Arizona Daily Star from Tucson, Arizona • Page 29

i i 4 1 1 1 i si i Bard Lindeman 2D he Arizona Beiilg Star son, Thursday, February 23, 1995 TV 5D BEST AVAILABLE COPY Classified ads 70 rYTWi wit 1 LdMm my i if the desert' Dolores Barceld Gonzales models one of her designs at a local guest ranch qu aw dress big success for sisters By Bonnie Henry The Arizona Daily Star It began with a stick, a skirt and a puddle. Thus was created the broomstick skirt and its close cousin, the tiered skirt -or as we used to say back in more politically incorrect times the squaw dress. "With a broomstick skirt, you take the cloth, wet it, wrap it around a broomstick and tie it. That causes the pleating. "With a tiered skirt, it's done in three tiers from the waistband," says Cele Peterson, who started selling the skirts in Tucson back in the early '30s.

"I didn't design them; I lifted them," Peterson cheerfully acknowledges. "The Indian women were already wearing them, both kinds. You saw them everywhere." And never more so than after Maria Barceld and Dolores Barceld Gonzales, two sisters from an old-time Sonoran family, hit Tucson more than a half-century ago and saw the possibilities. "My dresses were just a sideline. But they manufactured them as a business," says Peterson.

And how. At one time, J.C. Penney even wanted to sell the line produced by Dolores Gonzales, who had followed sister Maria's footsteps into the business. i fA. i v.

rs Another TUCSON oTniaa wears, a Dolores J' exic0. i i'i 'irv li costume ttoi" IsAother was a dynamo. She designed all the dresses, did most of the cutting and oversaw the fabrication." Lee Gonzales Dolores' son "Penney's wanted to sell the dresses for $19, but my Aunt Dolores would never do it," says Richard Barcel6, a nephew who briefly worked in the business back in the '50s. After all, these were dresses whose price tags sometimes soared past $100. Dresses that had been sent as gifts to Pat Nixon and Mamie Eisenhower.

But the dresses that wound up in Washington, D.C., had the same earthy origins as the ones Cele Peterson was also selling. "The women of rural Sonora would wash their skirts in rivers and streams, roll them tightly, and tie the skirts at several points," says Barceld. Born in Sonora in 1907, Dolores along with several siblings and their parents, Beatriz and Gilbert Barceld fled the unrest in Mexico in 1911. They settled for a time in See DRESSES, Page 4D Photot courtesy of Richard Barcel6 Models wearing Dolores Barceld Gonzales' creations strike a '50s pose on steam Engine No. 1673 (ids' activities may create whirlwind schedule for family Flexibility helps keep chaos at bay agendas.

If weekly meetings are tough, go for monthly ones. Be flexible. Lead by example and children will be more at ease with changes in their schedules. Quit apologizing. "Men don't apologize for not coaching Little League or the soccer team.

Mothers feel they have to make excuses," Triglia said. Share the load. In a support group for working mothers, Triglia suggests that fathers be more involved with children. Let Dad be the classroom volunteer or the parent in charge of dropping the lads at the bus stop. She talks to moms "about I 1 hogging the time all to themselves." Psychologist Jan Hittelman, a I father who has taken on the primary1! caretaker role for his daughter, advises much the same.

"Dads in the classroom make a big impact on the-1 lads." If you can't be in the classroom. Jack has to be to preschool. Gina is starting a new business a children's store called Angel Baby. She's in escrow on a new house. Oh, and she volunteers at Nathan's school one morning a week and takes him to riding lessons once a week.

If she wanted to join the Parent-Teacher Organization, she'd be blocking out another morning of her time, because it meets during the day. Daytime meetings are the standard at many schools. What's a parent with a 9-to-5 job to do? Change schools? Some hold parent-teacher meetings at night Others have as their goal this year to involve as many parents as possible, and that means experimenting with night-meeting hours, said Vicky Minna, co-president of an elementary school Parent-Teacher Association in Mission Viejo, Calif. Minna knows what a busy schedule is like. She has four sons ages 4 to 15 attending three schools.

When the PTA asked parents which meeting times would be most convenient, they found that tying a general meeting into a school event would draw more attendees. Offering baby-sitting also helped get the parents of the school's 724 pupils to come. Being busy just isn't a good excuse. Everyone is busy. But things can be done: Set priorities! Limit the number of structured activities for young children.

Give them more free time. "We overschedule kids. We feel like we have to do that to be good psychologist Jan Hittelman, who has been the primary caretaker of his 7-year-old daughter. "There should be unstructured playtime, playtime with peers instead of fitting it in when you can." Another convenience for busy parents: a color-coded calendar. It worked for professional organizer Pat McBride-Burris, who used one to raise three children and three stepchildren.

She suggests weekly meetings with the family so everyone can stay abreast of the others' schedules. Good advice, according to Ami Dunn, a family therapist who teaches seminars called Awesome Moms. Her clients find a calendar takes tension out of scheduling, although meeting once a month might be more realistic, she said. "Throughout the month, everyone can see where the other parties are," Dunn said. But working with teens means being flexible and ready for change daily, she notes.

Hourly. Even minute to minute. The changes should be made only with the consent of an adult. Gail Stephenson isn't into the teen phase yet her three children range in See BUSY, Page 40 Kathryn Cave nge County Register ot a pencil? Grab a calendar, First, schedule regular school hours. Pencil in soccer practice, nee class.

Kuman math. Cub Scouts, mp Fire sessions. Piano lessons. And rthing else your kid is into. Add a round of dentist appointments, ctor visits.

Teacher in-service days. 100I performances. Afternoon fund sing. Now, about your job It doesn't just seem as though you're rays running. Always tackling traffic.

rays trying to get somewhere or tneone there on time. You are. Between the errands, structured ac- ities for the kids and a full-time job, 're doing battle with a Day Runner. Make that full-scale war. We're all busy.

Ask the parents of a Lid accidentally left at soccer practice cause each thought the other was go- to pick up the kid. Ask the parents to rely on beepers to keep up. Or ask Gina Straw, a single mother of sons. Her oldest, Nathan, 5, entered idergarten this year at the same time ck, 3, started preschool two days a k. Free time, right? Think again.

Nathan catches the bus just before Orange County Register You've tackled your calendar to get organized. Now, take on the world. If your PTA doesn't offer evening meetings, and many don't, call them on it Suggest they meet in the evening, or at least alternate day and evening meetings. "Look, the reality is a lot of us are working. Employers have to begin advocating for some more flexibility," said Christyn Triglia, a marriage and family counselor and the mother of one school-age child and a 3-month-old.

"The buck stops here, in terms of this generation making changes in schools and employment," Triglia said. Set priorities. Limit young children's activities in favor of free time for all to enjoy. Color-code your calendar. Assign a color to each child and fill in the calendar.

You 11 get a realistic picture of how much running you do with the family. The kids will see what's planned for them. Hold meetings. Synchronize offer an alternative an hour a week I you can help or one day you can devote to the school. Some parents grade papers or make classroom decorations at night.