KIC Gives Back: Youville Centre & Kindness Week

Every month here at Kids in the Capital, we want to highlight an opportunity to give back to the greater Ottawa community, particularly when there are families in need. This month, we've chosen to be part of a campaign to raise awareness of the Youville Centre's work for Ottawa during Kindness Week. We hope that you'll enjoy learning more about this organization and how you can help! by Diana

On a snowy day in early January, I had the opportunity join two other women, Karen Wilson of Karen's Chronicles, and Andrea Tomkins of A Peek Inside the Fishbowl, for a tour of the Youville Centre on Mann Avenue in Ottawa, in honour of Kindness Week. Youville Centre is “an innovative centre that motivates, educates and nurtures young parents and their children to become contributing members of society.” It’s a centre that fills a genuine and important need by providing high-risk teen mothers with education, child care and support, mental health services, and assistance in linking to various community resources to help them build the skills to move forward with their lives withself-confidence and self-worth. In helping the young mothers, Youville is helping their children, which can be a powerful and lasting way to bring that small family unit in a direction towards growth and positivity it might otherwise have not. This is how a family’s cycle of abuse, neglect, poverty can be changed for the better.

First impression of Youville Centre is of a bright, clean, open space. It’s located in a renovated school building, which seems to suit its needs well. While there’s a dedicated and well-trained staff, it’s clear that volunteers have an important role as well. We were met by Heather Heagney, the communications officer. We began the tour. Our first stop was the gymnasium, which serves as kitchen and cafeteria, large play room for the toddlers, and sorting area for donations. As we continued the tour, we saw the classrooms, which include a kitchen, allowing the teens to learn how to prepare and cook food, a valuable life skill. We saw the counseling rooms and the baby wing, where the children, from tiny nurslings to toddlers, are cared for, fed and taught. If the mother is nursing her baby, she may have leave to come to feed her baby whenever the baby is hungry.

Youville exists in co-operation with a number of community organizations: businesses that provide work-place training, clinics and centres that provide legal, health, education, housing and job-placement services, and local colleges, technical learning centres and universities. There are grant-funded support services as well, such as bursaries provided to both Youville alumnae and to former Youville students’ children for post-secondary education. In providing these community connections and services, Youville provides continuing “after Youville” support to the young women and their children.

Youville couldn’t exist without the support of volunteers and donors, both financial gifts and “gift in kind” – the gift of your time. Please check out Youville’s website to learn about the story behind the centre, to see more photos of the women and children who have benefitted from Youville’s services and to find out how you can get involved.

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Diana Coote is a co-owner of Onya Baby, a family-owned company that believes in family, in connectedness and in adventure. The Onya Baby philosophy is that parents can include their babies in everyday life and and show their babies the world. The products that they make are designed to complement the family bond and free parents to live life more fully with their children.

Fast Food: Make grocery shopping a little easier

By Heather

I am a firm believer that a good grocery shop begins at home with just a bit of preparation. A little planning saves you time and money because you don’t have to take extra trips to the store and you aren’t as tempted to just order in when the day gets away from you!

Ask any organizer and they likely have different ways of setting up their kitchen, their grocery lists and doing their shopping, but don’t worry — there is no one right way. It’s about what works for each of us. And here is what works for me:

Know what you want. Meal planning makes grocery shopping — and five o’clock on a busy Wednesday afternoon — so much easier! Before you shop, make up a menu of dinners for the week by flipping through your cookbooks and/or online recipes for inspiration, and then note down what you need to buy. By writing out your menu for the week you have a clear plan. I find this helps keep me on the straight and narrow. If I see “Tuesday: Thai Chicken with side salad” and I know I have done my shopping accordingly, I am way more likely to have Thai Chicken and a side salad on my plate than any type of fast or frozen food.

Know what’s there. Let me warn you that you will be in for some ribbing from family and friends but this step will be worth it, honestly…label your fridge. I know, I know, it sounds a little over-the-top but it will change your life as a foodie! A few years ago I separated the sections on my fridge door into categories like “sweet stuff”, “dressings”, “condiments” and the shelves into “meats”, “fruits and veggies”, and “dairy”, etc., and it has made a huge difference in the amount of food I shop for and throw out. By having clearly marked sections (choose labels that have a laminate surface for better durability), I can quickly figure out what I need for my menu planning week — and when I really don’t need yet another bottle of salad dressing! Another bonus to labelling is that I don’t end up losing items in the back of my fridge when I know what I have purchased has a purpose and a place. Even better, my husband and kids can also easily locate and relocate food because every shelf is clearly marked.

Know what you need. Have you ever come home from the grocery store and realized you forgot to buy a particular item yet again?! Don’t leave your shopping to memory — write down what you need as soon as you realize you are running out of it. I keep a 4-by-6-inch pad of paper and a pen mounted on the side of my fridge with a magnetic clip. When I see I am getting low on something, I add it to my ongoing grocery list. It saves me riffling through the fridge right before I head out shopping or counting on my memory recall when in the meat aisle — and my family also knows that if they want more of their favourite cereal, they have to add it to the list. When I sit down to do my meal planning, I use this ongoing list and my recipe requirements to re-write my list according to my grocery store’s layout — so fruit and veg go at the top of the page, followed by bread, then cleaning products, etc. I find it is worth the few extra minutes to re-write the list so I am not criss-crossing the store.

These ideas are what works for me, but be sure to tailor your shopping experiences to what works for you. Maybe it is a pre-printed checklist of often-purchased ingredients, maybe it is making your meals on the weekend and popping them in the freezer — whatever it is, find out what works for you and stick to your plan. It will make Wednesday dinners (and all the others) so much easier

Heather Cameron is a mom of two and a professional home organizer and decorator with Edited Interiors. She believes that being organized isn't about being perfect but about finding what works perfectly for you.

