From the category archives:

Working and mothering

A courtesy call from the Universe

18 August 2010 Working and mothering

It went something like this: Ring, ring. Hello? Hello DaniGirl. Oh, hello Universe. Nice to hear from you. What’s new? Oh, you know, the usual. Had an impressive supernova blow out last millennium near Rigel Four, made for a pretty good show. It should get to your galaxy in about a half a billion years, [...]

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Did I forget to touch wood or something?

11 February 2010 It IS all about me

It seems somehow both painfully ironic and sublimely fitting that in the days since I posted a meandering article rife with smugness about leisure time and how zen I am about the pace of my life that I have been too busy to pee, let alone consider writing another blog post. Universe 1, DaniGirl 0.

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On time

9 February 2010 Working and mothering

“Moms have more leisure time than they think!” reads the provocative headline on ParentDish, and you don’t even have to read the comments to imagine the divisive and ultimately completely unhelpful comments from both mothers and those who love to hate mothers. And of course, there were defensive howls of outrage across the mamasphere. A [...]

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On daycare, yet again

7 January 2010 Working and mothering

It’s been a good long time since I’ve bitched about child care, hasn’t it? I think we’re loooong overdue! The reason it’s been a good long time since I’ve bitched about child care is because I’ve been so happy with the young nanny who has been coming to the house since I went back to [...]

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H1n1 vaccines, Canadian babies denied Baby Einstein refund, and other miscellany

27 October 2009 Life in Ottawa

I read with interest the story in the media this weekend of how the Walt Disney Company is offering refunds on the purchase of Baby Einstein DVDs, after the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood challenged the idea that the DVDs were a teaching tool rather than simply brain candy for toddlers. Okay, seriously? People really [...]

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EI successfully claimed by both parents for twins

18 September 2009 Canadianisms

From CBC Ottawa, news that an Ottawa couple successfully argued that both parents are entitled employment insurance (EI) parental benefits for their twins. Each parent claims the benefits for one child. The decision applies only to this couple, but sets an amazing precedent. Way cool!

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More thoughts on full-day kindergarten

18 June 2009 Working and mothering

I thought it was worth a second post (here’s the first) to link to some of the fantastic opinions people have expressed on the subject of full-day kindergarten in Ontario. In our little corner of the blogosphere Rebecca at a bit of momsense is still on the fence. BeachMama isn’t on the fence at all [...]

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All-day kindergarten recommended for Ontario

16 June 2009 Working and mothering

A couple of weeks back, I started writing a series of posts about the state of early education and child care in Canada. The first post was an introduction and summary of the Canadian Senate’s report called “Early Childhood Education and Care: Next Steps.” I was rather underwhelmed by the Senates main recommendations, which were [...]

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Letter to the editor: child care and early childhood education

4 June 2009 Working and mothering

Submitted this morning to the Ottawa Citizen: As the mother of three boys, ages seven, five and one year old, I read with interest Elizabeth Payne’s op-ed article (“When we are six“, June 4, 2009) about school readiness in Ottawa. I think Ms Payne missed a valuable opportunity to link the issue of school readiness [...]

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A call to action for my American friends

2 June 2009 Working and mothering

You know the topic of affordable, quality child care is dear to my heart, and I hope to continue my series on the Senate of Canada’s recent report on child care and early childhood education in Canada later this week. Today, I received this note from MomsRising.org about the Family Tax Relief Act of 2009 [...]

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