Creating Together Blog

International Self-Care Day

July 20, 2021 by Melanie

Self-care is the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a healthcare provider (World Health Organization). Paula Gill Lopez, PhD, an associate professor and chair of the department of psychological and educational consultation at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut, says the need for self-care is obvious. “We have an epidemic of anxiety and depression,” she says. “Everybody feels it.”

Self-care is a lifelong habit and culture. It is the practice of individuals looking after their own health based on the knowledge and information available to them. It is a decision-making process that empowers individuals to look after their own health efficiently and conveniently, in collaboration with health and social care professionals as needed.
Global Self-Care Federation

The pandemic over the last year and a half has showed us all that self-care behaviours are the true first line of defence in public health emergencies. A 2020 study found that 95% of Canadians agreed that they need more tools to care for themselves and a strong, resilient, publicly funded healthcare system for when they can’t. So, in January 2021 Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada published the Blueprint for a National Self-Care Strategy calling for efforts to improve health literacy and provide greater access to self-care opportunities for all Canadians.

In the mean time, there’s a lot we can do for ourselves and our families. The Community Access Network came up with these great tips to teach your children about self-care, and Selfcare.ca describes 7 pillars to self-care. Check out the links below for stats, resources, and supporting links for each of these critical areas:

And of course, if there’s anything we can do to support you here at Creating Together, remember you are not alone – we work with a number of organizations across the city and can certainly connect you with the resources you are looking for.

National Injury Prevention Day

July 6, 2021 by Melanie

The goal of National Injury Prevention Day is to raise awareness on the prevention of serious injuries on the road, at home, and at play, and to provide the necessary information to reduce injury and disability while enjoying full and vibrant lives. (BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit).

According to Statistics Canada, injury is the leading cause of death for Canadians aged one to 44, ahead of cancer and heart disease. Injury is the third leading cause of death overall in Canada, after cancer and heart disease. And, according to The Trauma Association of Canada, “virtually all of these injuries and deaths, and the resulting costs, could have been prevented” (Trauma Association of Canada).

How do we help children take healthy risks, while also keeping them safe?

Safety Tips at Home

Closing the door: Closing the door after you should be your number one safety measure to introduce at home. This will not only ensure that intruders cannot access the house and also the younger kids cannot find their way out.

Secure furniture to prevent tip-overs: Purchase furniture that has a wider base, heavier back panel, and/or interlocking drawers to prevent furniture from tipping over. You can also learn to anchor your furniture, at Anchorit.gov.

No Playing or Going into the Road: There is always motorist in a rush and may not even consider that they are driving where children play.

Safe sleep: Suffocation, often in a sleep environment, is the leading cause of injury-related death for children under the age of 1. Remember: babies sleep best alone, on their backs, and in a crib / bassinet that meets safety standards.

Teaching Which Rooms are Off Limits: In the early years you can use things like baby gates, but beyond a few years it is important they know which rooms are off limits (such as laundry, pantry where chemicals are stored, or tool room).

Recalls: On average, one or more children’s products are recalled each week. Manufacturers often don’t do enough to make sure everyone who has the product learns of the recall. To keep up to date on recalls and incident reports, check your products at https://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/index-eng.php.

Helicopter vs Free Range Parenting

The term “helicopter parent” was first used in Dr. Haim Ginott’s 1969 book Parents & Teenagers by teens who said their parents would hover over them like a helicopter. It became popular enough to become a dictionary entry in 2011. Are you a helicopter parent? Take this Quiz! How did you rate? Check here for some great tips on how to balance helicopter and free range parenting techniques, or talk to the staff at Creating Together for some supportive suggestions.

National Indigenous History Month: Honouring Our History

June 29, 2021 by Melanie

June is National Indigenous History Month, and the 21st was National Indigenous People’s Day. This year, we honour the 25^th anniversary of celebrating the heritage, diverse cultures and outstanding achievements of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

This year however, we all grapple with a very serious and tragic side of our history, and the month is dedicated to the missing children, the families left behind and the survivors of residential schools – a system set up by the Canadian government and administered by churches that had the nominal objective of educating Indigenous children and indoctrinating them into Euro-Canadian and Christian ways of living. The system forcibly separated children from their families for extended periods of time and forbade them to acknowledge their Indigenous heritage and culture or to speak their own languages. Accounts of horrific abuse among survivors are being shared today, however many children (The Missing Children) didn’t return home, either because they ran away or because they died of abuse or disease.

As families inheriting this history, we have many opportunities to learn about indigenous history and culture – but speaking about this history can be very hard. Yet, it is such an important part of our history as a country, and the evidence of this harsh history are all around us. Take a look at this article by Parenting Today, for quotes about the experiences of survivors, to help your children understand what happened.

You can also honour indigenous history and culture through things like art, crafts, language, stories. Be sure to check out all of the National Indigenous Peoples Day virtual activities happening across the country through Celebrate Canada, and learn more about indigenous history by trying some of these great activities.

