As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child. But nowadays, the busy modern life makes it harder for us to know our closest neighbours (whether we’re stay-at-home or working moms). We have fewer siblings than the previous generations and chances are they don’t even live in the same city, province or country as we do. As a result, our village is nowhere to be found.
No wonder there’s been an explosion of mothers’ blogs since 2008 as more of us get to understand how to join this kind of wagon. The blogs offer a great venue for parents to share stories, concerns, tips and encouragements. It’s all good but does it mean we don’t need to meet our peers face to face anymore? Is the proverbial village on the verge of becoming virtual?
Use the internet to get off the internet
The people at http://www.meetup.com don’t think so. Launched in 2004 from New York City, this company now serves over 6 million members. Their goal: “to help people use internet to get off the internet”; their mission: “to help the world’s people to self-organize into local groups”. Looks like the platform for dating groups? Think again.
Searching by postal code on their website I discovered that there existed no less than 91 groups within 3 km of my place (I live downtown Toronto). Of these, nine groups were specifically created for parents.
Some groups sound hilarious such as the Toronto Procrastinators, claiming 34 procrastinators (of course this doesn’t include the number of wantabee members who really, really wanted to join but never got to it) or the Toronto & GTA Chihuahua Meetup Group with 107 members (mixed breeds accepted, they’re not elitists!).
The groups sometimes fulfill the needs of very specific people: there’s the Progressive South Asians 40+, the Salam Mama (for muslim moms from Oakville and Mississauga) or the Reject Video & Film Meetup Group (34 members whose creations have been rejected and have deciced to take things in hand and find venues to present their art), to name just a few.
Parents self-organize to meet kindered spirits
On meetup.com, you can find groups such as the Moms Book Club & Playground, the Yummy Mummies 21 to 30, or the Toronto Urban Hiking for Families, created by parents who felt that there had to be other parents sharing their interests.
I interviewed Karen Pang, the founder of a dynamic group of over 140 members with the cool name of the Mamas and Papas of Trinity-Bellwoods to get some tips for parents who want to join a group.
She agreed that meeting new people at a café feels a bit like a blind date for parents. A better way to break the ice at a first meeting is to join in when the group is offfering activities such as an urban walk. Karen also insisted that we should never forget that everyone has the same concerns when meeting new people.
Members can post their comments on the website, for all to read, which can be very useful to select a group. Each group has its own focus. Karen’s goal was to develop relationships with other families. Mission accomplished, less than a year after she started the group, she’s always coming across people she knows when strolling around her neighbourhood. What a better way to create a sense of community.
Start your own group! There might not be yet a group out there that matches your specific interests. But the beauty of Meetup is that it also offers a very user-friendy platform to create your own group, with all kinds of bells and whistles to customize a home page.
The company charges a $12 monthly fee for hosting your group on their web. Some organizers think nothing of paying this cost themselves. Others choose to offset it by charging a minimal $1 fee to members who join an activity.
Karen Pang warns those who’d like to start a group that some leadership is expected from the organizer. It is up to the group founder to give an accurate description of what members can expect from the group, and to deliver. She suggests joining a Meetup group to see how it’s done before creating your own.
Other options
Laurie Kondle, an Ontarian mother, had a different idea on what a platform should offer. In 2007, she launched www.justplaydates.com, created especially to help parents organize playdates in their area, in their house or in local parks and playgrounds. It now includes over 2,700 members mainly located in Ontario, with pockets in Halifax (NS) and Victoria (BC). One special feature of her platform is that it allows members to join any playdates they want, which can become handy when you’re travelling with young kids.
Among other ways to meet parents, there’s always the good old local park but parents tend to hibernate during the winter, don’t theu? Fortunately, there’s the option of indoor activities at free drop-in centres. These usually offer 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. activities for kids 6 years and under. The website www.ontarioearlyyears.ca helps parents living in Ontario to find the drop-in centre closest to their place.
Finally, you can always call the Public Health department in your municipality to find out about their programs for parents and children. In Toronto, new mothers can get into the free program Living and Learning with Baby involving five weekly sessions of information with a qualified nurse and other parents with babies 6 months and under in their area. (You can call 416-338-7600 to find where’s the closest program in your neighbourhood.)
