A robust school extracurricular program has much to offer children and their families If kids are gloomy about being back in the classroom this fall, hopefully they find joy in the school’s extracurricular activities. We should urge our children […]
Dad
Winter of discontent
Batten the hatches! You don’t need weather to experience a cold front—just a child in his pre-preteen years Winter is coming. In fact, it’s been festering within my walls since the summer. One of the subtle truths I’ve learned about […]
Winter chic
Outdoor family fun has Jon Willing rethinking his cold-weather wardrobe I might get a second pair of snow pants this winter. Oh, I’m sorry. Are snow pants uncool? Somewhere around middle school, snow pants became a fashion faux […]
A ‘wheelie’ good time
His son now at bike-riding age, our columnist considers the pros and cons of outsourcing this rite of passage I was walking with my wife and our son through the Glebe one morning when a small kid zipped past us […]
Conservation authority
Whether it’s via lessons from school or his beachy adventures, columnist Chris Hunt’s son Riley continues to teach him the importance of caring for our planet There was a period not long ago where my nine-year-old son was obsessed with […]
Unscripted opportunities
Adding a dash of fun to a daily routine is the key to a stable, happy life during the pandemic It’s so dark I can barely see my son. The faint flickering from the streetlamps below barely find their way […]
A work in progress
For a toddler, work must seem like an evil, mysterious chore that eats up the fun time with the parents When I hear the garage door open, the countdown begins. I know I have maybe five minutes to wrap […]
Back in the day
Columnist Jon Willing notes major differences between current school protocols and the ones he experienced as a student With the arrival of a new school year, it has struck me that it’s been almost 25 years since I graduated […]
To my Dad with love
Columnist Kita Szpak shares a poignant portrait of her beloved father My father had been operated on to remove a cancerous tumour in his hip and was still in hospital recovering. He knew he had to gain weight to stay […]
A tree grows in Stittsville
Columnist James Gordon – and his sons – fondly recall their first days of school It’s funny, the way our minds work sometimes. Ask me literally anything about what happened two days ago, and I wouldn’t get much […]