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Back To School
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Healthy Families is an integral component of the Children's Cottage programs aimed at maintaining "safe children in healthy families". The program supports parents as they improve their parenting skills and overcome challenges in their lives. Staff work with parents in their homes to build skills and expertise in managing their family and the wide array of issues that often confound them. Parents leave this program better equipped to care for their children, gaining confidence along the way.
Back to School is a busy time of year for Health Families (HF) home visitors. Preparing parents and children for the start of a new school year is never an easy task especially when it's their first year of ECS (kindergarten)! It is difficult for many parents to let their little ones go - and even more so when they've been having family struggles or are newly immigrated with language and cultural barriers. The goal of each HF home visitor is to assist in making the transition as positive and stress free as possible.
 This fun outlook on the school year begins by ensuring all children have a school bag and the supplies needed for a successful year. Sometimes we have backpacks on hand that have been generously donated and we give those to clients. When we don't have enough or we run out, there are backpack programs in the city we can refer clients to. Next we help families figure out healthy lunch and snack options on limited budgets, providing recipes and Canada Food Guide information. When it comes time to register, we assist with the process, especially if language is a barrier for parents or an interpreter is needed. In general, HF workers provide support and encouragement because that is often the biggest part of helping children transition into a new school year (or their first school year).
We see parents every day who want the best for their children but sometimes the family routines work against them. As we work to get families ready for school, we also discuss school year routines with them. Sometimes this means the whole family unit needs to make adjustments to established routines in order to become more stable and effective. Home visitors spend time discussing family challenges and needs and offer tips and suggestion on how to adjust routines to reduce chaos. For example, school aged children need 10-12 hours of sleep per night. Workers help families plan to establish school-year bedtimes with tactics such as putting them to bed a half hour earlier each night until they have reached the desired bed time. After school routines are also addressed such as play time, home work, supper, bath schedule and preparing at night for school the next day. Workers share ideas such as keeping school "gear" at the door to smooth out the "morning rush hour". Overall, their care, concern and collaboration to solve problems is what makes workers invaluable to families and goes a long way to creating more stable families - which makes Healthy Families a very aptly named program!
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