may, 2011 issue 165 news & views · elizabeth quong staff emma chalifour miki mcmechan joe...
TRANSCRIPT
News & Views
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A COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER FOR STUDENT FAMILIES AT UVIC
May, 2011
ISSUE 165
DIRECTOR
ELIZABETH QUONG
STAFF
EMMA CHALIFOUR
MIKI McMECHAN
JOE CHALIFOUR FACULTY COORDINATOR
LAURENE SHEILDS
NEWSLETTER
KATHLEEN BORTOLIN
Address
UVIC Family Centre
39208- 2375 Lam Circle
Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 1700 STN CSC
Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2
Phone: 250-472-4062
E-Mail:
Check out our com-
plete listing of pro-
grams at:
http://web.uvic.ca/
family-centre/
Family Centre Weekly Hours and Programs Monday Closed Closed
Tuesday 9:30am-3pm Music and Movement Playgroup: 10am-12noon
Wednesday 9:30am– 3pm Playgroup: 10am-12noon
Thursday 1pm-5pm Afterschool Program: 3:30pm-5:00pm
Friday 10am-12noon Playgroup: 10am-12noon
Student-Mothers
By Kathleen Bortolin
“What? You have two children? And you’re taking
three graduate courses? Gasp. I don’t know how
you do it.”
When I admitted to my classmates, about halfway
through the semester, that I was not only a gradu-
ate student but also a (gulp) mother of preciously
small children, the reaction was usually a mixture
of awe and confusion. I often looked at my class-
mates with envy; many of them had children but
they were usually grown-up children, or at least
attending school. I would look at them from across
the classroom, wonder at the lack of bags under
their eyes, and covet their stainless clothes and
well-coiffed hair. If only I didn’t have to wake up
twice a night to nurse my son. If only I didn’t have
to spend all morning playing with Lego. If only I
didn’t have to do seven loads of laundry, vacuum
up playdoh (does it ever come out?), take children
to libraries/music groups/playdates…it would all be
so easy. Wouldn’t it?
Talking to the only student in my program I could
find that was as crazy as I was--attempting a PhD
with two small children--I realized just how we did
it. We managed our courseloads, relatively grace-
fully, because we are in fact mothers of young chil-
dren. As mothers we are the great mult-taskers. At
any given time, we weave through our mental to do
list, thinking about what meat to defrost for dinner
while holding our teething baby in one hand and
applying a bandaid to the“guess who pretended to
be an astronaut and flew off the computer chair”
toddler with the other hand. We can successfully
check the flyers, make a shopping list, nurse a baby,
and pretend to be Vikings in the long house we
made out of the kitchen table and an old sheet—all
at once. Three presentations, two assignments,
and a 20-page paper due on the same day? That’s
nothing. Furthermore, we handle the rigour of
university because we are conditioned to a life of
fatigue, having not had a good night’s sleep in three
to five years. Late night papers—no problem. We
know how to make a good Americano, and our chil-
dren know what we take in it. Finally, we have one
more special weapon in our arsenal—our kids. We
have the luxury of escaping the mad world of aca-
demia by retreating into the wonderful world of
chubby fingers and rosy, post-bath faces. We can
forget about APA formatting, deadlines, and
Powerpoint because suddenly someone is standing
at the office door with feet-attached pajamas and
holding a book in their hands. It’s always easier to
return to our work clear-headed once we’ve read
Goodnight Moon, and had a goodnight hug involv-
ing little sausage arms.
Those of us lucky enough, or
crazy enough, to be fusing moth-
erhood and scholarly pursuits
can spend all day playing with
Lego and washing laundry, work late into the night,
and wake up the next morning to deal with sticky
faces and 25-page papers because we are well-
trained, focused, and madly in love with our fami-
lies. We are student-mothers. Now back away
from our Americanos and no one will get hurt.
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News & Views May, 2011
Local Activity Guide, Spring and Summer, 2011
by Anna Dzioba (Family Centre Practicum Student)
Are you looking for something to do with your children this spring/summer? New to Family
Housing and not sure what’s out there? Here are some programs and activities offered
in the area that are for both toddlers and youth at a cost that is reasonable (or free). As
well, if you pop by the Family Centre, there is a “Things to Do” board with brochures,
maps, and many more ideas for you and your children to partake in this summer.
