News

Check out these resources for parents & children provided by Lori Gair of Vulcan County Early Childhood Development Coalition

Services available at FCSS
403-485-2192

-FCSS has been phoning to see how people in our County are doing. If you have missed the call or are not in the phone book call FCSS at 403-485-2192 to have conversation with someone and receive help directing you to resources.

-Family/Couple kits are available for pick-up.

-The Grandma Share Your Stories With Me – This is a program to connect youth and grandparents through a question book- it may be done online, on the phone, or with distancing. Youth ask some interesting questions about their grandparent’s life. You can request copies from FCSS via email or set a time for an appointment.

-The Resource Directory is on the Vulcan and Region FCSS website along with many links to official sites, such as the federal government grants, free counselling, links to resources etc. Resources are posted on the Facebook page as well as on our Food Bank webpage.

-If you are in need of the AA phone number you can call FCSS to get it. There are some guidelines around its use.

-The Food Bank is doing hampers and accepting donations preferably cheque or pay pal – there are details on the Food Bank website on how to do this. Any clients wishing to have help must call for an appointment. Everything is sanitized before and after a visit.

Survey

Building Brains Together along with researchers from the University of Lethbridge have created a survey to learn how isolation is impacting parents. All responses are anonymous and confidential and will be used to help professionals understand the impacts that Covid-19 and the subsequent Public Health Measures are having on parents and families. Data from this survey will be used to inform social supports and services both for the remainder of the Covid-19 pandemic and in future emergency responses. Participants are invited to send us an email once you’ve completed the survey and we’ll enter you into our draw for a $50 Superstore gift card. Draws will take place at the end of each month. www.buildingbrains.ca/parent-survey

Parenting Program

The Greater Foothills Family Centre is offering the Triple P Positive Program virtually!! If you would like more information on the Triple P Positive Parenting Program please give us a call at 403 652 8633 or email us at [email protected]
Triple P is also offered online! Check out this video about the online Triple P Positive Parenting Program.

If you are interested in enrolling in the online Triple P Program please click this link to be directed to the Alberta Triple P Website: https://www.triplep-parenting.ca/alb-en/triple-p/

Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body
New Working Paper
Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body: Early Childhood Development and Lifelong Health Are Deeply Intertwined This Working Paper, the fifteenth in the series from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, informs policymakers, leaders of human services systems, intervention developers, and practitioners in reducing disparities in preventable diseases and premature deaths and lowering the high costs of health care for chronic illnesses that have their origins in early childhood adversity. The paper examines how developing biological systems in the body interact with each other and adapt to the contexts in which a child is developing—for better or for worse—with lifelong consequences for physical and mental health.

Domestic Violence

Agencies in the domestic violence services in Calgary have seen up to 40% increase in services during the first two months of this pandemic crisis. Now more than ever our friends and family members who are experiencing violence and abuse need our positive support. Please consider sharing information about our webinar with your friends and social connections. The focus of the presentation is to give participants the skills and confidence to recognize and support victims of family violence and abuse during this crisis and beyond. This FREE webinar is offered several times per week, with new dates added weekly. For more information, please see our TAKE A STAND info & registration page,
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/take-a-stand-against-family-violence-and-abuse-tickets-101823970236 On this page there are social media share buttons, or please consider emailing this info to your friends. Please maintain physical distancing, and increase social connections.

The Role of Play during a Pandemic

Play Can Help Children:
cope with changes
experience feelings of control.
foster empathy and relieve tension.
promote well-being and resilience
https://www.centre4activeliving.ca/news/2020/05/play-during-global-pandemic/

Nutrition Classes
The PPH Dietitians are offering interactive online classes in June using Zoom. Registration is through https://www.birthandbabies.com/, and classes will be limited to 20 participants. Please share this with your clients.
Classes and Dates:
Mealtime Struggles to Mealtime Success: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020 at 6:30pm
Feeding Your Baby: Wednesday, June 17th, 2020 at 1:00pm

Detailed descriptions for each class:
Mealtime Struggles to Mealtime Success – Do you have questions about your child’s eating habits? Are meal and snack times becoming a struggle? Join a Registered Dietitian from Alberta Health Services and learn about ways to cope with picky eating, refusal of foods, strategies to help you develop a healthy feeding relationship with your child, and more!! This class is for parents and caregivers with children 1-5 years of age.
Date: Tuesday, June 23, 2020 at 6:30pm
Registration is through https://www.birthandbabies.com/, and classes will be limited to 20 participants. Classes will be held on Zoom. This is a FREE class! Feeding Your Baby is being offered in June as an interactive online class!

