momstown's 6 Program Pillars

"Our calendars have always been jam packed with fabulous, child focused events based on our educational curriculum. momstown has a 60-month educational curriculum built with monthly themes around teacher-developed activities; we’re the original mom’s network to connect both online & off-line events for moms.

Introducing momstown’s 6 Program Pillars which will define our event curriculum starting March 1st. momstown has always been very focused on the whole child, the complete family and early education and our new pillars give us a stronger foundation from which to build that awareness. We want to build awareness that momstown is not “just” a convenient playgroup. We’re so much more.

momstown isn’t changing anything our members love, just sprucing up our programs with more focused consistency from chapter to chapter."

Here are all the details!

Check out what this means for the momstown Central Alberta Chapter! Click here to see the Calendar, if you haven't already done so. Not a member? Let your membership expire? Sign up for a new trial membership, and see what we are all so excited about!

Pink Shirt Day 2012

My daughter’s school is participating in the pink shirt campaign tomorrow, and I love it.

There is so much information on bullying now. Way more then 'back in the day' when I was in school, when it still was considered a "right of passage".

I know in my daughters school they are continually discussing what is bullying, how to spot a bully, who to tell... So much that sometimes it seems like there shouldn't be this problem anymore.

I wish this were the case. We discuss often with my daughter the "golden rule" Do to others as you would want done to you. I think this is a great life rule, with no necessary religious affiliation. When she has her feelings hurt, we talk about it, and we also speak about how to treat others.

At the beginning of the school year, when my daughter walked across the street with the crossing guards, there is one crossing guard (a kid) that always makes a comment to her, and without hearing what he says, I saw my confident daughters shoulders slump, her eyes look down, and I felt so sad. I made her tell me what he said, and we discussed what we could do about it. All she can do is keep telling her teachers and me. I tell her never to keep it a secret. This has finally stopped, but I still hear of the kids at school who continue to tease or bully other kids.

I do not believe kids are inherently bullies; their life makes them that way. We know that low self-esteem makes bullies. I also know that parent's behavior is a huge predictor in whether they raise a bully or not. I am sure you too have seen this from personal interactions with parents and then meeting their children, and you know why they exhibit bullying behavior.

I recently saw this on a the back window of a SUV

"My student can make
your honor roll student TAP OUT
in less than 10 seconds"

I assume this is in response to the bumper stickers stating parents are proud of their honor role student? I also assume they feel bad that their kid isn't performing academically so they feel like this makes it better? I also assume they think that they are very funny.

I encourage you to send your child to school tomorrow in a pink shirt, talk to your kids about bullying, and most importantly, be the role model your kid needs

A session with The Sound Connections Centre

A few of the momstown moms took a field trip to Sound Connections in Red Deer to learn more about their programs.

Sound Connections Programs can be used with all students whether they have identified learning needs or not. A key concept in the Programs is ‘multi-sensory learning’ which means that the brain is taught through as many senses and learning styles as is possible. Instructors use toys and attractive resources that appeal to children but also help them to learn. The Programs are fun and many children look forward to the sessions and are continually looking for ‘clues’ to what is coming next. Students are actively engaged as learners rather than being passive.

Here are a few pictures of the kids having a great time! Kids were telling their moms they wanted to go back "to school" the next day!

Tales for Tots: February

We had our first Tales for Tots event at Chapters Red Deer, and we had so much fun!
Our program started with some story time.

Then it was time to build some bird houses out of pop bottles and wooden spoons.

Some of the kids took some time to peruse the book selections

Then momstown Mama Tanya took a turn to read our scholastic book selction for the month, WE SHARE EVERYTHING by Robert Munch.

This book was so perfect for our group as a few of us (my kid) had trouble sharing ANYTHING on this day! Reading the book the kids loved the repetitive lines of "WE SHARE EVERYTHING" and they all know what it is like to "fight" over toys, whether at daycare, like in our story, with their siblings, and of course at a momstown program event!

Congratulations to Heather as she was our lucky winner of a copy of our Scholastic Book of the month! Sorry again that my kid was not interested in sharing the book with your family!! ha ha The number one lesson at our house this month is learning to share!!

See you next month at our next Tales for Tots event!

momstown monet: mix n match n mittens

We held our first momstown Monet program, and it was all about Mittens and Mix n Match!!!

Here we are in our sensory basket, exploring the different items,
finding matching textures, colors and shapes.
The kids loved this and learned so much!

Then we painted our hand prints onto a pair of mittens

We ended our event, with circle time singing about what else? Mittens of course while we tried on some mittens that were not our own, INSIDE which of course makes it much more fun right?

Valentine"s Day 2012

Valentine's Day is a very special day for me.

I have never thought Valentine's Day was a big deal... oh wait I am sure I did when I was a kid just like my eight year old does now!

Nine years ago on Valentine's Day, I found out I was expecting a very healthy baby GIRL. It was the day of my 20 week ultrasound. My pregnancy wasn't real for me until this day!

It is the day that becoming a mom was made real. The day I saw my daughter kick and kick every time I laughed during the ultrasound, and the day the Doctor (yes Dr. in Quebec) said "C'est une fille!"

Valentine's Day is a big day for my oldest. She debated and hummed and hawed about which valentines to give her grade three class, which candies should we include, or should we choose pencils... And she loves to hear about Valentine's Day nine years ago!

Our family celebrated Valentines Day early this year, as my husband is out of town for the big Day. We had decided no presents this year just a restaurant treat for the family. So off we went with our three Valentine's, handed out our hand made cards, plus a few store bought ones over appetizers, and waited patiently for my husband to finally open my card to him. The girls knew we had a special treat enclosed... tickets to Elton John!! (I still cannot believe he is performing in RED DEER!!)

I could not resist trying to secure tickets. No one THIS big usually comes to RED DEER. Also my husband had mentioned a few weeks before that there is just one artist he would like to see live, guess who! Right. Elton John! Not sure how I was one of the lucky ones. I just logged on and lucked out!

Hubby was speechless! It was awesome!

I hope you and your family had a love filled day!
What did your family do?

Are you on Repeat at your house?

Are you on repeat at your house? Because I am sure that I am! I seem to say the same thing over and over and over and.... I cannot be the only one can I? Of course not. As parents we all face very similar battles every day.

One battle that happens at our house is mom is on repeat. Like that toy that batteries are dying and it keeps repeating the same line of its song over and over... you know the one, the one that will never have batteries again!! Well that is how I feel on many days. I find that I can ask the same thing over and over again, but until my voice is raised, I am ignored. Anyone else experience this? Thought so.

This is why I am so looking forward to this 1 hour webinar training course.
Get Kids to Listen without Nagging, Reminding or Yelling!

Is this really possible? Well Amy promises that I'll walk away from this webinar with concrete tools that I can use the next day and see results!! My eight year old will not know what is coming!!

I am really interested in finding out about the 5 R's of Fair and Effective consequences, as these are a real struggle for me as well. What is too harsh and what is too light?

If this interests you, Sign up for this FREE live training webinar