REMINDER: The 2nd annual ‘Awesome Kids Day’ event is from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. this Saturday, July 11 at Burien Town Square Park, and all are invited!
This is a FREE family event sponsored by Collins Chiropractic in partnership with the Burien Parks and Recreation Department.
This is a free event for children and families in the Burien and South Seattle area. Activities include face painting, healthy eats, dance instruction, games, crafts, free wellness checks, bouncy houses, giveaways, and a special performance by Seattle-based band The Not Its.
The event is designed to celebrate the natural joyful and healthy state of our children, and will be held at Burien Town Square Park at SW 152nd Street and 5th Place SW on Saturday, July 11 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
This is the second annual festival and the sixth kids’ event that Collins Chiropractic has hosted in Burien. More than 800 community members attended in 2014 and the locally-owned business is excited to see how encouraging joyful development of the youth in this area can build a healthier Burien. Dr. Aaron Collins says, “Kids were born to thrive. They were born to be healthy. We want to celebrate how awesome our kids are and demonstrate all the ways intentional play can promote normal childhood development and triumph from adversity.”
Don’t miss this great event! To learn more visit www.AwesomeKidsDay.com, or www.facebook.com/AwesomeKidsDay.
And here’s a related human interest story by Renatta Emerson:
Family’s battle for toddler’s health inspires annual community festival
At 2 years old, Sam was an average healthy little boy: smiley, playful and filled with an unusual love for the American flag. However, a foodborne illness that took a turn for the worst would prove to change the course of life for Sam and the Collins family. Sam had contracted E.coli, which damaged his kidneys, caused him to suffer severe seizures and, after a month at Seattle Children’s Hospital, left him on life support and in a coma. “You hear stories about sick kids, and don’t ever think it would be your kid,” admits Sam’s mom, Erin Collins. And yet there was a time when the prognosis was bleak. “At first you’re thinking: what does planning a funeral for you child look like?”
Through all this, Sam did begin to recover, but it soon became apparent that the ordeal had left him with mild damage to his brain, affecting his motor and sensory development. The Collins wanted their little guy to come home to a normal life. “But our normal had changed,” says Mrs. Collins. Daily life became filled with visits to neurologists, nephrologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech pathologists. The new normal meant that Sam’s parents spent each day searching for things that were wrong, milestones that weren’t being met, and signs that things were heading south. And they realized they were in danger of robbing Sam of a normal childhood.
“The journey was so weird,” Mrs. Collins recalls. At first, the couple looked for ways to protect their son: searching what kind of things you can do with a kid who’s bothered by loud noises, how to leave the house and deal with unknown environments, and how to change their home so he could cope.
However, Aaron & Erin Collins, educated in physical and behavioral sciences and owners of a local chiropractic practice, believed that the body is resilient and capable of healing itself. Mrs. Collins says, “I used to work with stroke patients all the time… and after enough work, they started forming new networks around that dead part [and forming] new pathways.” She thought, “if that can happen with an 80 year old, that can happen with a 2 year-old.” This lead Sam’s dad, Aaron Collins, to wonder: is there a way we can try to change his brain?
And so they dove into searching for natural and alternative therapies that could help their son’s development and healing. Aaron started researching and training in different ways to adjust through chiropractic care. The Collins’ also found other therapy techniques. The more they looked into, the more they saw that these were ways that kids already like to play. Which led them to a very important conclusion: children are born to be healthy, thriving and joyful.
This finding not only changed how the couple approached Sam’s development, but compelled them to create a community event, called Awesome Kids Day. “Specialists and therapists are so important, but it’s also important to take a step back, devote a day to play, and celebrate the naturally joyful state of our children,” says Aaron Collins. Hence Awesome Kids Day was born. The mission is not just to be a day for children to have fun, but also for parents to stop, breathe, and delight in their children learning through play. “It’s a day to remind kids and parents of the beauty and joy of childlike wonder, and to let parents celebrate the fact that ’Hey, my kid is awesome.’” explains Aaron.
Most early development in childhood happens through play. Likewise, function lost to brain injury can be regained through play. Awesome Kids Day was designed to showcase resources that can help kids gain skills through sensory play, mobility exercises, music and rhythmic movement, reading, healthy eating and even joyful thinking. To children, these are just games. But when engaged in the activities, kids are actually building gross motor skills, leg and trunk strength, language skills and much more. These resources are meant to show inexpensive, local tools that are great for any kid, at any level.
Awesome Kids Day is a day that turns downtown Burien in to a wonderland that excites and delights kids and is accessible to all families. It is a day to show parents the resources they can use to help their kids – resources the Collins have been using to help Sam. They keep the event fun and, most importantly, they keep it all free so that families throughout the community can participate and learn that healthy living doesn’t have to cost a fortune and it doesn’t have to be boring.
This year is the 2nd annual Awesome Kids Day event and looks to be bigger and better due to support from local businesses and organizations like Burien Parks and Recreation. Thanks to help from numerous volunteers and sponsors the Collins continue to make this event great and are able to keep it free for families to participate.
Of their son, Sam, Mrs. Collins admits, “We’re excited that he’s alive. We are really excited to see him catching up in reading, handwriting, and speech. By the time Sam is 8 years old, if we keep up with doing everything we can, we believe he can be back up to the normal development level.” She concludes, “our story is: we’re on a journey and still trying to figure out what works for [Sam]. We’ve had a lot of help from a lot of great people. And we want to be able to share that info with other people.”
If you want to participate in Awesome Kids Day, you can join the Collins family on Saturday, July11th at Burien Town Square Park from 10am-2pm. For information on volunteering, sponsoring, or other ways to get involved visit www.AwesomeKidsDay.com.