Kids and Company Archives - Page 2 of 2

Childcare, my personal recommendation and a spotlight on Kids & Company

This post was created in partnership with Kids & Company.

When it comes to partnering with brands, organizations and companies on Nesting Story, I make sure that each partnership is authentic, and is in line with my family’s beliefs, morals and daily routines.

Occasionally I will find something new and exciting through a partnership and other times I am over the moon when I can partner with a company who has been a part of our lives for a while. This is the case for my partnership with Kids & Company.

Kids and company has been a part of our family’s life for two years now. We have built special relationships with their staff and have shared huge millstones with them. Partnering with Kids & Company has been and continues to be one of my favorite collaborations to date.

Deciding on childcare is a massive decision and hearing what works for someone you trust can make a big difference in making that decision. Today I wanted to simply share with you a little more about the daycare that we love.

Kids & Company provides an innovative, nurturing and stimulating environment where children develop independence, confidence and a positive sense of self and the world around them. The emergent curriculum provides structure and flexibility for kids to pursue their interests and skills and is designed to involve children in experiences that enhance language, literacy, music, movement, art and socialization. Programming includes:
• Alpha-Mania (pre-literacy and early reading)
• Mini Masters (art)
• Munchkinetics (movement)
• Science and exploration
• French
• Sign language

There is part-time and full-time child care for infants up to “big kids” (before and after school care, as well as camp days for breaks and summer.

All of the meals and snacks are planned by a chef and nutritionist and prepared fresh daily in the Kidco Kitchen. There is a focus on diversity, nutrition and family-style dining in our meal options and approach to food. Part of the curriculum also incorporates learning about food, where it comes from and how our bodies use it.

Care with Kids & Company comes with a long list of perks for families – things like parent workshops and family fun days, personalized blankets, complimentary care for occasional shopping days and date nights, a vetted babysitter’s list for evening care at every centre, daily reports, secure webcams, weekly and monthly newsletters and more.

All centres are dedicated to providing parents with reliable, flexible and enriched superior quality child care solutions to suit the needs of each individual child and family. In many cities, Kids & Company also works with corporations to provide benefits to their employees for harmonious work-life integration.

There are over 100 locations across Canada and the US including a small number of community-focused centres in Edmonton run under the Kidco Community name. All of the centre addresses and contact information can be found at www.Kidsandcompany.com under Locations.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Kids & Company. While compensation was provided, all opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily indicative of the opinions of Kids & Company.

How to make transitioning your toddler into childcare a little easier

This post was created in partnership with Kids & Company.

No one likes change. At least, I know I don’t. For example, I love the idea of a vacation, but as soon as it begins, I crave routine.

My kids are no exception. Whether it’s vacation, a new babysitter, or starting a new day care, there is always a transition period.

But over the years, and transitioning four kids into day-care, with four different sets of needs and very different personalities, I’ve learned a few tricks on how to make transitions a little less painful, and a little more seamless.

The anticipation is torture. You know that saying “you just have to rip the band aid off?” This definitely applies to drop-off time at day-care. Although my kids are the absolute happiest when they have spent a day with their friends, creating art, reading books and playing outside, drop-off is never easy. Or at least, it is never easy for one of our twins, Mia.

I have now learned to quickly give Mia a hug and kiss and then pass her off to her teacher. I don’t hang around, or chat. I just get out of there.

At the end of the day I will sometimes peek through the door and watch Mia happily cutting up paper, handling her scissors with ease, while chatting away to her friends. Her teacher will then tell me that the tears lasted for less than a minute, and she had a blast the entire day.

Ease them in. Before starting our twins in day-care, when Mia and Everly were 15-months-old, we visited. In fact we visited a couple times. Seeing all of the other kids having fun and checking out all of the activities made it hard to get Mia and Everly to leave. Just dipping their toes in the water a couple of times made actually staying for a longer period of time way easier. Kids & Company offers a complimentary transition period where parents can join their child in the centre prior to their official start date to give them a soft landing, explore the environment together and give the teachers some insight on the child’s preferences and routines. And sometimes the child can stay for an hour or half day on their own to allow them to build familiarity and confidence.

