Kids & Company Blog

Posted on: Friday September 14th, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

Once again, the summer has flown by, and as I enjoy the final few days of August, I am also gearing up for September, which is a busy month for most moms. Five of my eight children are going “back to school” next week, ranging from grade ten to law school. Given that I have gone through this process many times already, here are some of my tips for the transition back to school.

Posted on: Tuesday September 4th, 2012

Posted by: Victoria Sopik

One question I’m often asked is, “do you love playing with children?” Although this may come as a surprise to most, my answer to that question is “no.” I do have a special love for babies, nursing, cuddling and playing with them, but I have never had much of an interest in “getting down on the ground,” or playing house, cars, school, etc. I have always felt more of a pull in the direction of nurturing and loving them and I’ve left their playing and learning to be developed through each other and school.

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.