Are you getting ready for your baby to start solid foods? Wondering what foods you should introduce and when? If so, then this class is for you! Join a Registered Dietitian from Alberta Health Services and get answers to your questions about baby’s first foods, timing, textures, eating patterns, developmental stages, and other topics related to feeding your baby. This class is for parents, and caregivers.
Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2020 at 1:00pm

Registration is through https://www.birthandbabies.com/, and classes will be limited to 20 participants. Classes will be held on Zoom. This is a FREE class! Please distribute this info to others. Also, don’t forget that people can always call Healthlink 8-1-1 with any nutrition question and speak with one of our Registered Dietitians!

Supporting a Smooth Transition into the 2020-2021 School Year

Michelle Deen, Registered Psychologist, B.A., B.Ed., M.Ed &
Shelly Hutton, Learning Specialist, B.A., B.Ed., M.Ed

RVS MHCB Stepping Stones to Mental Health

Live webinar: Monday June 15 @ 10 AM

Since the closing of schools in mid-March due to the recent pandemic, school districts have offered at-home learning opportunities for all students (e.g., online, telephone check-ins, and/or course packages). Parents (in conjunction with their child’s school team) have been supporting their child‘s learning and social-emotional development during this time. Currently, the province continues to work with school authorities and education system partners on developing a comprehensive re-entry plan. This situation leaves many families wondering how they can support their child to transition smoothly into the 2020-21 school year regardless of the re-entry plan that is developed. Knowing that it will be important for parents to share student strengths and home-based strategies that have worked well with school teams, this presentation will be designed to provide families with effective tools and ways to share information to ensure a smooth and successful transition. Tools to be explored may include; slides, videos, creating books and memory boxes. https://community.hmhc.ca/sessions/files/2020-05-14-16-40-29-June-15-Covid-and-school.pdf

A New Online Hub called CORE will coordinate community services for older Albertans and Seniors -The CORE Alberta website is geared toward service providers to enable them to share information, ideas and resources available from across the province. It is a platform to connect community based seniors serving organizations and allied agencies and individuals in Alberta. CORE is designed to provide up-to-date information, resources, and training opportunities and to make it easier to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate in order to help build capacity, strengthen the network, and develop a collective and cohesive voice among volunteers, staff, and others who support healthy aging initiatives. The perspective of rural areas will be important to this endeavour. The main intent of the CORE Alberta website is to enable services providers from anywhere in Alberta to support and learn from each other.

There are various discussion groups available where CORE Alberta participants can share information, ask questions, as well as learn and collaborate. Currently, there are a number of open discussion groups from transportation, to home supports, to food security, and many others.

In addition, you are encouraged to sign up to the corealberta.ca site, explore the collaborative opportunities and subscribe to the newsletter. If you have any questions about CORE Alberta or would prefer to register via email, please contact [email protected]

Enhanced Grief Support
Enhanced Grief Support Services being provided by the Calgary Zone Grief Support program and the program’s brochure. This enhanced service is in recognition that the pandemic may intensify and add complexity to bereavement experiences. Clients who call the program can be connected within a few weeks and all counseling is provided telephonically or via zoom.

The Grief Support Program has also created an educational psycho-social video for those who have experienced a death related loss, or for those who want to offer support to someone who has. This educational offering recognizes that grieving can be more complex during an experience like a pandemic.The intention of the video is to offer information, comfort and hope and normalize these challenging bereavement experiences by presenting resources, tools and approaches to grief and loss during a pandemic. This can be a helpful and supportive resource for people to access virtually during this time. The video is posted on the AHS You Tube channel and can be accessed through this link which is also embedded in the memo:

Grief and Loss during a Pandemic

In 2004 The Palliative and End of Life Care Grief Support Program also developed Bereavement Videos that are also on the AHS You Tube Channel: Grief Videos All videos are on the Grief Resources playlist on the AHS You Tube Channel.