Send a comfort item. All four of our kids have gone to some form of day-care, and all of our kids have had a comfort item to accompany them. This special “stuffy” (as we call them in our home), has been a total lifesaver. Having that special friend to cuddle up to that smells like home makes their day just that much easier.

Transitioning can be tough, but I always find that once you get to the other side and create a routine, life is so much sweeter.

With locations all across Canada, Kids & Company is a high-quality care and early development centre that parents can trust and kids will love. It started under the leadership of two moms (one with 8 children!), who felt there was a need for flexible care options in a setting with amazing teachers, community, proven development programs and an understanding of today’s families.

Whether it’s their Grab ‘n’Go snacks, parent workshops, or their complimentary care for date nights and shopping days outside of regular hours, nothing has been forgotten.

Here’s where it gets exciting… right now Kids and Company is waiving the registration fee (a $150 value) for Nesting Story readers! Just email amcnaught@kidsandcompany.com to access this exclusive offer.
One waved registration per family for a newly registering child before December 31, 2017. Subject to availability.

What my twin toddlers eat in a day

This post was created in partnership with Kids & Company.

Feeding four kids has been a journey for our family. Before having kids, I had high expectations: everything would be cooked from scratch, my kids would love vegetables from the beginning and we would always have sit-down family meals.

Then real life hit.

Four kids, picky eaters and juggling six family member’s busy schedules later, has thrown more than a few wrenches into my idealistic picture of family meals. But over time I have figured out meals and schedules that work for our family, and our schedule.

For the first couple years following our twins being born, (which were our third and fourth kids), I was always scrambling. Mike had a long commute to work at the time and was often home after our kids were in bed. Our kids meals were usually a variety of healthy snacks thrown together with the TV blaring in the background.

I was just trying to survive.

But as the dust settled, and Mike started making it home for dinner, family meals started to emerge. Our big kids have shocked us recently, by not only trying new vegetables, but enjoying healthier options as well.

Our twins, who are now three years old, are entering the picky eating phase, and I know that it is just a phase, so instead of obsessing about each meal and snack each day, I look at the day as a whole, and relax… a lot.

Here is an example of what our twins eat in a day.

This is a weekday, when our twins are at daycare all day. At Kids and Company, Mia and Everly are served a home-cooked lunch planned by a nutritionist, and two healthy snacks a day. This is what I consider my nutrition safety net.

Breakfast

Out of our twins, Everly is the more adventurous eater. She loves fruit, and well, most foods for that matter. Today Everly is having a muffin, apple slices and skim milk for breakfast.

Mia, on the other hand, is a pickier eater and consumes a lot less food than Everly. Today Mia is having peanut butter on whole-wheat toast, dipped in ketchup, (yuck, I know but she loves it), and a muffin with skim milk.

Snack Time

For morning snack at daycare, Mia and Everly had a whole wheat english muffin with Wow butter and cantaloupe cubes.

Lunch Time

Today they are eating chicken souvlaki with a whole-wheat pita, cucumber and tomato.

Afternoon Snack

For an afternoon snack at daycare, Mia and Everly had peach cobbler and grapes.

Dinnertime

For dinner, I had planned to serve leftovers, which were whole-wheat pasta, sautéed vegetables and pasta sauce.

Like many weekdays, Mia and Everly were exhausted and not interested. So, as a fallback, this is what they had instead…

Everly had a peanut butter sandwich made with whole wheat bread and blueberries.

Mia had leftover macaroni and cheese, with a squirt of vegetable puree mixed it.

Despite the dinner-fail, we had a great family meal together. I knew that Mia and Everly had a variety of healthy foods throughout the day and they were tired.

You see, with toddlers, I’ve learned to choose my battles. This was a very typical day for us, and knowing that Kids and Company takes a bit of the “mealtime battle” weight off of my shoulders makes all the difference.

