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Weekly Update: We are pleased to announce that next week Eastside Family Place will be offering licensed Occasional Care as our first phased-in service. Families who have previously registered their children will be contacted, with sessions offered Tuesday and Thursday mornings. For everyone else, our next steps include an exciting outdoor program that is now in the planning stages. Thank you for your patience, and in the meantime, be sure to join us online!
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Celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day
June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples Day. In celebration of this, and in the spirit of reconciliation, we are hosting a special webinar for parents to help you understand how the history of colonialism in Canada has affected Indigenous people. We'll also have some book and song suggestions for you to share with your child.
Please see just below under 'Programs' for more details and to register.
Here are some other resources we've found to help you and your children celebrate:
- 20 Canadian books for kids and teens to read for National Indigenous History Month
- Fun activity guide to celebrate Indigenous Peoples in Canada
- 11 Ways to Virtually Celebrate National Indigenous People's Day
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PROGRAMS
Have you Zoomed into CIRCLE TIME lately?
Join Mamata, Arlene & Gisele, for a fun time of singing and dancing together! Mondays and Fridays at 10:30. Click here to be emailed the UPDATED ZOOM LINKS.
SELF-CARE WORKSHOP Friday, July 3, 1:30-2:15
Sound, Voice & Story, with Siobhan Barker
Parents will engage in deep listening, voice work, and storytelling as we practise feeling good about what we do and about getting/giving help. Will include Siobhan's wonderful Guided Meditation and Visualisation. To register, click here. (You will instantly receive the Zoom link to join,)
New Workshop!
Indigenous Awareness for the Early Years, Tuesday June 23, 1-2:30 PM
To celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day, we are presenting a new webinar. It will take parents on a journey through pre-contact, then contact, and today's realities for Indigenous people across turtle island. (North America). This journey will allow the participants to understand the Indigenous way of life before contact, the challenges brought on by colonization, and ways to bring Indigenous people's resilience into our lives in an authentic way. This journey will be facilitated with respect and vulnerability. Come and ask all the questions you always had regarding Indigenous people!
Facilitated by Jade Brass, who is completing her Aboriginal Early Childhood Education Diploma and joining our programs at Eastside Family Place this summer. "As an Indigenous womxn my goal is to be a positive role model in our community and do this work for our children and our unborn babies."
To register, click here. (You will instantly receive the Zoom link to join.)
Jade is pictured below, enjoying a day in the forest.
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Happy Fathers Day, Dads!
Family Resource Programs like Eastside Family Place are here to lift up and nurture Dads in their role as parents, and encourage them to create strong, enduring bonds with their children by being actively involved and engaged. Dads are so important and valued because they impact every aspect of a child’s development, overall health and well-being at every age and stage. Dads’ parenting roles within the family structure have evolved dramatically over the generations. Their love has as great an influence as a mother’s love in helping their children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development and functioning.
As we prepare to celebrate Father’s Day, we recognize and honour all Dads! Kudos to you, and enjoy your special day!
Here's some resources just for Dads:
- 24 Hour Cribside Assistance is an amusing manual/video series for new Dads. From changing that first diaper to coping with relationship changes, this uplifting resource, created by Dads for Dads, offers great tips on becoming a new Dad.
- Nobody's Perfect Parenting tip sheets, just for Dads, provides parenting advice on a variety of topics, ranging from being your child’s health coach to encouraging literacy and a Dad’s role in play. Note that Dads are very welcome to join our upcoming NP group, starting July 8.
- Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development has created *a short PDF* which offers Dads great ideas on how to be more involved in their children’s lives.
- Fatherhood is Forever is an excellent online resource for Indigenous Dads, which explores fatherhood and offers a comprehensive list of helpful resources and publications.
- The Fathering Project initiative: #2Dads2Calls encourages Dads to call two other Dads every week, anywhere in the world, to check in with them to help combat feelings of isolation during COVID-19.
- Adorable Viral Video of Dad freeze dancing with infant, when he says stop, the baby also stops. Turn up the cuteness meter!
- Another funny and sweet video, this one of a Dad having a pretend conversation (or is it? you decide!) with his baby daughter.
Some of our ESFP Dads having fun in Grandview Park!
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Register soon - Limited space!
Nobody's Perfect Parenting Program on Zoom
6 Wednesdays, starting July 8, 1:00-2:30 PM
Why join NP?
Because children don't come with a user manual!
Parenting can sometimes be a baffling, frustrating and even scary job, and we receive little or no training for it! We 'learn on the job', and NP participants say it can be so helpful and reassuring to meet other parents going through similar things. And during these challenging and uncertain times, it can be even more helpful to join a support group like NP!
