One thing I hate about where we live is the lack of things to do with kids.
There are almost no SAHM’s in my area and if there are they stay away from the outside world.. when I go to the park if there are other kids there they are with a daycare worker, or another babysitter, grandparent etc… no parents… not unless it is the weekend…
but there is also almost nothing to do here as a family…
I wanted to see if there was a free swim at the local pool (the only pool in the region) and yes, there are… there are 2 hours in the morning for adults only, 2 hours in the late afternoon for adults only, an hour at 8pm for all and then an hour after that for adults only… So the only time you can go swimming with kids is when most kids are going to bed… who goes swimming with kids at 8pm?! I called and talked to the pool director and she said that she tried to do a free swim for kids a few years ago in the daytime but there were only about 4-5 kids that came… but that we could rent out the pool if there was enough people that wanted it (130$ an hour)… I talked to her about it a bit more and she said that she would think about it… we’ll see what she decides..
There is a family centre here… but again… though it is for families and for kids the activities that are planned always have the kids and the parents separated… because they really believe that parents need to do activities without the kids and the kids have to learn how to be in daycare. When you ask if you can stay with your kids you get looked like as if you have three nostrils… don’t get me wrong… there are some activities that you are with your kids… but you are only allowed to have one child with you and you need to put the others in the daycare… not even a nursling is allowed to stay with you if you are with an older child. The activities are also really rigid and planned and they even give you homework if you don’t finish it during the allotted time… It is just so unfriendly and what I have heard from many others is that the kids don’t enjoy it…
There is not much else here besides that… there is stroller group that does a lot of walking but you can only have a child in a stroller, no other kids are welcome.
There are “extra-curricular” activities… but only Xavier would be able to go and really he is just not that interested by them at the moment and honestly… I don’t blame him… he wants to be with his family and do things as a family…
it is sad that this city is so anti-family.
I’m assuming you’re in a ‘burb of Montreal, although I don’t know, but can tell you’re not in my town by the pool schedule! 😀 Pool schedules are funny things, here the problem is the polar opposite of yours, no adult swims except 6 am and 9 pm.
But don’t you find that’s such a Quebec thing, with nothing to do with small kids? I think it’s a side effect of the $7 daycare, that all the kids are there so there’s no demand / funding for anything else. Luckily, I’m in Gatineau, so once we adopt there’s the Ottawa side (with LOTS of stuff!) but still, it’s a 1/2 hr drive to get there so it would be nice to have some local stuff.
Of course, what paltry offerings we do have are all french (and the area has a good percentage of anglos), but that will be my incentive to hopefully learn a bit more french by then.
I’m going to be a mostly SAHM too, and we’d also like to homeschool/unschool, but I worry that our child would be too socially isolated if we do, due to lack of other child-meeting milieus (did I spell that right?).
Oh wow, that sounds crappy. Seattle is crazy family-friendly. Well everything is except the high COL, I suppose! That’s one reason we love it here. Last week we were at the park and the whole place had been taken over by homeschooling kids and parents 🙂
Oh, I love the new look, btw! Usually I read through a feed so I don’t stop by as much as I should!
Wow – it’s as if they are actively trying to be unfriendly. I mean really – requiring strollers for the walking group?
It is pretty good here in Toronto until school-age and then you need to make your own events. Fortunately there are a few good HS groups so that isn’t too much of a problem
technicalglitch…
Yeah… I am about an hour North-East of Montreal…
You bring up a great point… the 7$ a day daycare probably has a lot to do with it… I know some moms that have their kids in daycare even though they are still at home for their mat. leave. and others that use it even though they stay home with another child.
Funding goes there instead of going into family resources and activities.
Separation is funded. Family time is devalued.
1/2 and hour isn’t too bad for all of the stuff that is in Ottawa… and there are homeschooling groups out there too so I don’t think that there would be a lack of HSing community…
Mamamilkers…
I would LOVE to move out west again… though I would want to be north of the border 😉 thanks for dropping by!
Todd… yeah… that is another thing that is lacking here.. HSing groups…
Wow, that doesn’t sound very fun at all. My husband is applying for a job in Montreal (Concordia I think) and I wonder if it’s the same situation in the city center, which is where we’d live if he gets the job…Fingers crossed…but it’s really competitive for English professors.
No, Montreal has some great stuff…
There are some really cool playgroups (like the EC group) and others… there are some mom and babe Cafes that just opened in the last year or two and activities a bit all over the Island… there is an AMAZING pool in Lasalle that is open almost all day for families and is a beach like pool with warm water (easy to get to from the downtown core) and there are a few HSing groups… especially on the West Island which is more Anglophone…
oh… and I graduated from Concordia 🙂
Isn’t the Aquadôme the best pool of all?! I’m surprised I’ve never seen you there!
Gas is quite expensive so we don’t go into Montreal too often but I have been wanting to bring the kids back there for quite a while now…
When we lived in Montreal I used to bring Xavier there almost once a week for quite a while..
Tell me when you are going and I will try to meet you there… 😉
I sure will! Le Centre Aquatique de Rivière des Prairies is maybe closer to where you live. It’s pretty cool too.
http://www.ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_pageid=36,1977769&_dad=portal&_schema=portal