Celebrating Diversity Archives | Creating Together Parkdale

October is Family History Month

October 12, 2021 by Melanie

“By searching for our roots, we come closer together as a human family.”
Orrin Hatch

Since 2001, October has been observed as “Family History Month” – an opportunity for individuals to improve their genealogy skills, find out about new resources and meet others who share your passion for the past! It’s also a great time for families to sit down together and honour the stories that enrich their family tree.

Most children will learn to appreciate their family history if you turn it into a detective game. Start your children or grandchildren on a lifelong journey of discovery by introducing them to geneology. Take a look below for some wonderful projects to do with your children this month.

6 Activities to Help you Celebrate your Family History

1. Go through old photos

It’s so important to share stories of our older generations – see if you know (or can find out) who is in the pictures, where they were taken, and what story is there to be shared. Sit down with some photos and your little one and see what stories you can share with them about the family!

2. Make a Family Tree

Here’s a fun Tigger Movie to watch with your youngster, and a range of templates for for creating your family tree, from trees including extended and adopted families, to blended and same-sex families: Family Tree Templates.

3. Visit cemeteries

If you know where family members are buried, visit their memorials. Take rubbings of their tombstones. See if you can find the oldest one. Did they have any neat things on their epitaphs? If your ancestors aren’t buried near you, check out the website FindAGrave.com – where you can see or request tombstones from other graveyards. You can even help other people by taking pictures of requested cemeteries near you.

5. Create a family cookbook

Contact your parents, grandparents, and others from the family – ask them to send you a few of their favourite family recipes, with a story about each dish, where or who it was handed down from, why it is a family favourite, and when it was traditionally eaten (Christmas, family reunions, etc.)….and try out some of the recipes with your little one!

6. Find out what your family surname means

The roots of your family name can be a great family activity. And, we would encourage you to take a look at the maiden names of the women in your family as well! Here’s a link to get you started: https://www.surnamedb.com/

Enjoy the Process!

Celebrating our Youth

August 4, 2021 by Melanie

Young people are on the frontlines of the struggle to build a better future for all. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the dire need for the kind of transformational change they seek – and young people must be full partners in that effort.”UN Secretary-General António Guterres

While Creating Together’s focus is on supporting children under the age of 6, many of our these little ones have older siblings – and each one of the children that come to Creating Together also grow up to be the youth of our communities. So next week on August 12 (and every day) we give a special hats off to the youth of Parkdale!

August 12 – International Youth Day

The United Nations hallmarks this day as International Youth Day. Each year, The Focal Point on Youth selects a theme for the day often with input from youth organizations and members of the UN Inter-Agency Network in Youth development. It also organizes a virtual commemoration of the Day. The Programme encourages youth around the world to organize activities to raise awareness about the situation of youth in their country. To read more about this year’s theme “Transforming Food Systems”, and how to get involved, visit: https://www.un.org/en/observances/youth-day

Did you know?

Youth can be a positive force for development when provided with the knowledge and opportunities they need to thrive. Today, there are 1.2 billion young people aged 15 to 24 years, accounting for 16 per cent of the global population . By 2030—the target date for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that make up the 2030 Agenda—the number of youth is projected to have grown by 7 per cent, to nearly 1.3 billion. They represent a huge amount of energy, idea, an innovation.

You Inspire Change

We do what we do here to give everybody a better start, in the hopes that they can be the best that they can be and create a better future for all of us. The children and youth today are the adults of tomorrow, and have so much to offer. Let’s all work together to create space for youth expression, supporting them to be the change.

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!

Welcoming the Glitterbug Program

May 25, 2021 by Melanie

June is Pride Month! Join live circle time with the 519 Glitterbug on Wed. June 2nd at 10 am! And, at Creating Together we welcome Glitterbug to our circle EVERY first Wednesday of EVERY month – so we do hope you can make it to June and also to the upcoming circles!

Who / What is Glitterbug?

Glitterbug Programs and Services

LGBTQ2S-affirming Interactive workshops for parents, caregivers, and guardians.
LGBTQ2S-affirming drop-in programming to support queer, trans, and 2Spirit inclusion.
Designated program for LGBTQ2S families
Special events and pop-up visits
Resources

Current Glitterbug Programs for Queer and Trans Families and Gender-creative Children

Virtual Circle Time:
- Tuesday, 3:00 to 3:30pm
- Wednesday, 10:00 to 10:30am
- Thursday, 4:30 to 5:00pm
- Friday, 1:30 to 2:15pm
Interactive Parent/Caregiver Virtual LGBTQ2S Workshops:
- Last Tuesday of each month, starting July 27.
  Workshops are currently being held virtually. We will resume in-person workshops based on Toronto Public Health guidelines.

Have questions or need more information, get in touch with the Glitterbug Program at Glitterbug@The519.org.

For more information about their EarlyON programs and events, visit their EarlyON Program page.

Get your free tickets to their programs on our Eventbrite page.