmer days ahead when we can get back outside and feel the warm sunshine! As always, feel free to reach out for any and all of your parenting needs, and STAY WARM!

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February 26 Community Courier

March 7, 2026

Dr. Cindy Spicker is Retiring

March 7, 2026

After 35 years of holding tiny babies, reassuring new parents, and watching generations of children grow, I am stepping away from my pediatric career with a full heart. After much reflection, I will be retiring on July 1, 2026. Being a pediatrician is a calling like no other. To play even a small role in shaping our future has been the honor of a lifetime. I have been especially fortunate to spend most of my career at Pediatric Associates of NKy. Throughout my 31 years here, I have had the privilege of working alongside many intelligent, compassionate and deeply dedicated colleagues. Our office truly feels like a family. We celebrate milestones together, support one another through challenges, and share a common purpose: providing the best possible care for our patients and their families One of the greatest joys of pediatrics is the continuity—caring for patients as they grow from newborns into confident young adults. There is something profoundly special about watching a child you once held in your arms return years later as a parent, trusting you to care for their own newborn. Moments like these are gentle reminders of the deep relationships and lasting connections that make this profession so meaningful. In addition to providing direct patient care, it has been a privilege to help train future medical providers by mentoring young adults early in their journeys. Seeing them grow into compassionate professionals has been incredibly rewarding. I am deeply thankful for my husband and our three children, who supported me unconditionally throughout the years, even when the demands of my work meant time away from home. Their love, patience, and encouragement made this journey possible. As I close this chapter, I do so with immense gratitude—for the families who entrusted me with their children’s care, for the colleagues who became lifelong friends and for a career that has given me more joy and purpose than I ever could have imagined. I will carry your stories and smiles with me always. Fondly, CINDY SPICKER

MYTH OF THE MONTH: "RAW MILK IS BETTER THAN PASTEURIZED MILK"

March 7, 2026

Raw (unpasteurized) milk is sometimes marketed as a more “natural” or more nutritious alternative to pasteurized milk. But the idea that raw milk is healthier doesn’t hold up well when you look at safety and nutrition evidence. What pasteurization means: Pasteurization is a process in which milk is heated to a specific temperature for a specific amount of time and then rapidly cooled in order to kill harmful bacteria and reduce the risk of foodborne illness. Raw (unpasteurized) milk can carry dangerous bacteria. Because it has not been treated to kill harmful microbes, raw milk can lead to infections from Campylobacter, Brucella, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, and E. coli. These infections can be serious even in otherwise healthy people, and raw milk exposure can be particularly harmful to children. Certain types of E. coli can cause life‑threatening kidney disease in children. Even healthy older children can develop severe diarrhea and dehydration from these bacterial infections. Some of these bacteria are especially dangerous during pregnancy. For example, infections such as Listeria monocytogenes can be passed from a pregnant person to the unborn infant and may result in birth defects, miscarriage, stillbirth, or serious infection in the newborn. Key nutrients are mostly unchanged: A common claim is that pasteurization “destroys” the nutritional value of milk. However, multiple studies have shown that pasteurized milk contains essentially equivalent nutrients compared with unpasteurized (raw) milk products. In other words, pasteurization makes milk safer without meaningfully reducing its core nutritional benefits. The nutrients children commonly rely on milk for remain largely intact after pasteurization: -Minerals such as calcium and phosphorus are unchanged, and these are among the most important nutrients milk provides for growing children. -There may be some deactivation (denaturation) of proteins, but the overall difference is small and does not meaningfully reduce milk’s protein value in the diet. -A few vitamins—especially vitamin C and some B vitamins, may decrease somewhat. However, milk is not a primary source of vitamin C or many B vitamins in most diets, so these small reductions generally have little nutritional impact. Risk vs. Benefits: In summary, the potential risk of infection from bacteria in raw or unpasteurized milk outweighs any claimed benefits, and we recommend against the consumption of raw milk.