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Activities at Hender-
son Rec Centre
Activities at Gordon
Head Rec Centre Activities at
Oak Bay Rec Centre
Activities at UVic
Kindergym (18mths-
4yrs)
Drop in gym time (toys,
ride em’s, bouncy cas-
tle, etc.) Parent supervi-
sion $5.10/child
Tues/Th 10-11am, Sat/
Sun 11-noon
Dance Classes (2yrs, 2-
3yrs, & 3-5 yrs)
8/$64 Fridays, times
vary.
Pee Wee Golf (5-7yrs)
Sat or Mon/Wed, 4/$26
or 8/$52
Free Swim
Fri May 13th
7:00-
8:30pm
T-Ball (4-6yrs)
Tu/Th 4:00-4:45
8/$65 (begins May 3rd
or 31st
)
Home Alone Program
(10-14yrs)
Sat June 4th
, 9:00-
12:00pm, $30
Redcross Babysitter’s
Course (11-14yrs)
Two days, Sat
9th/16th, 9am-noon,
2/$61
Kids Fun Swim Pass -$38
All Summer Pass June 27-Sept 2
Mon-Fri 2-5pm, Fri 6:30-9:30pm,
Sat/Sun 1-5pm
Carnarvon Water Park (FREE)
Open May-September, 11am-6pm
Summer in the Park-Carnarvon
Park (6-12 yrs)
M-F, 9am-4pm, 5/$90
Variety of themes and dates
Soccertron Academy-Tots Coed (4-
5 yrs)
Weekly soccer for tots
10/$53 (Variety of days and Dates)
Sportball (2-3 yrs, & 4-7 yrs)
Choice of Multi Sport or Soccer
Saturdays 10/$155
Track & Field (8-
14yrs)
9am-4pm, M-F, $180
Mini Vikes Soccer Half
Day (5-7yrs)
$95, M-F, 9am-noon,
variety of dates
Mini Vikes Soccer Full
Day (5-7yrs)
$160, M-F, 9-4, variety
of dates
Contact: 250-370-7200 Contact: 250-475-7100 Contact: 250-595-7946 Contact: 250-472-
4000
Miki’s Corner: What’s happening at our playgroups this month?
After all the “April showers, hopefully May will bring flowers and some warm, sunny days. On May 5th,
Japan celebrates a public holiday called “Children’s Day” or “Kodomo no Hi.” On this special day chil-
dren and their mothers are honoured by flying carp fish kites on bamboo flagpoles. On May 4th, the
children who attend the Family Centre Drop In will have the opportunity to make and fly their own kites. May 8th
is
Mother’s Day, so on May 6th
the children will be creating a special Mother’s Day craft to give to mom. At circle time
we will honour mothers with songs and a story. For the remainder of May we will learn about insects,
spiders and maybe even worms and slugs. The Family Centre will be receiving a Butterfly Kit from the
Victoria Child Care Resource and Referral program. Our children and families will be able to watch but-
terflies emerge from their cocoons. The month of May will surely be full of new experiences.
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News & Views May, 2011
Rain or shine: Families came out
and enjoyed our 8th Annual
No Foolin’ Event
By Emma Chalifour
On Friday April 1st
I woke to the sound of rain! My
husband, (who always knows the forecast); assured me
that it would only be showers. At noon the rain continued
to pour, not showers as promised, but constant, torrential
rainfall! The Family Centre lawns began to flood. The
phone was ringing…staff, volunteers, Saanich Fire all
wanted to know if the event would still go on. Akin to Field
of Dreams, Elizabeth and I both agreed, ‘Put out pizza and
they will come.’ So up went the tents, decorations and re-
configuration of the Family Centre to move as much as pos-
sible indoors. The Centre filled with the happy sound of
staff, volunteers and practicum students chopping fruit and
cutting bagels.
At 4:30pm the event kicked off and the rain
stopped! Despite the soggy day two hundred families, vol-
unteers, students, faculty and staff enjoyed a fun-filled
event. Barb Whittington (Advisory Committee Member
from the School of Social Work) launched our new website
with the first of many Jump Rockets. In addition to the
Jump Rocket which was kept active for the full two hours,
the children had their faces painted, made goggle-eyed
book marks and played endless parachute games. The fire
truck, police car and security truck were popular as always
– thank you Saanich Fire, Saanich Police and Campus
Security! Community was built as people enjoyed a
variety of food - pizza, ice-cream, fruit, bagels, coffee,
and juice. Special thanks go to Lina and her team who treated us all with wonderful spring rolls made on the spot.
Thank you to everyone who came and made it
yet another successful No Foolin’ event. We would also like to express our appreciation to all the people who
volunteered before, during and after the event, we truly
could not do it without you! We would also like to thank
the following businesses for their donations and support.
