Island Parent Magazine Winter 2023

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FAMILY RESOURCE DIRECTORY The Family Resource Directory is designed to highlight the caring community that we are a part of. This directory showcases organizations and businesses that provide services and support for families and children. Navigate is an award-winning school, recognized nationally and internationally for our innovative approach to blended learning. We’ve implemented the new BC curriculum and built unique, flexible learning options for every student. This allows us to meet a diverse range of student needs, abilities and learning styles. Discover more at NavigateNIDES.com Thriving Roots Wilderness School Thriving Roots provides hands-on, wilderness education and counselling services for youth and adults. Our year-long programs and summer camps are immersive in nature, fostering connection to land and community through earth-based skills, play, music and more. thrivingroots.org info@thrivingroots.org PARENTING Reason to Celebrate My daughter’s preschool has a sacred ritual: every day a different kid gets to be Helper of the Day. My daughter talks about the Helper of the Day a lot—who it is, how they get to ring the bell for circle time, how they have a special badge to denote their preschool-royalty status. One day I pick her up and ask, “Who was the Helper of the Day today?” “I was,” she responds. I stop. Gasp. Crouch down with my arms open for a hug. “You were?!” But instead of giving me a hug, my four-year-old channels her inner fourteenyear-old and leaves me kneeling with my Watching my daughter spell her name Kids’ accomplishments are magical. arms open, and rolls her eyes. for the first time. Seeing that sly smile of It wasn’t the first time. pride as she stands on her own on the ice I know. But it’s still exciting. rink. Being disoriented when she washes She didn’t want my enthusiasm. Maybe her hands without needing a stool. It’s a she thought my reaction was overkill. world of firsts, or at least seconds, a time Maybe she thought my excitement wasn’t of measurable growth, of marveling at genuine. Or maybe she thought I was underestimating her by reacting too wildly is vastly different from the last. A time how each week, then month, then year to something she had already mastered. of growth charts marked in the kitchen, Whatever the reason for the eye roll, it of certificates from each two-month long got me thinking about how much I wish skating program, of preschool graduations. someone would give me positive reinforcements for my accomplishments. You In childhood, haircuts are sparkly, got the kid dressed and out the door? summer camps come with completion Applause! You made it to work on time? ribbons and each grandparent visit has Cheers! You made a dinner that wasn’t a ice-cream. Adulthood, on the other hand, la Kraft? Standing ovation! You decluttered some old clothes on Varage Sale? Of oh crap, I didn’t realize I had another is filled with who is going where today? Woop! You remembered to wake up at meeting now, of playing spot the new six am for ballet/jazz registration? I am wrinkle, of s@#$ my girls’ night out that so proud of you! was planned months in advance just got My daughter’s gotten pretty good at cancelled, yet again, but I’m actually her “thank yous,” but I can’t say I ever kinda relieved cause I could really use feel truly validated for making it through some Netflix and home-made nachos the daily grind. Part of it is likely that right now. the day-to-day work of being a parent I vividly remember the first time we left doesn’t produce accomplishments other the house after my daughter was born. than keeping your kids alive for another She was five days old and we walked day. There isn’t the nice bow of closure down to the Italian Bakery where a lovely that comes with pressing publish on a older woman coo-ed at her in just the blog post, sighing relief after an important meeting or even just logging off from that made me feel truly accomplished for right way and congratulated me in a way email at the end of the day. Parenting is having brought a beautiful human into rewarded by hugs, “I like it when we’re the world. together mommy,” and kissing a passedout child once they are finally asleep and infant daughter by myself, I couldn’t I remember the first time I drove my looking deceivingly angelic. Parents aren’t believe I could do it—it felt like how I usually on the receiving end of high fives. imagine paragliding to me—that I was 18 Island Parent Magazine IslandParent.ca
flying high above the ordinary little people down below going about their average days. Some of these firsts keep coming but they are morphing all the while, the first daycare drop-off becomes preschool drop-off becomes kindergarten. The bedtime routine we finally got down stops working, and the white noise machine becomes a music box becomes reading Fancy Nancy twice in a row and making sure “tete” the teddy is at the foot of the bed. I look to parents of older kids as experts, as seniors when I’m a freshman. Parenting is a weird mix of knowing some things really well but being at the precipice of the unknown. Being on a hike without a map, never knowing what will emerge around the corner. It’s exciting that things always change, but it’s also panic inducing. Suddenly my sevenstep bedtime routine just lost its power. Suddenly, she’s stopped saying “tete” and started saying “teddy.” Suddenly, her drawings of people include legs. After a toddlerhood of downing pepper slices, she’s asking me to pick them out of her lasagna. It’s a constant learning curve accompanied by the perpetual grief of losing a version of someone you love a little bit more with each passing day. When my daughter was a newborn, my midwife showed up as I hid in the bathroom and cried in my sleep deprived, sore-nippled state. When I came out, she simply looked at me and said, “this is hard as f***.” She was right. It is all hard and no one gives you a gold star for it. So tonight, after bedtime and before the next wake-up, pour yourself some wine as the dishes wait and cheers to making it through all of it. Each exhausting, heartwarming, frustrating, fleeting moment of it. Because you deserve a kneeled-down, arms wide open, Helper of the Day hug. You made it. You are making it. And that calls for one heck of a celebration. Julie Mais is a policy and communications professional in Victoria. She looks for beauty in the everyday through writing, photography and the outdoors. She lives in a messy, cheesefilled home with her husband and preschooler. Preschool to Grade 12 Imagine a School…where music, dance, theatre and visual arts are infused into all aspects of an outstanding curriculum. v Preschool located at the beautiful Cedar Hill Recreation Centre v Comprehensive K-12 program consistently exceeds BC Curriculum v Excellent facilities, convenient locations throughout Victoria v Highly qualified, dedicated staff and low student/teacher ratios Visit our website, come to one of our Open Houses, or call us! www.ArtsCalibre.ca info@ArtsCalibre.ca 250.382.3533 2023 Water to 2023 Water to 2023 Earth MARCH 22 Month Earth - APRIL 22 Water MARCH 22 Month to Earth - APRIL 22 Month MARCH 22 Activities - APRIL and events 22 Activities to celebrate and events both Activities World and to celebrate Water events both Day to celebrate World and Earth both Water Day! World Water Day and and Earth Earth Day! Day! getinvolved.rdn.ca/team-watersmart getinvolved.rdn.ca/team-watersmart IslandParent.ca Winter 2023 19
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Page 5 and 6: FASTFORWARD 7½ Spring Things to Do
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Page 25 and 26: From preschool to grade 8, Selkirk
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Page 37 and 38: 5 Ways to Get Involved in Volunteer
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Island Parent Magazine Winter 2023

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