Farewell from Lexington Family Magazine
As founder/owner/editor of Lexington Family Magazine – a designation that has felt less like a job title than a calling because of my belief in our mission – I find myself surprised to write the following few words: As of June 30, after 23 years of gratifying work, I am retiring.
Why surprised? I’ll get to that later. But first what of the future of Lexington Family?
As most of you know, we published our last print issue in October 2019 and have been all-digital since then at LexingtonFamily.Com. Because the information and resources on our website are still valuable to readers, we will keep the website live but will no longer add new material.
The resources at LexingtonFamily.Com include a decade worth of articles by pediatrician Dr. Charles Ison, behavioral optometrist Dr. Rick Graebe, Positive Parenting columns by Dr. Lesley Iwinski and maternity and motherhood columns by Katie Saltz. Other articles culled over the years address topics from education and maternity to children’s health and arts and culture.
In our archives, you can discover listings for summer camps, private schools, and preschools and daycares. The website also includes profiles of nearly 80 area teachers from our Educator of the Month partnership with Asbury University, plus many of the 275 Scholar Athlete stories from our partnership with Kentucky Utilities that dates back to 1997.
You also can review our other publications such as our Field Trip & Activity Guide, Relocation Guide, Baby Bump, Successful Aging Resource Guide and Exceptional Family Magazine.
But why should retirement surprise me? After all, I’ve been a journalist for more than 40 years and in April I turned 70. People my age – and many much younger – retire all the time.
But the urge to end my career has caught me off guard, primarily because I’ve loved the job so much.
Journalism and I are a good match. The profession requires curiosity, a hunger for truth, healthy skepticism, and permits reporters to ask people any and all questions about themselves, their jobs and their accomplishments. I like all those things.
I also lived by the old journalism adage: comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. We did little afflicting at Lexington Family, but I hope we provided comfort to those faced with the challenging and admirable task of raising children.
That is a worthy, important mission. How better to improve the world than by raising children into self-responsible, confident and empathetic adults who can pass on those same traits to their children? Focusing on one child at a time, maybe we can transform the world into a more enlightened, friendly place.
Raising and working with children yields boundless rewards, but the job is unpredictable and tests us at every turn. Those on the front lines – parents, grandparents, teachers etc. – need support and plenty of good ideas.
Our hope for every article we published was that readers could take the concepts and suggestions in that story and put them into practice that very day. Based on reader feedback, we accomplished that often enough to make us feel proud.
Along with pride, my other takeaway from my experience with Lexington Family is gratitude.
I’m thankful to the many sales people, graphic artists, delivery people and academic interns from local high schools and colleges for their valuable contributions.
I’m especially obliged to two deputy editors – both moms – who generated story ideas, wrote articles, compiled our day-to-day calendar of events, oversaw the cover model contest and heroically coordinated our Summer Camps & Activities Fair.
The first deputy editor was Laurie Evans, who worked with us from the outset until 2015 when she opened her own business – Cut & Paste Craft Studio. Her successor is Katie Saltz, a former journalism student of mine at UK where I taught for 15 years. Sadly for me, Katie and her family are leaving the area, and June marks her last month with us. I’m gonna miss you, Katie.
Lexington Family also has been blessed with the work of a small army of community experts and contributors whose articles enriched our pages.
Most importantly, we’re grateful for the hundreds of advertising partners who supported us through the years. Because Lexington Family is a free, advertiser-driven publication, we couldn’t have existed without them. Thanks again to those businesses and organizations.
It’s been a great ride for Lexington Family and this is a bittersweet time for me – sad to say goodbye but eager to embrace the next chapter of life, whatever that may bring.
Before I say adieu, I’d like to add a few final words about my experience as a parent. My wife, Dana Tackett, and I were parents of a young child when we started Lexington Family so the magazine was inspired and influenced by Jack and our experience with him.
Jack is 28 now, lives in Lexington and we see each other all the time. He and I have a close relationship that enriches my life every day. He says he feels the same.
Nobody wants unsolicited parenting advice so feel free to stop reading here. But here’s what has worked for me.
- Nurture your child’s inner emotional life. This is especially true for boys in a culture that too often discourages them from showing their emotions. I was intentional about helping Jack express and understand his feelings, making it safe for him to explore his emotions without me ever casting judgment.
- Say yes. Of course parents must say no sometimes, but whenever Jack asked to play a game, have a catch, play Legos, watch a movie together or wrestle on the bed, I always said yes.
- Lead from behind. I never tried to get ahead of Jack or choose what’s best for him or chart his course. Instead, I stayed close behind him and offered support for his interests and expressed confidence in his choices.
- Show love. I heeded this advice from a parenting expert I heard once who said: Remember how much love you felt for your child on the day of his birth, and make sure you let him feel that love every day.
- Finally, and this is the most important point, choose a partner as wonderful, loving, caring and nurturing as my wife Dana, who is a much better parent than me and whose fiercely sweet love for Jack served as my constant inspiration and example.