children

Children: Our most valuable natural resource.

Jordyn the Starfish
JORDYN THE STARFISH AND THE CORAL REEF TRIP by Rachel Trail and Jordyn Trail-Fowler Jordyn the Starfish and the Coral Reef Trip
By Rachel 5 years ago in Families
Discovering the Obvious
Today, I forced my children to do chores. I didn’t have to threaten them, but they did need a little extra motivation from my husband (just a “do what your mom told you to,” nothing more, nothing less).
By Misses Educator5 years ago in Families
The Art of Recess
By Melissa Holman-Kursky, MA, M.Ed “Before you think about retaliating, ask yourself: is this person normally out to get me?”
By Melissa Holman-Kursky, M.A., M.Ed.5 years ago in Families
Parents Need Reliable Child Care More Than Ever
A Safe Place for Children Creating a safe place for children reassures parents that the children will remain safe with their staff at the child care facility. A franchisee must keep their franchise up to code and follow all guidelines given by the franchisor, as well as obtain and remain compliant with state licensing requirements. When constructing the daycare facility, the franchisee hires contractors, often pre-approved resources, who understand state and federal building codes and who can follow the franchisors brand specifications. The property will need to meet all standards before it passes an inspection. Allowing new daycare facilities to open indicates that appropriate authorities have inspected the property as well as all equipment intended for child use. All fixtures, equipment, and installations should not present any risk to children who are attending the childcare facility. All parties must be sure that all standards are met before the door opens. The franchisors give guidance to help ensure that the franchisee continues to follow all regulations and health and safety standards while operating the child care facility.
By Cindy Page5 years ago in Families
Best Day of Our Lives
So this is the story of the day we got our little sunshine. Now, I mentioned in my intro we didn't have my boyfriends daughter quite yet. She still lived with bio mom and at the time we had no problem with that. Things started around his daughters birthday. I typically worked the night shift and came back later. When I arrived home the kiddo was fast asleep on the couch trying to wait until I got home from work. But as soon as I walked through the door I knew something was wrong. My boyfriend had one of our mutual friends come over because his daughter wouldn't talk to him. When I went to the couch to get his daughter off to bed I saw what they were talking about. She had a huge black eye, not a typical oh she fell black eye no it looked like someone had hit her. But the story she was telling is that she was spinning and hit it off the corner of bio moms coffee table. Not uncommon for a child to fall so I honestly didn't think much of it. Until I got her to talk and she was saying the same thing she told our friend and her father. You'd think well again not uncommon, however our problem was that she was repeating it word for word. Like she had memorized what to say, or she had been coached to say it. We shared our concerns with mom and she basically blew us off about it which made us feel even more uneasy. I wish that was the last incident before our happy day, but it wasn't. The next time we had gotten her she had such a bad sunburn that it had created some really nasty blisters. Which again didn't sit well with us. We were told that she had sunscreen on, but we didn't believe it so we called DHHS. We shared our concerns and come to find out we weren't the only ones with a problem with bio mom. We were informed about other incidents that were reported on, so we were told to keep ahold of his daughter until they could come and visit her with us. At this time she did have a room that she stayed in with us. But her dad was a little concerned with the cops being called. DHHS asked if there was a court order in place and there was none. That is when we were told then there was nothing the cops could do because he was bio dad. The next day DHHS came out to see us and we showed them the pictures of the burns and explained what we had put on them to keep them clean. That resulted all of going in for a team meeting to decide what was going to happen next. The next day when we attended the team meeting bio mom was making such a fuss about things that she either did (or didn't do) and tried saying he wasn't an involved father. Not to mention he did not know his daughter was his until after a year and a paternity test was done. At the end of this meeting it was decided she was to only have supervised visits and that dad would have custody of their daughter until mom got some help. After this meeting we were so excited, I was excited we got to see her more and that she would be taken care of. This was the best day of my life, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!
By Bonus Mom5 years ago in Families
Aqua Dad
This is the story of a boy called Tom. Tom is very very small. This is also the story of Tom’s Dad. Tom’s Dad is very very tall.
By Luke Howe5 years ago in Families
Preschool parents: Help is on the way
Preschoolers have limited attention spans and need a lot of supervision so how do you keep them engaged and safe and still get anything else done without just plopping them in front of a screen?
By Julie Thompson5 years ago in Families
Straight People Make Gay and Trans Kids
In early 2010 I had a 2 year old and was pregnant with another baby. I loved going to the library for a free and fun activity with her. One trip stands out to me in particular. My little girl with her long blonde pigtails bounced over to me with a cute book about two penguins and their baby. She excitedly asked to check it out so we added it to our growing pile of books. It was called And Tango Makes Three. We were reading a lot of books about new babies in preparation for the big transition of adding one to our own home.
By Megan Rabideau5 years ago in Families
Runaway
Most children run away from home at some point. One of my student families had a laugh about their son’s plans the last time I was there, how they offered to help him pack food and clothes, and he complained the suitcase was too heavy. My experience went… a little differently. No one knew I’d run away until years later, when I laughed about it in front of my parents.
By Elizabeth Hunter5 years ago in Families
Love Letters from Heather
To my middle child, Candice. Hey, Red! I remember the second I set eyes on you. You were just the cutest seven-year-old ever—your perfect tone of red/auburn hair, your incredible smile, and your intelligent eyes. Your foster mother gave you the nickname “Grandma” because even at such a young age, you were looking after your siblings.
By Heather Down5 years ago in Families
Choosing a Child Care
Selecting a child care centre is a difficult task that a lot of parents and carers end up facing at one stage or another. The decision to leave your child with complete strangers, qualified or not, is not one that a lot of parents take lightly. Unless of course you are like me, and are desperate for a day of sanity and peace with little concern given that these carer's are often very qualified. However, I was blessed with the good fortune of an easy going personality and previous experience working in child care - so I didn't have as much anxiety as a lot of parents would. Having been on both sides of the fence - both a parent and an educator - I think I have a solid foundation on being able to provide advice on selecting a child care centre.
By Emily Fernan5 years ago in Families
ASD Snapshot: Can I Go?
In Transition We are still learning to drive. Months after passing the Ontario written test (six swings at the bat), we move to British Columbia: another province, another test. No biggie, I tell myself. Erik can write the BC learner's test during the last week of August, the week before college orientation begins.
By Teresa Hedley5 years ago in Families