Whether it’s their Grab ‘n’Go snacks, parent workshops, or their complimentary care for date nights and shopping days outside of regular hours, nothing has been forgotten.

Here’s where it gets exciting… right now Kids and Company is waiving the registration fee (a $150 value) for Nesting Story readers! Just email msawatzky@kidsandcompany.com to access this exclusive offer.
One waved registration per family for a newly registering child before December 31, 2017. Subject to availability.

8 Life altering ways putting our kids in daycare has changed our family

This post was created in partnership with Kids & Company.

Before finally making the decision to put our twins in childcare, I wrestled so much with how it would impact our family. Little did I know that this choice would turn our family on it’s head in the best possible way. Here are 8 ways putting our twins in daycare has altered our life…

1. It has made potty training a breeze. Potty training is a messy roller coaster ride, full of stops and starts, and ups and downs. Although I had potty trained our older kids, I wasn’t looking forward to potting training times two… our twins.

Not only did having our twins watch as their friends at Kids & Company learn to use the potty help, but I also get a lot of breaks from the exhausting and time consuming task. Knowing that there is a team of people taking over potty training most days gives me the mental break I have very much needed to tackle this milestone.

2. It is prepping my twins for school. I have had each of my kids in some form of childcare before beginning Kindergarten, and I truly believe our transition into full-time school has been easier because our kids are already used to a classroom setting.

3. It has helped my twins develop their speech. Teaching your child how to talk can be a lot harder than it seems. Although I have been able to help our twins along a bit with their speech, having siblings and better yet, going to daycare with other kids who are ahead with their speech has been the best teaching tool.

4. They have learned independence. One day I went to pick up my twins from Kids & Company before naptime and they were still finishing their lunch. I snuck around the corner so that my presence wouldn’t disrupt them, and peeked my head out just enough so that I could observe them. Not only was I shocked that my kids were gobbling up every vegetable on their plate, (which they don’t do at home), but they were drinking out of cups without a problem. Not sippy cups with lids, cups… and not spilling one drop.

I watched as they finished, put their hands up and told their teacher they were done. Then my jaw hit the floor. Each my girls picked up their plates, scraped their food into a garbage can and washed their plates in a soapy tub. My twins are two-years-old! From that point on I have given them much more independence at home, including helping out more with clean up.

5. They are learning how to make friends. Although my twins have a social advantage by being one of four kids, it’s very different when it comes to learning how to socialize with kids who aren’t your siblings.

I think my favourite part of each day is picking up our girls and watching all of their friends run up to the door with them to hug goodbye.

6. It helps establish a routine for the family. Before ever putting my kids into childcare, back when I was a stay-at-home-mom, I found the structure-less days very difficult. Not having a reason to wake up at a certain time each day, or get out of pajamas started to affect my mental state. Days would blur into each other to no end.

Having to get out the door at a certain time each day has created a huge shift in everyone’s moods around here. Our family thrives on a routine and having school and daycare set up our day is a big help.

7. I am able to compartmentalize parenting and work. As a self-employed, work-from-home-mom, I have found it very difficult in the past, before having daycare to separate work life and home life. I was often scrambling to get deadlines done while trying to occupy my toddlers with television and play-doh. This would usually result in me becoming frustrated, our house being destroyed, our twins being bored and me working well into the night.

Now I am able to wrap up my work during my now established “work hours” while my twins are being stimulated and making friends at daycare. Then after everyone has arrived home from daycare and school, I can just give them my focus and be a mom.

8. It has been good for my marriage. Mondays are my favourite day of the week. Although I love the laid-back vibe of the weekends, there is nothing like being able to get your bearings on a Monday after all of our kids have cleared out of our house.
These quiet breaks are not only great for all of the reasons listed above, but they have also been very beneficial to my marriage. My mood has drastically changed for the better since having this relief.