After that, it’s up to you to keep in touch with the parents you’ll meet in the program. I personally met wonderful women by joining such a program when my first child was born. We still see each other regularly…16 years later (now that our oldest kids are teenagers, we have lots to talk about)!
In her personal yet practical 480-page guidebook, author Nathalie Prezeau describes hundreds of outings in and around the GTA she tested with her family and friends over the past twelve years. The 4th edition is out! It includes a new chapter on things to do with the kids around the 69 subway stations in Toronto, as well as exciting city walks to play the tourist in Toronto. Available in the Travel Section of GTA bookstores as well as Mastermind Educational Toys stores and currently at Costco. Visit www.torontofunplaces.com to learn more.
For years, I’ve been a subscriber to the American magazine Family Fun. It’s been my reliable partner in crime throughout my kids’ childhood and it might become yours too during the coming Family Day, the Valentine’s Day fuss or the March Break.
In Family Fun, I’ve found a mom’s advice on how to visit an art museum with my young son (turning the visit into a fun “I spy” game to look for specific items on the paintings). I’ve learned how to create a super card game that caught a slice of our daily life (teaching my kids about the different things one needs to know to run a house).
I’ve had a blast at the expense of my kids by using fabulous tips for April’s Fool pranks (I normally buy milk bags but for the occasion, I put a milk pint on the table, in which I surreptitiously added blue food coloring. The look on my then 8-years-old son when he poured the milk into his bowl was totally worth the trouble!).
When I was involved with the School Council, we would often choose the theme for the school parties according to the best craft activities I found while browsing through my Family Fun copies.
Years ago, prior to the internet, the magazine’s main appeal already lied in the fact that they’d been able to get hundreds of creative parents to submit their great ideas to them. Now we can all access this amazing resource online for free.
Their crafts section is the best. You can search by age, type or even by material but the Holiday & Seasonal category is such a time saver. You won’t find a Family Day section in there since it’s an American website but Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, April Fool’s Day, Easter and Mother’s Day will all come handy in the coming months.
Just to get an idea of the spread of crafts they offer, check the bottle-cap tambourines in the Recyclable Crafts category under Crafts by Material, or the newspaper fashion show (if I still were a member of the School Council, I’d use that idea to complement a Literacy day event for the students!). As soon as we get some snow, even just a little, I think we should try their Beach Bum Snowman. It would definitely cheer up the whole neighbourhood.
Most pages are followed by a Show & Tell section where you get to see pictures of craft ideas submitted by families just like us. Very often, parents also submit photos of one of the Family Fun crafts they tried for themselves. I should send them my daughter’s picture of the bubble bather costume suggestion we used during our school’s Crazy Bubbles end-of-the-year party.
The crafts are just the tip of the iceberg. Their Playtime section offers hundreds of games suggestions for all occasions and contexts. Their Parties menu allows to search by theme or age and includes Themed Cupcakes and Party Printables categories. They even have a how-to video section for cakes and cupcakes for the bakery-challenged among us.
Tips • Crafts offered online are not there forever. You can subscribe to their magazine online (or through the magazine sales of your school if they have one of those fundraisers). Check their website at www.familyfun.com.
In her personal yet practical 480-page guidebook, author Nathalie Prezeau describes hundreds of outings in and around the GTA she tested with her family and friends over the past twelve years. The 4th edition is out! It includes a new chapter on things to do with the kids around the 69 subway stations in Toronto, as well as exciting city walks to play the tourist in Toronto. Available in the Travel Section of GTA bookstores as well as Mastermind Educational Toys stores and currently at Costco. Visit www.torontofunplaces.com to learn more.
WRITTEN BY
Nathalie Prezeau, author of Toronto Fun Places
From a kid’s perspective, Vaughan Mills is all about animals: between the stuffed bears and wolves complete with live fish pond of the Bass Pro shop, the fluffy animals of Build-a-Bear Workshop, and the birds, cats, dogs, small mammals and fish of the new pet store Safari, not to forget Santa’s fishing cabin, it’s a zoo out there. And don’t miss the funky hermit crabs cart!
I recently went to check the Safari pet centre which opened a few months ago at Vaughan Mills. Located not too far from the NASCAR Speedpark, in the mall’s Section 3 they call the Rural Neighbourhood, the fantastic facade is quite a sight, adorned with tall statues and the tail of a plane which seems to have just crashed into the wall.