Also, we encourage you to watch this reading of “We are Water Protectors” with your children, written by Anishinabe/Métis author Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Tlingit and Haida artist, Michaela Goade and discuss with children the history and ongoing settler-colonialism in what is currently known as Canada.

Happy Pride Toronto!

June 19, 2021 by Melanie

June is Pride Month – a time where people from across the rainbow come together and celebrate the freedom to be ourselves.

Decades of struggle against prejudice and towards acceptance. Pride events around the world are held by folks within the LGBTQ community, along with allies, and give communities everywhere a perfect opportunity to show support, observe, listen, and celebrate. For more educational resources about Pride history in Canada, check this out: https://www.queerevents.ca/canada/pride/history.

Watch the City of Toronto’s Rainbow and Transgender flag raising ceremony: VIEW IT LIVE HERE

Creating Together Recommended Resources for Families

For families with young children, here are some songs, stories, and supportive programs to help you raise awareness and celebrate Pride this month (and every month):

Circle Time About Self-Love

View Circle Time that is all about self-love through self-expression, read “The hips on the drag queen for swish,swish,swish”: https://fb.watch/40IoY5RyJ5/

Books to Celebrate Queer Families and our “Perfect Design”

“I Promise” by Catherine Hernandez and Syrus Marcus Ware, that celebrates queer families: https://fb.watch/40IGJgP1en/”
“I am Perfectly Designed” by Queer author Karamo Brown: https://fb.watch/40RSCQOysH/

Glitterbug

Glitterbug “is a unique mobile program that works with EarlyON Centres across Toronto to promote inclusion and affirmation of gender and sexual diversity among children and families.” Glitterbug combines the understanding of LGBTQ2S inclusion with a play-based learning approach for children and families to develop a broader understanding of inclusion at EarlyON Centres across the city and in the early learning years sector. READ MORE and join them for Queer and Trans Circle Time Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Virtual Pride

Celebrate the strength and uniqueness of 2SLGBTQ+ families and children with a fun-packed hour of online entertainment curated by the Pride Committee, on June 20th, from 2:30-3:30pm. They have been bringing the community families together for 21 years!

Have a great Pride month!

Celebrating Fathers and Fatherly Figures

June 8, 2021 by Melanie

June 14 marks the beginning Canadian Men’s Health Week, ending with Father’s Day on June 20th. This is a time to bring awareness to health issues that affect men disproportionately and focus on getting boys and men to become aware of problems they may have or could develop, and gain the courage to do something about it.

Understanding Health Issues in Men

Let’s take a look at what we know about health for Canadian men. On average, Canadian men live four years less than Canadian women do. They’re also more likely to die from diabetes, heart disease and liver disease. Men are less likely than women to engage in healthy lifestyle behaviours to counteract stress. For example, more than half of Canadian men aren’t getting enough sleep, aren’t exercising enough and aren’t eating as healthy as they should. The suicide rate for Canadian men is also three times higher for men than for women, and divorced men are almost twice as likely to commit suicide as married men.

What Can We Do to Support Men’s Health?

Men’s Health is everybody’s issue – not just men. Encouraging healthy eating, stress reducing activities, positive relationships, exercise, and mental health support when needed are some key things we can all do to help them out. By supporting the men in our lives to do this, we are modelling for the younger generation what it looks like to be a healthy man – setting them up for greater and greater success in life.

Celebrating Father’s Day (and Fatherly Figures)

Being thankful for the fatherly figures in our lives is so important. Men’s Health Week is always the week prior to Father’s Day – a time of year where we honour our fathers and fatherly role models. To help mark this time, we invite you to consider how you’ll give gratitude to your father, or to the amazing man who guides you in your life. And, for the parents out there, we invite you to join us helping your child create a Father’s Day craft with Creating Together Staff, and also to enjoy some books with your child to help them honour this special relationship in their lives.

For your little one’s Father’s Day craft, gather the supplies listed below and tune into our Facebook page on June 18th (whenever you’re ready – it will be pre-recorded for you to enjoy at your leisure!) and get ready to make “Paper Plate Scratch Art” and a “Paper Shirt Card” for that special man in their world 🙂

Paper Plate Scratch Art

Supplies:

paper plate or construction paper,
crayons,
black or any dark colour paint,
toothpick to scratch

Paper Shirt Card

Supplies:

construction paper,
pom poms,
marker

Modelling and Teaching the Qualities of a Good Father and Husband

It is important for our children to have healthy father figures in their lives, and it’s also important that they be exposed to healthy father figures in stories as well. So often in cartoons and movies, the father figure is incompetent or non-existent. It’s through this modelling that we teach our children about the qualities of a good father, a good husband, a good friend. Check out this list of recommended books, and/or tune into our Facebook page to read along with us these Father’s Day Books:

My Dad by Debbie Bailey

My Daddy and Me by Amy E. Sklansky

Hooray for Daddies by Gayla Amral