Kids & Company Blog

Posted on: Tuesday August 28th, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

Spanking is such a tough topic and is one that I have strong personal feelings about.
Of course, in the child care world we have a very firm policy on “behaviour management” and a teacher would be immediately let go if they even suggested a spanking policy. We take this very seriously and provide positive reinforcement and redirect the child if they are having a difficult time.

Posted on: Wednesday August 22nd, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

Most of our parents have babies or small children, and sleep is a huge part of the entire family’s daily routine. If we haven’t slept well as a family then life is so much more difficult.
I have lots to share in future blogs about babies sleeping, toddlers and moving to “big beds”. I even have stories about baby number eight sleeping with us until he was close to five! This was not a good thing and is one of my parenting regrets.

Posted on: Wednesday August 15th, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

In the child care world, we often talk about “transitioning” from one part of the daily schedule to the next. Children might be playing on the carpet and then need to come to the table to have their snack. Most children manage this transition well and when told that it is “snack time” they jump up from their play and run happily to the table.
Some children have a harder time with this and need to be told a few times, “soon it will be snack time”, “a few more minutes”, “start to get ready” and other reminders like these. We find this makes things much easier.

Posted on: Wednesday August 8th, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

Win 2 tickets to an advanced screening of Disney’s The Odd Life of Timothy Green!
The movie screening will take place on Thursday, Aug 9th at 7:30 pm at Silver City Cinemas in Richmond Hill (just outside of Toronto)
We’re sorry, we only have passes for this Toronto location at this time.

Posted on: Friday August 3rd, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

Let’s talk about siblings. As mentioned in previous posts, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman’s Nurtureshock discusses several topics that are of interest to most parents. Chapter 6 of the book dispels the idea that being an only child has detrimental effects on the development of social skills.

Posted on: Wednesday August 1st, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

I do consider myself somewhat of a “parenting expert” and this is not just because I have 8 children, but also because many years ago (26 to be exact), I attended a 2-year parenting course called “Children the Challenge”. Since then, I have continued with reading and taking courses every year. While I do not always agree with what I read, I feel that the answer for parents is to read/learn and decide what makes sense for you.

Posted on: Wednesday July 25th, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

Many people ask me if I know “where babies come from?” They ask me this because they are curious as to whether my husband and I actually planned to have 8 children.

The true answer is that I really wanted 10 children (and if you would like proof of this you can look at my West Hill Collegiate High School Yearbook, where it says that I want to have 10 children and become a lawyer). The lawyer part is another story…but for some amazing reason, I have always been baby crazy!

So my poor husband (we were very young and in love) married me anyway, knowing that I really did want to have 10 babies.

Posted on: Friday July 20th, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

Most people would agree that some solo adult time makes us better parents. Whether you choose to spend that time with our spouse/partner, with friends or alone, a bit of leisure time away from the kids helps us to recharge our batteries. It all sounds wonderful until you realize that…. you need to find a baby-sitter.

The challenge of finding a babysitter that you trust and you child likes may seem so daunting that you are tempted to cancel your plans. Don’t despair! There are a few steps you can take to make the process manageable – and maybe even enjoyable – for you and your children.

Posted on: Thursday May 10th, 2012

Posted by: Julie Cole

Mother’s Day is around the corner and everyone is asking the moms what we want. I’m a simple gal and not particularly high maintenance in the gifts department. I don’t want flowers or jewelry for Mother’s Day or any other occasion really.

In fact, my perfect Mother’s Day gift would be doing without some things. For example, there are certain comments made by the general public that we mamas could do without. Mamas of biggie-sized families prefer not to be asked if we own a TV or suggestions that we should take up a hobby. Contrary to popular belief, we are not actually spending the majority of our time participating in baby-making activities. Another classic one – when I go out alone in the evening, I’d like people to stop asking who is taking care of the kids. There is this guy in their lives called their “father”. And no, he’s not “babysitting”. I checked in with Daddy-o and he has never been asked this question when out for the evening, yet I hear it constantly.

Posted on: Wednesday May 9th, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

In March 2012, The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) and ParticipACTION released fitness and activity guidelines for 1-5 year olds. The great news is that children in Kids & Company centres meet or exceed the recommended activity level with several periods of indoor and outdoor playtime. As we discussed these guidelines, our conversations jumpstarted a plan to make sure our kids were experiencing multiple types of movements – like stability, locomotoion and object control – in a way that was fun, fresh, non-competitive and consistent. We also want to provide parents with resources to transition from preschool play to activities at home.