Finding Childcare in Calgary

REUPPING AN OLD POST

I've been navigating the childcare terrain in Calgary since moving here in 2011 and we're not done yet. With 8+ years of this hustle in the bag, I thought I'd put a few guidelines together.

Childcare Choices in Calgary

The first step is to determine the childcare choice that is most attractive to your family. The options that are available include dayhomes, daycare centers and nannies or au pairs. Each option comes with it’s advantages, disadvantages and costs.

Childcare Costs in Calgary

Dayhomes: In this situation, the provider is offering childcare in their own home. The province regulates the number of children that can be taken in at any one time. This is usually the cheapest childcare option available in Calgary and costs run from $150 to $500 per child per week depending on the provider's qualifications, location etc. There are also a handful of Dayhome Agencies that take care of licensing and regulating a number of independently-owned dayhomes.

Daycare Centers: These are centers that provide various childcare services. They are more expensive than dayhomes and their prices are typically fixed based on the age of the child with infants being most expensive. Most centers charge upwards of $1000 a month with some charging up to $2900 monthly for infants. Centers located downtown are the most expensive.

Raising a Girl Child - Reading List

I just noticed that I have a folder of bookmarks on my browser that's labeled "Girl Child". It's a collection of articles hosted on fairly reputable websites that share tips on raising girls in today's world.

In no particular order, here's my collection of resources on raising girls

• 30 Critical Tips for Mothers Raising Daughters from the Family Education website
• Raising Awesome Girls from the Girls Scout website
• Raising a Powerful Girl from PBS Kids for parents. 
• Raising Daughters from Psychology Today
• International Day of the Girl Child - a collection of resources from the United Nations

Just sharing these links made me go back and check some of these resources are. They're really good and worth reading and re-reading ever so often.

2020 - Home

I always like to spend the months of December and January taking stock of several aspects of life, reviewing what worked in the past year and setting my directions for the next year. I don't consciously have a "word" for the year but I do have a theme that reflects the life goals.

If last year's theme was "SIMPLE", then 2020's theme is "HOME". In so many different definitions for the word Home.

HOME

noun
a house or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family or household
verb
to proceed or direct attention towards an objective
adjective
operating or occuring in an area that is a base of operations or headquarters
adverb
to a vital sensitive core

What Worked for Me in 2019

I didn't blog for almost all of 2019 but I was still out there, still doing my thing. Consciously or unconsciously, my life theme for 2019 was "Simple". I chose the simple life over and over again. I had so many balls in the air, I knew that the best thing for my mental and emotional well-being was to simplify as many things as I could.

So what did I simplify in 2019? Here's a concise summary of what worked for me and how I used the concept of "SIMPLE" to influence almost every facet of my life

5 Types of Goals Worth Setting in 2020

Happy New Year Everyone!

It's that time of the year where resolutions, goals and theme words ooze out of every media platform. As a compulsive list-maker and goal-setter, I have no complaints about this trend. I'm an ardent believer in the setting of goals, not just every New Year but as a tool to be used every time my life needs to be redirected.

On to the actual content of this post, here are 5 types of goals (with examples) that I will be setting this year to define the life I want to live in 2020 and beyond.