Sunday Dispatch from Pittston, Pennsylvania • 27

JUST F0R Kll)s Send your poems, pictures, vacation stories, or summer adventures stories to: The Thursday Dispatch Kids Page, 109 New Pittston PA 18640. Please include your name, age, school and town. The Ever Popular, Star Attraction, The "Tomato" It's finally here! The Pittston Tomato Festival begins tonight with plenty of fun and exciting things to see and do. Pittston has been celebrating the Tomato Festival for 15 years and each year it seems to get better. This year's festival will be packed with delicious ethnic foods, crafts, games, and great entertainment.

But in all this excitement let's not forget the ever popular, star attraction, the 'TOMATO." Tomatoes are believed to have originated in the mountainous regions of the 'Andes, (Patch, the traveling wonder dog just recently visited that region), South America. Because of the particular family the tomato belongs to, sometimes referred to as the Nightshade family, many people believed the tomato was poisinous. It wasn't until the 19th century that the U.S. realized tomatoes were etible. As for the, ongoing debate, "Is the tomato a fruit or vegetable?" The answer is (the science of plants, dealing with structure, growth and varieties) it is a fruit; hor-ticulturally (the art or science of growing trees or plants) it is a vegetable.

Go figure! Tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamin A and and not only that, they taste great! You can eat them plain, add a little salt and pepper, slice them and drizzle olive oil and basil on them, eat them in a salad, fry green ones, dress up pizza with them, the list goes on. Here are some fun things you can do with your child in honor of the tomato. TOMATO BOAT MR. ANDOR MRS. TOMATO When Your Kid's a Slob Did you ever wonder if it would just be easier to move to avoid the messes your children make rather than coerce them to clean it up? Some parents have an awful time getting their children to put away their toys, clean up their messes and so on.

It's no secret that little kids can make big messes. Often kids experiment with a variety of toys before finding the perfect one for the storyline they are creating, leaving all the unused ones in their wake, This is somewhat a good thing, though. Children need to experiment with the toys for all different uses. If you constantly pick up behind them, they won't be able to fully imagine and explore. But, when the of exploration is over, and the family-room is a minefield of Barbies, here's how to help her straighten up: Pitch In It's unrealistic to ask a child to clean up all by herself.

Even though she created the mess, she may not know how to begin tiding up. Show her which toys go in which boxes and where to place the containers when full. Break It Down: Trying the whole room at once will overwhelm and frustrate your child, Instead, focus on one task at a time. Ask her to pick up the building blocks while you straighten out the book basket. Continue area by area until the room is tidy, Reward Small your child for every effort.

Instead of harping on what still needs to be done, comment on the great job she did picking up all the puzzle pieces. Make It Fun: You can turn cleanup into a game by setting a timer or playing a song and seeing how much of the. mess can be picked up before the buzzer goes off or the song ends. Or ask your child to put away as many toys as she can using nothing but tongs. Dangle A Carrot: Talking excitedly about the next event of the day should speed up the process.

For example, tell a child that the quicker the mess gets cleaned up, the quicker she can go outside and play. Then talk about all the great things to do on the playground. Of course, there will be days when nothing works and the mess just sits. Use your best judgement, but don't constantly clean up just because you want the house clean. Your child needs to learn the consequence of making a mess is picking it up before she can move on to other adventures.

Large tomato 2 green olives 1 black olive 14-12 slice of cheese Z- red tip leaf lettuce 1 thin slice of ham 2 tooth picks Carefully (mom or dad do the cutting) cut three small hole into the side of a large tomato (where eyes and a nose should be). Place the two Large tomato tuna salad 4 slices of cheese cut in 8 large tooth pick Cut a large tomato into 18 sections. Remove the seeds from each section. Add tuna salad to the tomato. Place a large tooth pick in the tuna salad.

Carefully place the cheese on the tooth pick (as illustrated above). green olives in where the eyes belong and the black olive where the nose belongs. Cut the cheese into a banana or smily shape. Place where the mouth belongs and secure with the tooth pick. For Mrs.

Tomato place the leaf lettuce on the top of the tomato where hair should go, secure with tooth pick. For Mr. Tomato, roll the slice of ham and place under the tomato to make a bow tie. Enjoy! I Have fun together making up your own special tomato creations. I "As They Crow," written by I'ittston resident Lisa Anderika, M.S.Ed., appears Silly, Silly, Tomato Jokes What did the mother tomato say to the baby tomato as they went for and evening stroll? "Ketchup" you falling behind.

Why was the tomato blushing? Because he saw the salad dressing. every week in the Thursday Dispatch. THURSDAY DISPATCH, 20, 1998 Pago 27.