Psychological First Aid: Supporting Yourself and Others During COVID-19
When you register, for some reason I couldn’t get any provinces but could put Canada in the state area also put Armed Forces ( other) and it worked.

https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/coronavirus-information/psychological-first-aid-online-course

Psychological First Aid: Supporting Yourself and Others During COVID-19 is an online only course designed to help individuals build resilience and support themselves and lend support to others during and following the COVID-19 outbreak. The course length is estimated at 60 minutes. The topics covered in the course include:

· Recognizing Stress in Adults, Teens and Children

· Practicing Mental Health First Aid

· Caring for Yourself

· Supporting Your Family

· Supporting Yourself and Coworkers at Work

Each student who completes the course will receive an American Red Cross Psychological First Aid: Supporting Yourself and Others During COVID-19 Online Only certificate at the completion of the course. The certificate date is the date of course completion. The certificate is valid for 2 years. If you enter Canada to register and you have trouble and cannot enter your province or territory, try logging in as Armed Forces (other).

Links to Resources

Eight ways to support brain health for rural older adults
https://www.centre4activeliving.ca/news/2020/06/rural-older-adults/

Multi-Faith Resources: Alienation & Separation During a Pandemic

https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/info/ppih/if-ppih-covid-19-multifaith-resources-alienation-separation.pdf

Nicole Frandsen is an an Outreach Officer with the Canada Revenue Agency. Presentations are available via the WebEx system.

I am not only able to give our regular presentations (see below) but we have slides on the new economic measures for COVID-19 that the Canada Revenue Agency is administering such as the enhanced Canada Child Benefit (CCB) and enhanced Goods and Services Tax Credit payment (GSTC), the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB). I can also create a presentation to cover the topics of most interest for your group, using a combination of the information below.

Excerpts from YYC Weekly – Calgary’s Child Magazine online newsletter:
https://www.bluetoad.com/publication/?i=659135

Get Them to Listen the First Time by Julie Freedman-Smith of Parenting Power

Has the pandemic turned you into the teacher from ‘Charlie Brown?’

Are you the voice that can be heard in the background saying lots of something but nothing actually worth listening to? Does even the dog walk away while you are talking?

It may be because while you are with your kids so much, you are saying the same things over and over again and no one really feels that they have to listen to you.

Let’s face it, when you have something to say that is really important, you’ll make sure they hear it. You will use some way to grab their attention, or grab them. Yelling, getting in their faces, crying, punishment, all of those methods tell kids that this is the time to listen.

But why do they make you yell at them? Didn’t they hear you the other 7 times you said it calmly? They did not.

They have learned to ignore you until the one time it matters.

Get them to listen the first time.

When you are about to nag, stop. AID them to listen:

A = Attention. Go to the child and get his attention before you say anything.

I = Instruction. Give your instruction clearly.

D = Direct. If the child doesn’t do it, direct the child to do it now.

“Are you going to do this with my help or without?”

“Looks like you need my help to make this happen – let’s go.”

Catch yourself before it happens

Before you start to yell an instruction from another room, or say it for the 4th or 5th time, stop. Go to the child, be sure that you have her attention and then say what needs to happen and require it to happen.

Use pre-planned times to give clear instructions

Perhaps you will share your clear instructions and plan it out during the family meeting. Perhaps it will be at the start of the day when you are reviewing the plan for the day. Make a time for it to happen and only give instructions which are important and worth holding kids accountable to complete.

This week, ask yourself these questions:

What am I nagging about daily?
Is it actually something important?
How, when and where can I communicate it clearly once and then hold my child accountable?

Read more at parentingpower.ca

Links for things to do also from YYC Weekly
Fight Rainy Day Boredom
Chris Hadfield reads his children’s book, ‘The Darkest Dark’
Build a ‘What Bugs Me’ bug with the City of Calgary Recreation
BOKS at Home workouts for kids and adults
The Calgary Public Library has online at home learning resources to help!
Maui Ocean Center Live Stream of Sharks, Stingrays & More
Imagination Design Studio offers free drawing classes
Make bubble wands and bubble juice at home
Paint kindness rocks for your neighborhood
Build a fairy garden with your kids
Plant herbs, veggies and flowers in recycled containers (hint: those blue IKEA bags make incredible potato planters!)

Betty White Reads

If all else fails, let 98 year old Betty read to your kid. If it doesn’t entertain them, it will most definitely make you smile.

National Geographic

Shark quizzes, science experiments, ‘weird but true’ games, and much more!

Science Fun

Energy, electricity, astronomy: Inside the Perimeter is a Waterloo-based educational site for science lovers of all ages, but they also have a robust section for kids and educators. There are some free resources, but mostly lessons that you purchase.

Art Ninja

This is a BBC Kids show that combines ninja moves with wacky art projects, but the host also has a YouTube channel with lots of colourful arts & crafts tutorials.

Lori Gair
Vulcan County Early Childhood Development Coalition
Phone: 403-485-0601
Email: [email protected]