Playing together

by Lara There are days when I struggle not to just hand over the iPhone or the iPad to the kids so I can get something done with a bit of quiet - for my boys it's pretty much the only surefire way to make that happen.

I realized recently though, that the iPad can be something my older son and I can enjoy together.  Because it holds his attention so keenly, there is no other activity, even if I sit with him to take part in it, that he enjoys at much.  Instead now, we have found a game that we like to play together!

Water is a Disney game (that only costs 99 cents!) that requires thought and logic, all while trying to give a crazy gator a bath :)There's water and slime and acid. There are ducks and cogs and hoses. Together we figure out if the water eliminating the slime so the acid can contaminate the second pool of water, thereby burning the fast-growing moss is the best way to get the last container of water down through the tubes to the gator.  It's hard, and my five year old loves trying to figure it out.  He also loves when we work together to figure it out.

So now, instead of just handing over the iPad when I need some down time, I realize that the iPad can be some us time and I'm really enjoying it!

Do you play video games with your kids?

Disney on Ice

by Amanda I took my son to see the show on Friday night at 7:00 pm.  It was such a wonderful event!  First of all, I myself am a huge fan of Disney.  You just can't go wrong.  It is truly fun for the whole family.  If you follow me on Twitter you would have seen my tweets throughout the show.  I didn't intend to Tweet like that during the show, but, I was excited, and my 4 year old was even more so!

When we walked in the front doors to Scotiabank Place we were immediately bombarded by the souvenir stands.  Immediate eye candy, for both him and me.  Of course I let him have a look, and of course I let him have an Incredibles spinning light toy!  It is his favourite Disney movie!  He is a particular fan of Dash because "he runs really fast Mommy!".  I bit my tongue and just paid the $20 for it because it made him happy.  I did not spring for the $12 popcorn or the $15 snow cones, however the mugs they came in were very cool!!

Off we went to find our seats a few minutes before the show started.  We ended up having really good seats.  We were able to see everything with no difficulty and close enough to make out facial expressions!

The show itself covered many wonderful Disney movies, they played out on the ice the most beloved scenes from each movie that was part of the show while Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy narrated between scenes.  I will give you some highlights from each scene.

Act I

Alice in Wonderland:  The playing cards had amazing choreography.  It was fairly intricate group skating with a lot of intersecting lines where the skaters had to be quite close together.  It looked so good!

Peter Pan:  The crocodile costume that the skater wore was incredible!  He skated on his hands and feet with picks on the front and his blades in the back to maneuver around the ice.  The Lost Boys set was very true to the movie with a tree house and slide.  Tinkerbell was a little firecracker and got to be suspended by wires, how cool was that?

Act II

The Lion King:  Again, wonderful costumes, skaters with billowing 2 piece costumes, one part was carried overhead and they looked like a herd of what I think were meant to be buffalo, they were just gorgeous!  They also did the giraffe in the same style, very visually appealing.  And what can I say, I LOVE Timon and Pumba.  I sang every word of Hakuna Matata.

Snow White:  Snow White and her Prince were beautiful dance style skaters.  I really enjoyed just watching their skating solo.  They were expressive and to me their skating was quite good.  Again, fantastic costumes on the dwarfs and the witch.

Aladdin:  Amazing job on the set in this scene.  Jasmine's balcony was just like the movie.  I was disappointed they didn't have Rajah, Jasmine's tiger in this piece!  He was such an important part of the movie!  Or  Abu, the monkey!  ("Kiss the monkey, Blech, hairball!")  They of course had Genie and the magic carpet ride, but I honestly think this one could have been better!

The Little Mermaid:  Ariel, Sebastian, and fish of many beautiful fluorescent colours.  It really looked like it was Under the Sea!

The Frog Princess:  I have never seen this movie, but I am glad to see that Disney is embracing multiculturalism more and more.  Princess Tiana had a gorgeous dress and I enjoyed the skating the most in this scene.

The final group skate incorporated many characters from movies they didn't cover during the show.  We saw Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Mulan and so many more!  What an enjoyable evening.  My son was very well behaved, he was enthralled by the show, and he smiled and danced throughout the performance.  He also amused himself with his spinning light toy, just like a boy!  It was all said and done just before 9:00 pm and of course, my son fell asleep in the car on the way home, surefire way to tell the evening was a success!

Check out this link for clips on the official website! http://disney.go.com/disneyonice/

Did you go? Are you going to the show?

Amanda was born and raised in Ottawa where she continues to live with her husband and son “J”. Amanda is bilingual and interests include reading, blogging, socializing, and advocacy on children and teen issues.

Flash Back: Kindness Week

Kindness Week 2012 starts today, so we're republishing this post from last year. What do you have planned to teach your children about being kind to others next week? by Rebecca

This week is Kindness Week in Ottawa and a great time to talk about being kind with your children.  The Kindness Week website has a list of some ideas and ways to be kind and there are events throughout the week that your family can participate in.

One of the events that can happen at any time is Stop, Drop and Read.  The Ottawa Public Library has partnered with the United Way Ottawa to support this literacy program.  You are encouraged to stop and read to anyone, at anytime – at a play group, at a seniors home and especially with your children.

What will you do this week to be kind?

Below are some children’s books and videos about kindness that you can find at Chapters or possibly your local library.

Rebecca blogs at A Little bit of Momsense and A Little bit of Foodsense.  She is once again blogging for Kindness Week and hopes to encourage kindness year round.