Monday, April 6, 1998 | 8:43 a.m.
How do you raise a child in Las Vegas?
"The same way you raise them anyplace else," shrugs Aurore Leigh Barrett, editor and publisher of "Las Vegas Parent & Child," a new publication aimed at "educating, entertaining, edifying and uplifting" families in Southern Nevada.
"I don't think we have any special issues here," Barrett declares, decked out in a pink suit and coming from a Las Vegas Women in Communications luncheon.
"I've lived in San Francisco, Seattle, Carson City and Chicago, and I did not see problems any more prevalent here than anyplace else, in terms of raising children," she continues. "What you have may be more in-your-face, but other areas have the same things."
Despite the existence of casino predators, racy billboards (and formerly racy Yellow Pages), gang activity and illegal prostitution, Barrett doesn't see raising a family and living in Las Vegas as mutually exclusive goals.
"Everyone thinks of this as a Sin City, and it's not -- it's a wonderful place for children," she says, pointing out a few of the benefits: the climate allows daily outdoor play, and flexible casino shifts allow many parents to achieve round-the-clock supervision of their children without relying on day care.
In fact, Barrett's sunny skies outlook is intended to mirror her publication's: the paper is meant purely as a source of happiness and positive thinking for Las Vegas parents.
"We're not out there to show the bad side of life," Barrett explains. "We're not looking for an expose, because I'm not trying to expose anything."
And for some parents, no bad news is good news.
"People were saying, 'it's wonderful to read a positive, uplifting publication that has information, and when I finish reading, I feel good,' " she says.
'Knowledge is power'
Even if Las Vegas parents don't need localized advice, they do seem eager for any universal parenting tips they can get.
Already, reaction has been "phenomenal," Barrett says.
The free publication is available at bookstores such as Borders and Barnes & Noble, day care centers such as the Children's World Learning Centers, and public and private schools in Clark County, as well as in Pahrump and Boulder City. Even a local library called to ask how they could get copies.
Due to the demand, the initial run of 10,000 copies for the February premiere issue was increased 20 percent by the following month.
Randie Litski, director of the Children's World Learning Center at the Lakes, ordered copies to distribute to parents sight unseen. "I get a lot of subscriptions on parenting issues but nothing local," she says. "Any knowledge is power, and it helps to get that local perspective."
"It's a good, informative little paper for the parents to have," agrees Leslie Chaney, director of the Learning Tree nursery school. One thing she'd like to see next: "resources, listings of parenting or nutrition classes, and information about community services, because unlike the school-aged child, there's no place for the pre-kindergartner to go to for that information."
However, Cathy Peshlakai, regional manager of Bright Start Children's Centers, decided against distributing the publication because she felt it had an underlying religious connotation.
The cover of the premiere issue featured an award-winning poem written by Knoxville newspaper columnist Ina Hughs called "A Prayer for Children," which has been reproduced in religious magazines.
"We have to be careful about people's opinions and religious beliefs," Peshlakai says. "I felt this was a newspaper that if a parent chose to read it, they could reach out directly and not use us."
However, Barret explains that it was all just a misunderstanding.
The poem, taken from the book "A Prayer for Children," sends a message of hope rather than spiritual intervention. It has also been picked up by secular media outlets, including Dear Abby and Ann Landers, "Good Morning America" and Child Magazine.
"It was never intended to be (taken) as a religious paper," Barrett explains. "Maybe the problem was it was too uplifting. The mistake we made was putting 'prayer' (on the cover) instead of 'ode.' "
Other ideas that come across as cotton candy caretaking include the "Animal of the Month" space-filler on puffins, seaturtles and boarder collies, and the back page featuring recipe ideas.
But the paper also offers parents practical ideas on things they can do with their children, such as day trips to the Los Angeles Zoo and the Roy Rogers museum in Victorville, as well as the more questionable idea of taking children scuba diving.
"It's a way to say, I should do that with my child, or I should say that to my child," Barrett says. "It's a way to give to parents without preaching to them."
'I love children'
Publishers Barrett and her husband, David St. John, who designs the publication, moved from Seattle to Las Vegas two years ago, and founded Barrett St. John Publications. They started out publishing the $19.95 monthly "Weddings: Las Vegas Complete Wedding Chapel Guide" before sinking about $3,000 into the launch of the new newspaper.
For the first two months, Barrett held off on seeking advertisers, explaining that they first "wanted to show what we could do."
Starting with this month's issue, advertisers, including the Galleria Mall, Sophisticated Babies and Le Gallerie Luministe, were accepted, with 10 percent of ad revenue donated to non-profit organizations that focus on children -- such as Candelighters, a foundation for children with cancer, or St. Jude's Ranch for Children in Boulder City.
What qualifies Barrett to publish a parenting publication? Her credentials are varied, but include previous stints putting out a city guide to the arts in Seattle, writing a column on small business, and running a children's theater group. That's not to mention her most hands-on experience of all: she has successfully raised four grown children: Camille, James, Leslie and Heather, two biological and two adopted.
"I love children," she declares, when asked why she chose to adopt. "I think children deserve a good home and a home with a lot of love and support. A home is a place you go to in a storm, and if children don't have that, then they're a boat that's adrift."
One problem with parents today, she says, is that they have been convinced that they should not 'sacrifice' their lives for the sake of their children but should consider their own needs first.
"Eighteen years is such a short period of time," she laments. "You blink and it's over with. And if you can't give up 18 years of your life... that doesn't mean you have to give your career up, but you do have to be there for them, to hold them, to touch them, to love them. To support them and to fight for them."
Her personal creed of parenting included telling her children there was nothing they couldn't do if they really wanted to, making sure to always send them off with the reminder that she loved them, and giving them the survival skills to make it in this world.
One of the most important -- and devisive -- issues in parenting today is parents who have to decide -- or have no choice -- about whether to work or stay at home.
Barrett chooses the middle ground.
"My feeling is, if there's any way possible for a mother to stay home, I think she should," she says. "My kids went without Nikes, 10-speed bikes, but I was always there when they got home from school."
However, she realizes, "there's an awful lot of children here without two parents," she says. Or children with working parents who just can't afford to stay home.
"If you can't do it," she says, "I think you should be the fussiest, most particular person when it comes to finding somebody to take care of your child. I would check everything I could check before I would let anybody watch my child. This is the most precious gift, and you can't just let it go."
And now that she has let her own children go, she hopes that the publication will let her take what she has learned and pass it on to others.
"To have your daughter say to you, 'Gosh mom, I'm so glad that you were my mother,' " Barrett says. "(That's) worth more (to me) than being president or CEO."
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