Finding a childcare that not only gives me time to build my career, but that my kids also love has been such a wonderful aspect to having more of a work/life balance. Kids & Company not only has the flexibility I have needed with my unique schedule, but the incredible fresh, from scratch meals they provide for my kids each day (which they actually eat), fills me with such confidence with my choice in childcare.

Whether it’s their Grab ‘n’Go snacks, parent workshops, or their complimentary care for date nights and shopping days outside of regular hours, nothing has been forgotten.

Here’s where it gets exciting… right now Kids and Company is waiving the registration fee (a $150 value) for Nesting Story readers! Just email msawatzky@kidsandcompany.com to access this exclusive offer.
One waved registration per family for a newly registering child before December 31, 2017. Subject to availability.

How I found myself after becoming a mom by going back to work

This post was created in partnership with Kids & Company.

When I became a mother I felt lost.

After the dust had settled, my nipples healed and the excitement with round the clock visitors died down, I realized that my identity had been stripped away from me.

This was it, the end all, be all moment I had been fantasizing about since childhood… I was a mother.

But then why was I filled with such resentment?

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my baby, and I really didn’t experience any postpartum depression with my first pregnancy in the very beginning, but something felt very off.

I was going to be a stay-at-home mom. That was it, end of story. Watching my own mother raise her four kids with such pleasure and fulfillment, I was sold.

Motherhood was my end game.

During my pregnancy I took my last train into the big city for my pretty amazing Interior Design job, and said goodbye to a traditional career.

But as weeks turned into months, and months turned into years, and one baby eventually turned into two, I increasingly felt myself fade away.

I was the shell of the person I once was. My days were filled with routines, caring for my children, while constantly watching the clock. What was wrong with me? Why wasn’t I thriving?

As time went by, I eventually realized that I didn’t love a lot of the stay-at-home mom activities some of my friends cherished. Guilt began to set in, and I felt like a fraud.

When year three rolled around, I started to get real with myself and admit that I was pretty deep into a depression. My husband would walk in the door from work at the end of the day and find me pacing the halls.

Something had to change.

It was time to face my biggest critic and re-evaluate my path, including what my life was going to look like and most importantly, who I was.

The truth was I had no idea who I was.

The me before kids had different priorities, friends, interests and values. As I looked at myself in the mirror, I didn’t recognize the person looking back. It was time to find out who that person was, despite how scary that process might be.

After a lot of thought I finally decided that I did want a career outside of my home, which then set off a new type of guilt. I felt guilty that motherhood wasn’t enough for me, and I felt like I was betraying myself and my kids by deciding to take a different path than the one I had so clearly thought I had wanted.

It took me a while as I worked through a bizarre grieving process of letting go of being a stay-at-home mom, and reframed the ideals of motherhood I had pictured in my head for so long.

I finally realized that my new path and sense of balance would ultimately make me a much happier mother and wife, and no less of a mom.

After going back to work, I felt a new sense of self emerge. I wasn’t the same person I was before having kids. I was a new and improved me; a stronger person, a person full of confidence and maturity who had faced their fears and reinvented who they were.

Now eight years, four kids and many career changes later, I am thriving, balancing family life and work life while running my own business.

Although some days my house looks like a tornado went through it and my to-do list is impossibly long, I’ve never felt that sense emptiness again.

I definitely don’t do it all and it does take a village. I think the biggest factor of making your own work/life balance fit is finding the right childcare for your kids.

With locations all across Canada, Kids & Company is a high-quality care and early development centre that parents can trust and kids will love. Beginning under the leadership of two moms, (one of whom has 8 children), who felt there was a lack of child care options that truly understood what parents wanted, like amazing teachers, flexible care options, a community, a nurturing environment, programs designed to develop children and support for other pursuits like work, volunteering and hobbies.

Whether it’s their Grab ‘n’Go snacks, or their complimentary care for date nights and shopping days outside of regular hours, nothing has been forgotten.

Head to kidsandcompany.com for more!