Infant care option
Government funding of $262,000 went into YMCA project
SYDNEY — Just under a year ago, six child-care providers in Cape Breton were given close to $600,000 in funding so they could accommodate more infants and toddlers.
On Friday morning, one of those providers will show just what they did with it.
The Frank Rudderham YMCA Early Learning Centre received $262,000 last year from the Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development through the Canada-Nova Scotia Early Childhood Development Agreement to convert space into an area for infants between the ages of six and 18 months. It was the second-highest amount of funding given in the province under the program and, according to YMCA CEO Andre Gallant, those who attend Friday’s official opening at the Y at 9:30 a.m. will see how the money was spent. “In our case, we converted some underutilized space for infants so we could provide this service,” said Gallant on Wednesday. “If we had to fund it ourselves it would not have happened.”
Infant care is at a premium in Nova Scotia since children under the ages of 18 months require one staff person for every four infants.
“The fees that you collect from families of those four have to pay all of our overall costs and staff costs, development costs and such and so to make the math work, childcare centres have to charge a lot of money and, many times, that’s more than a family can afford, even if the family has a public subsidy,” says Gallant.
Michael married his high school sweetheart and they recently had a baby. Coady said her son graduates from law school this year and is working for Stewart McKelvey law firm.
Along the way, many people were impressed with him and would ask Coady how she raised such great kid.
“The fact that he had goals, continued to fulfill his goals and was always such a respectful sweet kid,” is what she tells them.
Coady wanted to share her story but then thought with all the great moms out there dealing with various needs and issues, it would be a better project to get other moms to contribute. Her plan was to find 10 moms to each come up with 10 parenting tips.
“Then the idea just came to me, what if I got 100 moms and they all gave me their top 10 tips? I could have 10,000 parenting tips.”
Coady started with searching out old friends and former classmates, then looking to some moms in parenting groups on Facebook, at a single mom’s project in Halifax and even a seniors complex.
“My oldest mom is 88 and my youngest is 17,” she said.
She also discovered 30 of the moms were from Cape Breton.
“Some of them have moved away, (but) most of them are still there.”
Coady’s first call when searching out moms was to Shelly Breen of River Ryan.
“When I decided to do the book she was the very first mom on my list.”
Coady knew Breen well, having graduated from Holy Angels with her and following her on Facebook.
She noticed Breen had four children of varying ages.
“She had her older kids but then had a baby. I always really admired her as a mom for doing it twice.
“She’s so attentive and so involved with her kids; I wanted to get her tips.”
Breen thought the book was an amazing idea.
“What she wanted to have in the book was the views and ideas of parents as everyone is different. I think she did an amazing job.”
Breen said when Coady asked her for 10 tips she thought she’d pick a few from them.
“She not only put them all in, but exactly as they were worded.”
Breen has four children, including Kendall, 25, Trent, 23, Nicholas, 20, and had an 11-year gap until her fourth, Michell, 10.
One tip Breen included was, “Love, love love — I can’t stress this enough. I tell the kids daily, more than you can imagine, I love them, they always tell me back.”
Another tip was “Be their friend.”
“Most say you can’t be this, I say ‘bulls--t.’ Tell me about your friends. Do you get along great, laugh, cry, get pissed with each other? Do you yell, scream, ignore each other? Parenting is the same thing. You just have to have limits.”
Breen also added some humour to parenting.
When she received a copy of the book, she told her kids she included a special tip.
Her son Trent said, “Oh no, you didn’t put the noodle one in there did you?”
Breen did.
Breen said one day when the kids were younger they were having chicken noodle soup for supper but Trent didn’t like it.
“I said, ‘Whoever eats it first gets a surprise.’ Well they couldn’t eat it fast enough,” she said.
The surprise turned out to be as her kids still describe it, ‘a frigging hug and kiss.’
“They warn Michell now, ‘Don’t ever fall for anything mom says; if she says if you eat something you’ll get a surprise, you’re not getting anything,” Breen said laughing.
The 100 moms also include Bernice Hall, 46, of Sydney.
“I’ve known Doreen my entire life,” Hall said. “Our mothers were best friends.”
Hall loved the idea of the book and was enthusiastic to be part of it.
“Just the way it was representing all different styles of mothers and types of children because every child is different. Everyone has different ways of raising their children.”
Hall said her son is hearing impaired and she shared different ways she was helping with his impairment.
One way included she would put little notes on his mirror for when he gets up in the morning.
“I would put flash cards for him to let him know in order the things to do so he’d have a routine every morning.
“In the morning everyone is rushing and kids can lose focus quickly whether from the television to a dog bark, she said.
“He has other learning disabilities as well. The list was to help him stay focused and so it wouldn’t be so overwhelming.“
Hall said the idea simply came one morning.
“This was all new to me, I was teaching myself things that could better my son.”
Hall said her son is now 18 and graduating from Sydney Academy this year.
“I thought it was imperative for other mothers and fathers to know there are things they can to make things better for the mother or the father or the children.”