‘What would you do if you knew you would not fail?’

We started out with this idea: that one thing we could probably all agree on is that we could use more financial independence in our lives. With more financial independence we would be more free to make the choices that we want to make for ourselves and our children, like, where to live, who to live with, whether or not to return to school, what work we REALLY want to do. Though money is not the most important thing, it can open a lot of doors. So with this in mind, we sent a funding application to VanCity credit union for something we called “The Financial Independence Project”. They very generously granted us $9,500 to pilot the project, and it was easy to find 10 parents who wanted to participate.

Hello! My name is Jacquelin Green and I am the new Family Support Worker with YPSN! It has been busy start since I began in January, and I am very much enjoying meeting the many great people connected with YPSN.
My role is to provide one on one support as well as group leadership and development. My goal is to be a resource and support for those who want and need one on one help and also to make sure that the Monday Night Discussion Group and the Tuesday Workout group run smoothly and are something that people want to be a part of! I hope you will think about joining us at one or both groups, if you haven't already!

Childcare
What’s up?
Parents need childcare so that they can go to work and school, right?
And we need to know that our kids are safe and happy and well cared for while we do the things we have to do.
Right?
So why is it that there is no childcare to be found in this city? I have a friend, single mum, who is due to have her first baby any day. I asked her what I could do, and she said I could take an application form to the UVic daycare on the day her baby is born, so that she might have a chance at having daycare when she returns to school in September.
Everyone has a story like that. Women quitting work or school because there is no childcare. Women who can’t make plans for the future because there is no childcare.

No matter how old my kids get, they still need to eat at alarmingly regular intervals. Though my oldest girl now makes me amazing concoctions of rice, green peas, mushrooms and garlic (when she comes home), my son can make a wicked fudgy pudding cake (when he wants to), and my youngest girl is always happy to ‘help’, getting the kids fed, with as few dishes, as much nutrition, as little time and money, and as much friendliness as possible is still at the top of my list.

There are a couple of things I have learned that have helped me to get good food into my kids while maintaining my sanity. The first is: the goodie plate! A goodie plate doesn’t have to be called a goodie plate but it does have to contain, at the very least, three food items. Even more food items are more fun. These are regular foods that are extra interesting just because they are on a goodie plate!

When I am preparing our annual report each year, I make sure that I include thanks to all the people who have contributed to YPSN over the previous year. While that formal thanks is important, there are many of you who don’t come out to the AGM and probably never read the annual report, so an additional thank you here is in order.

Firstly, I want to acknowledge the work done by our board of directors. Each of them comes to our monthly meetings ready to critically examine issues and sometimes make difficult decisions regarding the running of YPSN. Their commitment is really valued. I would also like to single out treasurer Navit Giauque for her long-standing dedication. Navit has served on the board for more than seven years and is stepping down at this year’s AGM. We’ll miss Navit’s astute comments and her “let’s get down to business” approach.

I look back at the year after my youngest girl was born in complete awe of myself. With a deconstructionist preschooler and gothic teenager already in my house and heart, I was suddenly also the mother of the incredible non-sleeping baby. For the first five months she rarely slept for more than 20 minutes at a time. A totally efficient sleeper, she only had to be semi-conscious for less than 30 seconds in order to be thoroughly refreshed for her next adventure. I envied this ability, and became quasi-psychotic through weeks and months of being intensely sleep deprived.
That was five years ago. My Goth teenager is now a young woman, living in Oakland, California and coming back home to visit this month. My deconstructionist son is still brilliant at seeing the new way to do an old thing, only he’s way bigger and has had more practice. My sleep-free baby will be in grade one in September. She still stays up until midnight whenever she gets the chance, but rarely gets me up at night anymore. So I’m in this different stage of parenting, which is quite removed from being so sleep deprived that I could barely function.

When we started the Respite Project some parents said that what they really needed was a night off. There were issues around liability insurance that we had to work through, but we will be ready to start offering overnight respite care by the end of August. We are going to start overnight respite very slowly (baby steps!) because we want the project to be strong for the future. Our goal is to eventually have 3 overnight respite care homes each offering 3 overnights a month to young parents in Victoria.

How do we choose overnight respite care providers?
We choose overnight respite care providers who are already well known and trusted by people who work with young parents in Victoria. We choose people who think young parents are great, who believe that parents deserve support, and who really enjoy spending time with babies, toddlers and children. We choose people who have older kids of their own, or who have a lot of experience with kids of all ages, or both! We think overnight respite care providers will be volunteers who will be paid an honorarium of $120 for each overnight session.