Apparently none of my three older children will be benefiting from this new program, as their school isn't on the list. Depending on the outcome of this fall's provincial election, perhaps my youngest will still have a chance at it.
In the meantime, here's a link to the school finder if you want to see if your child's school will be starting all-day Kindergarten in either 2011 or 2012.
Showing posts with label back to school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label back to school. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Monday, January 4, 2010
Phew!
Your feelings about Christmas truly change when you become a parent. You no longer really care about what you're going to get and get more excited thinking about what your kid(s) will look like when he/she/they open their presents. You finally get to play Santa. You get to stealthily plan out Christmas presents, hide them, figure out how to put tags on them so that the kids won't recognize your handwriting (this occurs later in childhood though, of course.) You get to force your kids into those scary Santa pictures! 
But it's not all fun and games. You have to figure out how you're going to PAY for all of those presents, and the more kids you have, the more you have to decide: do you scale back and get fewer presents for each, or do you have to keep scrimping and saving even more to do the same as you did with only one child. I remember how full our living room was one Christmas when we only had the two girls. That was the year that we decided that it was time to scale back. Not just because of finances, but because it was honestly scary to see our kids getting so much STUFF. We had a pretty large living room at the time, and honestly half of it was filled with gifts from Santa, from us, from grandparents, aunts and uncles... it was kind of terrifying. So in recent years we've scaled back, and I really don't think that the kids have even noticed.
There are other parts of Christmas that change with kids, too. The Christmas parties. An office Christmas party either means having to find a sitter, or if it's a family affair you have to drag young kids out way past their bedtime to hang out with a bunch of strangers for the night, hoping and praying that they won't embarrass Mom or Dad in front of their coworkers. Friends without kids who have Christmas parties often want them to be adult-only, so you find yourself turning down invitations. You can only afford a babysitter so often if you're going to afford all of those presents! You feel terribly anti-social, but at least you know that friends with kids understand.
And here's the part that we all forget as adults, before parenthood: kids go WRANGY at Christmas. Oh yes, we all THINK we remember it, but we remember it from our own perspective as kids. As the parent, it is a completely different scenario.
I haven't posted here in almost a month. It wasn't for not wanting to, it was because I was either trying to keep myself from killing them, or keeping them occupied, ferrying them here and there, or just trying to calm meltdowns.
There is something in the air at Christmastime for kids. It seemed to start earlier this year than ever before. Maybe because of the addition of an extra child, who knows? But nonetheless, it was NOT enjoyable. A simple, "No, you cannot have licorice for dinner instead of green beans" could result in a full-fledged screaming on the floor meltdown. Night terrors and nightmares abounded. The whining, especially from our four-year-old, made me want to stick forks into my ears.
And then, just when I couldn't take anymore: Christmas vacation. The positive was that I could, most days, take the kids downstairs when they woke up, give them breakfast, and then go back to bed for an hour until the baby woke up. They even started sleeping in on a regular basis! I didn't have to play taxi driver nearly as much without having to take the girls to one school at one time, then Andrew to another school at another time, with pickups all over the place. There were no dance lessons, or practices. In short, it was a whole lot of home time.
The negative: it was a WHOLE LOT of home time. I'm essentially an only child, so I never really dealt with the sibling stuff. It can be wonderful, but when they're fighting, it's hideous. "She hit me!" "No I didn't!" "He took my toy!" "She won't get off the computer!" "When is it going to be MY turn?"
So today, I am officially celebrating. Despite the fact that I'm back to getting up at my usual time, despite the fact that it was -16 degrees Celcius when I took the girls to school this morning, I am celebrating that today I had only the boys here. Andrew had no one to fight with. Josh had a nap. I got to do my WiiFit somewhat uninterrupted. There were not four different lunch orders to make me feel like a short-order cook.
Heavenly!
But it's not all fun and games. You have to figure out how you're going to PAY for all of those presents, and the more kids you have, the more you have to decide: do you scale back and get fewer presents for each, or do you have to keep scrimping and saving even more to do the same as you did with only one child. I remember how full our living room was one Christmas when we only had the two girls. That was the year that we decided that it was time to scale back. Not just because of finances, but because it was honestly scary to see our kids getting so much STUFF. We had a pretty large living room at the time, and honestly half of it was filled with gifts from Santa, from us, from grandparents, aunts and uncles... it was kind of terrifying. So in recent years we've scaled back, and I really don't think that the kids have even noticed.
There are other parts of Christmas that change with kids, too. The Christmas parties. An office Christmas party either means having to find a sitter, or if it's a family affair you have to drag young kids out way past their bedtime to hang out with a bunch of strangers for the night, hoping and praying that they won't embarrass Mom or Dad in front of their coworkers. Friends without kids who have Christmas parties often want them to be adult-only, so you find yourself turning down invitations. You can only afford a babysitter so often if you're going to afford all of those presents! You feel terribly anti-social, but at least you know that friends with kids understand.
And here's the part that we all forget as adults, before parenthood: kids go WRANGY at Christmas. Oh yes, we all THINK we remember it, but we remember it from our own perspective as kids. As the parent, it is a completely different scenario.
I haven't posted here in almost a month. It wasn't for not wanting to, it was because I was either trying to keep myself from killing them, or keeping them occupied, ferrying them here and there, or just trying to calm meltdowns.
There is something in the air at Christmastime for kids. It seemed to start earlier this year than ever before. Maybe because of the addition of an extra child, who knows? But nonetheless, it was NOT enjoyable. A simple, "No, you cannot have licorice for dinner instead of green beans" could result in a full-fledged screaming on the floor meltdown. Night terrors and nightmares abounded. The whining, especially from our four-year-old, made me want to stick forks into my ears.
And then, just when I couldn't take anymore: Christmas vacation. The positive was that I could, most days, take the kids downstairs when they woke up, give them breakfast, and then go back to bed for an hour until the baby woke up. They even started sleeping in on a regular basis! I didn't have to play taxi driver nearly as much without having to take the girls to one school at one time, then Andrew to another school at another time, with pickups all over the place. There were no dance lessons, or practices. In short, it was a whole lot of home time.
The negative: it was a WHOLE LOT of home time. I'm essentially an only child, so I never really dealt with the sibling stuff. It can be wonderful, but when they're fighting, it's hideous. "She hit me!" "No I didn't!" "He took my toy!" "She won't get off the computer!" "When is it going to be MY turn?"
So today, I am officially celebrating. Despite the fact that I'm back to getting up at my usual time, despite the fact that it was -16 degrees Celcius when I took the girls to school this morning, I am celebrating that today I had only the boys here. Andrew had no one to fight with. Josh had a nap. I got to do my WiiFit somewhat uninterrupted. There were not four different lunch orders to make me feel like a short-order cook.
Heavenly!
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