This nice addition will allow your kids to admire a wide selection of pets, including a good number of puppies, in an exotic setting (we especially loved the dark grotto showcasing the fish). But I suspect you’ll have even more success if you take them to see the dozens of little hermit crabs sold in a cart by the Toy’s R Us.
The independent cart is really catchy, filled with lively little fellows in their shiny shells painted in every colours with funny patterns. Since these land crabs are born without a shell, they spend their life “trading up” to find a better home (sounds familiar?). You can get a cage including a crab and two shells for around $45.
If you’re wondering about supplies, on Petsmart’s website, you’ll find that they carry a whole line of products to take care of your hermit crab. As far as I know, they unfortunately don’t carry the funky shells.
Santa’s fish cabin (complete with fishing boat) is open again this year. There’s even a mailbox shaped like a trout to receive the kids’ letters to Santa. It was created in partnership with the spectacular Bass Pro shop right next door and that whole section of the mall is truly gorgeous. Life-size bears (stuffed) overlook a river, a fall and a tank with live fish. Throughout the vast store, there are more stuffed animals and plenty of sections to explore: an interactive shooting zone, the camouflage gear (which my kids declared a great spot for a little hide-and-seek session) and the series of fishing boats they could climb up into.
A little piece of advice for those with younger kids who still believe in Santa, in the back of the boat section inside the Bass Pro shop is another Santa in his village! You don’t want to enter this store directly from the parking lot if you want to avoid having to explain why there are two Santas at Vaughan Mills
TIPS
• My favourite way to tour Vaughan Mills with kids is to start at Entrance 4 (on the side of the NASCAR Speedpark). You then proceed to your right to see the Safari Pet Center. Further down, you’ll meet the hermit crabs by the Toy’s R Us, you’ll cross Build-a-Bear, then you’ll reach Santa’s cabin and nearby Bass Pro shop.
• Kids will be able to fish with Santa until December 23, Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Bass Pro’s Santa is on duty until December 24. He’s there Monday to Friday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 7 p.m. Free crafts are offered from noon to 5 p.m. during the weekend.
• The Safari Pet Center is a chain originally from Montreal. Their website offers no information about their new store in Ontario but it is fun to visit, opening with an interactive image with lots of sections to click on. Click the drawers to read their Q & A’s about pets. Click their map to have access to five adventures to read (if you have kids in a French immersion program, they might want to compare the English stories with their French counterparts).
• If some family members ask you for suggestions on what they could give to your kids for Christmas, think Build-a-Bear Workshop! You could buy one of the cute outfits suitable for any of the animals they carry in the store and put it under the tree with an envelop inviting them to make their own animal with the family member (or a gift certificate). Many of the furry friends cost $15 and the outfits and accessories come in various prices.
• You can play an I-Spy-a-plane game in that mall! In addition to the crashed plane on the Safari pet centre, you’ll find two other yellow hydroplanes, one drawn on the gorgeous mural by Santa’s fish cabin and a real one hanging from the ceiling over the fish tank at Bass Pro.
In her personal yet practical 480-page guidebook, author Nathalie Prezeau describes hundreds of outings in and around the GTA she tested with her family and friends over the past twelve years. The 4th edition is out! It includes a new chapter on things to do with the kids around the 69 subway stations in Toronto, as well as exciting city walks to play the tourist in Toronto. Available in the Travel Section of GTA bookstores as well as Mastermind Educational Toys stores and currently at Costco. Visit www.torontofunplaces.com to learn more.
WRITTEN BY
Nathalie Prezeau, author of Toronto Fun Places
Not as psyched about back to school time as the parent in Staples’ hilarious ad? It may be because you’re realizing summer swooshed by once again and you never got to take your kids to one of the big-ticket attractions they begged you to. Well, there’s still some fun to be had after Labour Day. It’s not over till it’s over!
Here’s a list of major attractions normally associated with the summer, which are open beyond Labour Day. You probably won’t save on the regular admission cost but you can expect fewer visitors and cooler weather, all contributing to a more pleasant outing.
Marineland We prefer to attend Marineland during the fall. There’s lots of walking involved to enjoy the spread of activities, animals and shows throughout the site. The park is virtually shadowless. On days when the sun is blaring, it’s enough to melt most kids’ enthousiasm. On the other hand, when the temperature gets below 20 degrees, young visitors will climb up to the Sky Screamer like young mountain goats. Note that all the regular activities are offered in the fall. Hours: Open from September 6 to October 11, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (doors close at 5 p.m. but attractions operate until nightfall). Admission: $40/10 years and over, $33/5-9 years old, FREE for kids 4 years and under (tax not included). Try to grab a promotional brochure of the area available in most attractions in Niagara. They normally include discount coupons.
