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:

familyc@uvic.ca

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-

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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 quadravillageday@gmail.com

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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