In NP, the discussions are around the group's interests and so the focus is on what is most important to you. Some common issues are things like temper tantrums, food and feeding, bedtimes, separation anxiety, sibling rivalry/aggression....The 2 trained facilitators guide you to discover your strengths as a parent, and discover new approaches to deal with issues and behaviours.
People often describe NP as life changing, and the knowledge, skills and support help them tremendously in their parenting journey, well beyond the early years. Many form lasting friendships in the community.
Join us for this free six week program. (To be eligible, you must be available to attend all six sessions).
To be added to the wait list, click here. We will contact you to go over the details. To learn more about NP, check out the Nobody's Perfect website.
Meet ESFP's Nobody's Perfect Facilitators, Carrie and Nuri!
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Carrie Cassidy is the happy and proud mother of 3 teenagers. She works as a Family Support worker at South Vancouver Family Place and as a group facilitator for YWCA single mothers support services. We welcome Carrie to our team!
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Nuri Marconato is an Eastend mom, a long-time ESFP facilitator of both our Family Rhythm, Rhyme + Movement and Nobody's Perfect Program who brings her knowledge, skills and humour to our groups.
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Little Sprouts Gardening Update
We've been lucky to bump into many ESFP kids playing at the Britannia Secondary community gardens when we've gone there to work on our garden plot. It's a great place to have fun in a little piece of nature! While visiting, notice that there are two types of gardens- those surrounded by large rocks, and those in wooden garden boxes. Please, don't pick anything from the wooden garden boxes, as these belong to individual families. (It's okay to taste food from the rocky plots). We hope to start our Little Sprouts Family Gardening Program in July. Details coming soon. Email Gaye to add yourself to the wait list.
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Free Children's Books!
Kids getting tired of the same old stories every night? We got you covered! ESFP received a donation of children's books from the VPL and we want to pass them along to you. Email us to arrange picking some books up from us.
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Each week, we source activities, information, programs, and experts, and add them here, at the top of each section, highlighted in purple. Our lists are growing!
FUN STUFF:
SELF-CARE:
MENTAL HEALTH:
- Free Counseling Service from a Registered Clinical Counselor, email us for a confidential referral
- From Canada.ca. Access support workers, social workers, psychologists for confidential chat sessions or phone calls by texting "WELLNESS" to 741741. If you are a frontline worker, text "FRONTLINE" to same number.
- The Wellness Together Canada mental wellness portal- wide range of free resources
- Pacific Post Partum Support Society, 10am-3pm, telephone and text support for new or expecting parents (moms and dads). 604-255-7999
PARENTING SUPPORT:
FINANCIAL AND LEGAL INFO:
- Adrienne Smith Law explains government COVID benefits
- Family Services of Greater Vancouver help with financial benefits, emergency budget planning CALL: 604-368-2469 moneyskills@fsgv.ca
- Helping Women Now from Dress for Success. Helps women affected by job reduction/loss
- Provincial hotline dedicated to answering NON-MEDICAL questions, CALL 1-888-COVID19 or 1-888-268-4319
FOOD:
- Trudy-Ann's Chai & Spices, online cooking keto vegetarian course
- Choices Market loads of free online nutrition seminars + recipes
- Trout Lake Farmers Market is open!
- Map Showing where to get free/low-cost food in Vancouver
- Hannah Brook Farm home delivery. Local family owns the Burnaby farm
- Support BC Food Producers! order from BCLocalRoot for Delivery or Pick up
- East Van Cares, by Grandview Woodland Food Connection out of Britannia. Free food boxes to seniors and families with young children. Currently searching for volunteer delivery drivers (mileage paid).
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SIGNAL FOR HELP
The social isolation measures necessitated by the pandemic are making it more difficult for those who are at risk of abuse or violence to safely reach out for help. “Signal for Help” is a simple one-handed sign someone can use on a video call. It can help a person silently show they need help and want someone to check in with them in a safe way. For more info, including on how to help someone if you see it on a call, see Canadian Women's Foundation. If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 911.
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Follow Us!
Stay in the loop and don't miss a thing. Check us out on Facebook (@eastsidefamilyplacesociety) & Instagram (@familyplaceprograms) or at eastsidefamilyplace.org
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Eastside Family Place is proud of being the Grandview-Woodland community’s 'home away from home' for over 40 years.
Please renew your membership to help us continue our work. Thanks!
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We wish to acknowledge we are on the unceded, traditional territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) , Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
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