Club: Kids need more quality time

Hill City hosts Day for Kids

By Katie Aurand, Journal correspondent | Sunday, September 21, 2008

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Attendance is growing at a new event in Hill City designed to give children quality time with their parents or other caring adults.

The second annual Day for Kids, a national event sponsored locally by the Boys and Girls Club of the Black Hills, drew more than 90 children, almost double last year's numbers.

Children could get their faces painted, mold clay, work on crafts, play board games, learn about Internet safety and jump on an inflatable castle.

"The main thing is to get families to spend meaningful time with their kids," said Lisa Sagdalen, executive director of the club for youths. "It's all about the kids. A lot of kids don't have two parents anymore. This gets them to spend quality time with a caring adult."

She said she hopes the event can help establish a routine in children's lives where they will get to spend time with an adult.

"Kids want adults to show that they are proud of them," she said. "So many of these kids don't have a father figure or even a grandparent. If you pay any attention to them at all, they latch onto you. They will literally run over here to see if you are here."

Sagdalen said that she tells her employees that they are not babysitting, they're building relationships.

To encourage building relationships even after the event is done, the club provided take-home crafts for families to do together.

Jennifer Fischer of Hill City said that last year, she and her 2-year-old and 4-year-old had fun completing those crafts at home, and she took her kids back to the event again this year.

"The activities going on here are for everyone," Fischer said. "You can get involved and do it together."

The event's Web site, www.dayforkids.org, also has many ideas on activities that families can do together.

Shelly Larson and her family moved to Hill City a little over a year ago. She and her husband attended Day for Kids last year with their three sons, who spent Saturday enjoying the jumping castle.

"It's a fun day to get out of the house and for them to see friends," Larson said. "I'm sure as long as we're here, we'll be coming back."

On the Net: www.dayforkids.org