Starbucks Panago Pizza
Pepper’s Food Finnerty’s
The Rootcellar UVic Bookstore
Thrifty’s Cinecenta
Hot House Pizza Old Dutch
St. Vincent De Paul Society Pepsi
Top 5 Mom Blogs
(from Island Parent, May 2011)
Looking for some parenting commisera-
tion? Tips? A different perspective on
parenting? Check out some of these blogs:
1. Motherlode by Lisa Belkin (parenting.blogs.ntimes.com)
2. Finslippy by Alice Bradley (finslippy.com)
3. Free Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy
(freerangekids.wordpress.com)
4. Dooce by Heather B. Armstrong (dooce.com)
5. A Little Pregnant by Julie Robichaux
(www.alittlepregnant.com)
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News & Views May, 2011
A great way to get connected!A great way to get connected!A great way to get connected!A great way to get connected!
Playgroups: On Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 10am-
12pm, the Family Centre hosts fun and energetic play-groups. Kathleen’s energetic Music and Movement Play-
group meets on Tuesday mornings. On Wednesday and
Friday mornings, Miki hosts playgroups involving arts and crafts, free play, circle time, and snack. We look forward
to seeing you and your little ones this month.
Please Note: Kathleen will be away Tuesday, May
24th. There will be no music group that Tuesday,
but the Family Centre will be open for casual drop-
in.
After School Club: Thursday afternoons, 3:30pm-
5:00 pm. The saying goes that April showers bring May flowers—we’re hoping for sunshine this month so that we can enjoy
a variety of outdoor activities including capture the flag, touch football, basketball Frisbee, and maybe even stomp
rocket. Hope to see you all there. This month’s schedule:
May 5 Mother’s Day Craft
May 12 Outdoor Activity May 19 Outdoor Activity
May 26 Outdoor Activity
FOR-GIRLS Program at the Family Centre
The after school drop-in program for girls will not run in May. Thank you to our enthusiastic and committed volun-
teers and to all of the girls that participated.
Note: Make and Take
Need a girls night out? The Family Centre is open on
Wednesday evenings from 7-9pm. Currently a group of
mums are working on knitting projects, but feel free to
bring your own craft project along and work on it while
getting to know other women in the community. Don’t
have a craft project? Can only make it for an hour? Come
anyway! The kettle is always on and we’d love to see you!
Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 8th!
Quadra Village Day, Saturday, May 7th, 9:30am-
1:00pm, Kings Road (between Quadra and Dowler)
FREE Drop by enjoy fun, free, all-ages activities including a pancake breakfast (9:30am), musical performances, cultural dance per-
formances, face painting, a bouncy Castle, an obstacle course, Nintendo Wii games, and Mother's Day crafts. There will also
be information about community groups including the Interna-
tional Cultural Association of Victoria, and Chinese Seniors. For more information contact the planning committee at 250-388-
7696 or by email at [email protected]
Mother’s Day Paint-in and Craft Day, Sunday, May 8th,
Royal Roads University, FREE We invite you to experience a remarkable outdoor festival
where we expect to welcome more than 3,000 visitors. In ad-
dition to the work of local artists and craftspeople, activities
will include a variety of family entertainment, main-stage per-
formances, children’s craft station and complimentary access to
the gardens. This year’s event includes walking tours of the
Hatley Park gardens, greenhouse and nearby Pendray House,
lead by Juan de Fuca Pathfinders Walking Club.
Victoria Day Parade, Monday, May 23rd, FREE
This is Victoria's largest parade event complete with marching
bands, floats, clowns and more. If you wish to watch the whole
parade it will take at least 3 hours to pass by, so come pre-
pared - bring a blanket or a folding chair, drinks and snacks to
keep you comfortable. Don't forget an extra jacket if it is cool,
and umbrella if it is raining or hats and sunscreen if it is sunny!
The parade starts from Mayfair Mall at 9:00am and proceeds
along Douglas Street finishing at the intersection of Douglas
and Humboldt in the downtown core. For more information
please call 250-382-3111
Bee Day, Sunday, May 29th, Swan Lake Nature House,
12:00pm-3:00pm, by donation
A honey of a program fit for the royalty of the insect world.
What’s the buzz about bees—are they really good dancers?
Bee songs, bee crafts and some bee spit to taste. Join us and
you’ll be amazed, bee enchanted and bee happy. Bee there or
bee square.
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