Canada’s Wonderland Wonderland’s water park is now closed, which solves the usual dilemma of finding the time to do it all in one day. The other “dry” attractions remain open until the end of the season, weather permitting. Note that the regular admission does not include access to the Halloween Haunt event (held in October and recommended for kids 13 and over). Hours: Closed on September 12, then, open Saturdays and Sundays until end of October (from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in September, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in October). Note that the park has different opening hours for its Halloween Haunt event. Admission: During the fall weekends, the admission is down to $29.95 (tax not included). This does not include admission to their Halloween Haunt.
Ontario Place If the weather gets really warm in September, note that the waterpark within Ontario Place will remain open until the end of their season. Hours: Still open on September 12-13 and 19-20 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (the waterpark opens at 11 a.m.). Admission: You’ll save up to $3.50 per person by ordering online, which means admission cost is $30/6-64 years old, $16/4-5 years old and 65 and over, FREE for kids 3 years and under, $104/family of four ages 6-64 (tax not included).
Centreville Amusement Park The strike cheated us of a whole month of fun at the Centreville Amusement Park but we can still enjoy it on the weekends until the end of September. Hours: Open on September 12-13 and 19-20, from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on September 26-27, from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (weather permitting). Admission: $29.50/over 48 inches, $21/4 years and under, $90/family of four (tax not included). The ferry is $6.50/adult, $3/kids, FREE for 2 years and under.
In her personal yet practical 480-page guidebook, author Nathalie Prezeau describes hundreds of outings in and around the GTA she tested with her family and friends over the past twelve years. The 4th edition is out! It includes a new chapter on things to do with the kids around the 69 subway stations in Toronto, as well as exciting city walks to play the tourist in Toronto. Available in the Travel Section of GTA bookstores as well as Mastermind Educational Toys stores and currently at Costco. Visit www.torontofunplaces.com to learn more.
WRITTEN BY
Nathalie Prezeau, author of Toronto Fun Places
Wondering where to go with the children on this nice summer day? To the park? To the farm? To the pool? There’s no need to take a vote. Half an hour away from Toronto, Bronte Creek offers a great farm-pool combination, with a play barn as a bonus! Not to forget a campground.
Not only does Bronte Creek Provincial Park have the usual walks and nature centre, it also boasts farmyard animals, a Victorian-style farm where they work the soil in the traditional way, and a barn transformed into an original playground. To complete this unique mixture of activities, it offers one of the largest pools in America.
Young families would be better advised to travel by car between activity centres spread throughout the vast park, in order to spare everyone’s energy. Save the giant pool for later in the day, when its shallow water has been heated to a comfortable temperature by the sun (in the morning, it’s cold enough to turn any moms’ legs numb!).
I recommend beginning the visit with a walk in the morning, while kids are still “fresh”. Park at lot F to access the trails by Spruce Farm. The Half Moon Valley trail is an excellent starting point for the whole family. It offers a 2-km walk, and it is bordered by wild flowers and old trees of unusual shapes. In certain spots, the wide path runs alongside the cliff by the wide Bronte Creek.
On your way back from the trail, you can visit the two-storey Spruce Farm, built in 1899. During the summer, there usually are costumed actors moving about and showing visitors a glimpse of rural life in the early part of the last century. There will be more activities around the farm during their special Farm Day on August 22, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (with extra fees for wagon and pony rides).
Turtles, snakes and fish await you inside the small nature centre near parking lot C. Bees go in and out through a long pipe connected to the outside. Not far from there, various buildings house rabbits, hens, chicks, pigs and horses.
All that becomes less interesting once kids spot the great play barn with its hanging bridges, tunnels, large tires to climb on and its second storey platform from which children can jump into the big cushions without breaking their necks. (It even has a heated section for parents who are waiting while their kids go wild during the colder months!)
