Why Should Adults Have All the Fun? Kids' Edition Makes Debut

So I came home from a long day of teaching class at Cal Poly Pomona -- my "other" job -- late one night to find the page you see at the left sitting on my desk, awaiting my perusal.

"Kaylee wanted to make a newspaper," said my wife, Kristen.

"Yeah, I can see that," I thought. What brought that on? I thought newspapers were nonexistent in the minds of kids these days. Doesn't she want to design a website or something?

Nope. Kaylee, our oldest grandchild, who just turned 7 a few weeks ago, wants to make newspapers like Pop did all those years before he turned to the dark side and went digital. Sure, she knows her way around a computer screen, like every kid these days. But Kaylee loves to draw. She loves to cut with scissors. She loves to staple. She loves to make books, with pages you can turn.

We got to talking about this, Kaylee and I. So she wants to do a Menifee 24/7 Kids Edition? I say go for it. But let's save on printing costs, I said. Write and draw whatever you want, and we'll post it here on the "real" Menifee 24/7. In fact, let's get some other kids to do the same, so it's like a real newspaper -- just online.

Thus today, we announce the formation of Menifee 24/7 Kids Edition, a weekly blog post to appear here with submissions from the children of Menifee. Any child eighth grade and under may contribute. In my infinite wisdom, I have named as Junior Editor of this publication Kaylee, first grader and budding journalist. Each week, she will write (or draw, or both) a brief editor's note at the top of the blog post. The rest of the post will consist of things written or drawn by the kids of Menifee.

So spread the word. The first edition "goes to press" next week. Kaylee will accept drawings, short stories, kids' news reports or anything that's on the kids' minds -- especially if it's about something local to Menifee. Pretty much anything goes. Hey, if Kaylee can write about how to catch a leprechaun (more on that next week), what can your kid come up with?

There are two ways to submit content for Menifee 24/7 Kids Edition. One, items may be mailed to this address:

Menifee 24/7 Kids Edition
31026 Fair Hill Court
Menifee, CA 92584

Kaylee, Junior Editor

Two, submissions may be emailed to menifee247kids@gmail.com. If your child drew something, scan it or take a picture of it and attach it to the email. If your child wrote something, we'd prefer to receive it in the original handwritten form. If it is typed into the email by the child, let us know it's their original work. If a parent retypes the work, assure us that your child dictated the content or wrote it out first.

Please have your child keep written submissions brief. Include the child's first name only, and his or her age. We will not publish last names, the school the child attends or any other personal information.

So let the fun begin! Every child wants to see his or her work published, right? Each week, we'll select a few from the submissions received for that week's Menifee 24/7 Kids Edition.

OK, kids? Ready, set, go!