by Craig Gilbert | [email protected]
New Jasper Councillor Scott Wilson had a home run of a press event last week when Wildflowers Childcare played host to Alberta Minister of Children’s Services Danielle Larivee.
(He may not have even been sworn in yet).
He was Johnny on the Spot as his three-year-old daughter, Sloan, spends three days a week at the centre while his wife works the books at Saw Construction. Sloan spent last Friday, Oct. 27 at shoulder-height in a Robin costume as Larivee, Mayor Richard Ireland and MLA Eric Rosendahl toured the labyrinthian facility.
“With no preschool here the daycare sort of fills that role with all of the same learning and hands-on activities with the workers, so it’s definitely financially more viable to bring her here with the incentive,” Wilson said. “Being able to free up the office and the house without a three-year-old running around is ideal.”
The Wilsons share their five days a week with another family who needs two days of coverage, one parent working full-time and the other working part-time, so they hammer out the schedule through the daycare on a weekly basis.
“Leaving your child the first time is difficult, but they know exactly what to do here,” Wilson said. “I just drop her off and go and she goes right into someone’s arms until she’s calmed down. And the food here is really good. We bring her with a change of clothes and everything else is provided.”
Larivee has visited a number of the 22 daycares in the province running the $25-a-day pilot project. She said the Notley government wants to expand it “as finances allow.”
“We recognized that access to quality, affordable childcare was a huge issue,” she said. “I’ve talked to parents right across the province who are really concerned about the fact that being able to attain childcare that they knew would support their child’s development and full potential was often too expensive, so they made other arrangements or made choices not to go back to work or back to school.”
She said the emphasis was not just to make it more affordable, but to entice daycares to focus on quality.
“We’re really looking forward to getting feedback from the 22 pilot sites and moving forward with even more sites across the province as finances permit to move toward a universal accessible system.”
She said daycare workers tend to be excited to be able to increase accessibility and implementing a curriculum that supports play and all that good potential reaching stuff.
“What I hear from parents is they feel like they’ve won the lottery,” Larivee, the MLA for Lesser Slave Lake, said. “I’ve talked to parents who no longer have to choose between paying for childcare and paying for diapers. It’s a huge difference.”
Minister visits Jasper daycare hosting $25-a-day pilot
New Jasper Councillor Scott Wilson had a home run of a press event last week when Wildrose Childcare played host to Alberta Minister of Children’s Services Danielle Larivee.
(He may not have even been sworn in yet).
He was Johnny on the Spot as his three-year-old daughter, Sloan, spends three days a week at the centre while his wife works the books at Saw Construction. Sloan spent last Friday, Oct. 27 at shoulder-height in a Robin costume as Larivee, Mayor Richard Ireland and MLA Eric Rosendahl toured the labyrinthian facility.
“With no preschool here the daycare sort of fills that role with all of the same learning and hands-on activities with the workers, so it’s definitely financially more viable to bring her here with the incentive,” Wilson said. “Being able to free up the office and the house without a three-year-old running around is ideal.”
The Wilsons share their five days a week with another family who needs two days of coverage, one parent working full-time and the other working part-time, so they hammer out the schedule through the daycare on a weekly basis.
“Leaving your child the first time is difficult, but they know exactly what to do here,” Wilson said. “I just drop her off and go and she goes right into someone’s arms until she’s calmed down. And the food here is really good. We bring her with a change of clothes and everything else is provided.”
Larivee has visited a number of the 22 daycares in the province running the $25-a-day pilot project. She said the Notley government wants to expand it “as finances allow.”
“We recognized that access to quality, affordable childcare was a huge issue,” she said. “I’ve talked to parents right across the province who are really concerned about the fact that being able to attain childcare that they knew would support their child’s development and full potential was often too expensive, so they made other arrangements or made choices not to go back to work or back to school.”
She said the emphasis was not just to make it more affordable, but to entice daycares to focus on quality.
“We’re really looking forward to getting feedback from the 22 pilot sites and moving forward with even more sites across the province as finances permit to move toward a universal accessible system.”
She said daycare workers tend to be excited to be able to increase accessibility and implementing a curriculum that supports play and all that good potential reaching stuff.
“What I hear from parents is they feel like they’ve won the lottery,” Larivee, the MLA for Lesser Slave Lake, said. “I’ve talked to parents who no longer have to choose between paying for childcare and paying for diapers. It’s a huge difference.”