The Bronte Creek pool, located near parking lot D, holds 1.3 million gallons of water spread over a 1.8-acre area. To give you an idea, it took me 500 steps to go around it! It is fabulous for children: no more than two metres deep in the middle, more than half its area is like a gigantic wading pool where little swimmers can frolic without swallowing mouthfuls of water. Those who seek shade can plant their umbrellas on the grass around it. Several picnic tables and a snack bar are located right outside the pool grounds.
Between that and the play barn, you’ll have them singing Old MacDonald had a pool, Ee i ee i oh at the end of the day!
If you want to try camping with your family, the provincial park’s campground (with over 140 relatively secluded lots) is located a 5-minute ride away from the main park, on another piece of land.
TIPS
• Bring mosquito repellent if you intend to stroll on the trails. One day, when we had some on and were really enjoying ourselves on the trails, we saw a family fleeing from the woods in a panic. Not the best way to initiate to kids to the pleasure of Mother Nature!
• Admission is $15 per vehicle, plus $3/adults and $2/kids if you want to use the pool. The pool is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., weather permitting. The park is open from 8 a.m. to dusk. The barn and farm are open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• For directions, check the Friends of Bronte Creek website.
• To book a camping spot, go to the Explore the Park option on the Friends of Bronte Creek website and select Campgrounds in the upper menu, it will lead you to Ontario Provincial Parks online reservation service. Click the “By Internet” link in their “Make a Reservation” section to access a very useful Availability Grid in their Tools section. It will allow you to find out about availability on specific dates for each of the three campgrounds in Bronte Creek Provincial Park (with info regarding site quality, privacy and shade for each lot available appearing at the bottom of the page when you click on the site’s number).
In her personal yet practical 480-page guidebook, author Nathalie Prezeau describes hundreds of outings in and around the GTA she tested with her family and friends over the past twelve years. The 4th edition is out! It includes a new chapter on things to do with the kids around the 69 subway stations in Toronto, as well as exciting city walks to play the tourist in Toronto. Available in the Travel Section of GTA bookstores as well as Mastermind Educational Toys stores and currently at Costco. Visit www.torontofunplaces.com to learn more.
WRITTEN BY
Their 
Most pages are followed by a Show & Tell section where you get to see pictures of craft ideas submitted by families just like us. Very often, parents also submit photos of one of the Family Fun crafts they tried for themselves. I should send them my daughter’s picture of the bubble bather costume suggestion we used during our school’s Crazy Bubbles end-of-the-year party.
The independent cart is really catchy, filled with lively little fellows in their shiny shells painted in every colours with funny patterns. Since these land crabs are born without a shell, they spend their life “trading up” to find a better home (sounds familiar?). You can get a cage including a crab and two shells for around $45.
We prefer to attend Marineland during the fall. There’s lots of walking involved to enjoy the spread of activities, animals and shows throughout the site. The park is virtually shadowless. On days when the sun is blaring, it’s enough to melt most kids’ enthousiasm. On the other hand, when the temperature gets below 20 degrees, young visitors will climb up to the Sky Screamer like young mountain goats. Note that all the regular activities are offered in the fall.
Wonderland’s water park is now closed, which solves the usual dilemma of finding the time to do it all in one day. The other “dry” attractions remain open until the end of the season, weather permitting. Note that the regular admission does not include access to the Halloween Haunt event (held in October and recommended for kids 13 and over).
If the weather gets really warm in September, note that the waterpark within Ontario Place will remain open until the end of their season.
The strike cheated us of a whole month of fun at the Centreville Amusement Park but we can still enjoy it on the weekends until the end of September.
Young families would be better advised to travel by car between activity centres spread throughout the vast park, in order to spare everyone’s energy. Save the giant pool for later in the day, when its shallow water has been heated to a comfortable temperature by the sun (in the morning, it’s cold enough to turn any moms’ legs numb!).
summer, there usually are costumed actors moving about and showing visitors a glimpse of rural life in the early part of the last century. There will be more activities around the farm during their special Farm Day on August 22, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (with extra fees for wagon and pony rides).
The Bronte Creek pool, located near parking lot D, holds 1.3 million gallons of water spread over a 1.8-acre area. To give you an idea, it took me 500 steps to go around it! It is fabulous for children: no more than two metres deep in the middle, more than half its area is like a gigantic wading pool where little swimmers can frolic without swallowing mouthfuls of water. Those who seek shade can plant their umbrellas on the grass around it. Several picnic tables and a snack bar are located right outside the pool grounds.