a peek inside the fishbowl

I’ve had cause to think a lot about Our Central Tenets of Parenting lately. I should have a list of Central Tenets written down somewhere, but since I don’t, I will mention two for now:

1) We encourage our children to try new things.
2) We encourage our children to explore their options.

Number one is a bit of a no-brainer. By encouraging our children to try new things we make their world a little bigger and help them become better little people. The new thing in question might be as small as trying a new food, jumping off the diving board at the swimming pool, or signing up for an intramural team at school. Those small things aren’t really small things, are they? They’re big things. That new food, or the big leap into the pool, or a slam dunk can kindle a fire in their little hearts we didn’t even know they had. Those things make them grow.

Number two, on the other hand, can be a little more challenging because once they hit a certain age, (ahem, like, five), they start to think they know Everything There is to Know. But when you really think about it, number two is just as important as number one. Teaching our children to explore their options is just as important as encouraging them to try new things.

Our youngest is moving to a new school next year and was asked to weigh her options in terms of which school she should attend. Several of her teachers petitioned for a move to Canterbury, the local arts high school. The other option was our neighbourhood high school. She was interested in trying out for Canterbury – either visual arts or literary arts – but her heart was already set on the local school. Her decision was made.

It would have been easy for us to NOT attend the open house at either school, after all, it’s like, minus THIRTY HUNDRED out there and I’d rather be eating toast and watching Netflix, but we put on our Good Parent Hats and braved the awful weather and checked them both out. And you know what? Even though her decision didn’t change, at least we now had a clear idea. Ultimately, our visits helped make her decision a more informed one, and we all felt good about having done due diligence.

To summarize, here’s the life lesson we are trying to convey here:

The best decision is an informed one, and it comes after having weighed all the options.

This is where I introduce a new Fishbowl patron, Ottawa’s Joan of Arc Academy. I went to JOA on a tour recently and had the pleasure of meeting some of the teachers as well as the JOA Headmistress, Pierrette Poliquin and Assistant Head Derek Rhodenizer. I went there, with no idea that JOA is Ottawa’s only private elementary bilingual girls school, and has been since 1954. And for the first time ever, they’re offering full scholarships of up to 100% of tuition fees, awarded to suitable candidate(s) as decided by the Scholarship Panel.

ALSO, this is the school that’s right near Funhaven, set back a bit from the Queensway. It’s only a few minutes from our home in Westboro. I’ve always wondered what school that was. Now I know!

ALSO, this school has its roots in Westboro. I know some people reading this may have even attended Maison Jeanne D’arc on Kenwood Avenue.

The school knocked my socks off, and I spent a lot of time with Derek Rhodenizer talking about the joy of learning and the wonderful things that happen when girls are in an environment in which they are supported, encouraged, and challenged.

In some ways it was like other schools I’ve visited. The hallways are decorated with children’s art, the gym is very much like a gym, and the coats and snowsuits are hung in neat cubbies in the kindergarten room, but there are differences.

The students I met seemed thrilled to be there. The girls wear uniforms. The class sizes are smaller, which means teachers can spend more time with each student. The classrooms themselves are happy and sunny. It’s an educational environment that fosters academic excellence. The students are motivated, high achievers in academics, art, music, and sports.

I’m also interested in the all girl setting, and I had a lot of questions about it. What does it mean to be a student in an all girl school from K-8? Personally, I think it lets the students be themselves, with less distraction and peer pressure drawing away from their educational and social experiences. Here’s an interesting example. Derek told me that everybody – even the the older girls – wear snow pants at recess, because they all want to have fun in the snow. I don’t know of any eighth grade girls who wears snow pants at public school, do you? Many are also too cool to wear a touque. Sigh.

So when we talk about weighing our options in terms of education, I would venture to say that this is one that should definitely be considered, especially given the new scholarship program. There’s an open house on January 28 and parents of children in any grade can attend. RSVP right here. And here’s something neat: If you have a question about Joan of Arc Academy, you can ask JOA parents, right on the website.

In the meantime, I do encourage you to check out their Facebook and Twitter pages to get the inside scoop.

See the world’s greatest stolen artworks in this virtual reality museum. http://t.co/AYhscxZ6d0

— WIRED Design (@Wired_Design) January 16, 2015

• Joint Pain, From the Gut, theatlantic.com
• 17 small (and totally doable) tweaks that will change your year, fastcompany.com
• Bully beef out, pro-biotics in: what our shopping baskets say about changing tastes, theguardian.com
• Using 9/11 to sell Big Macs: McDonald’s controversial new “Signs”, salon.com
• What’s the secret to Japan’s slender population? Serious ‘eating education’, cbc.ca

On the nightstand: Where’d You Go, Bernadette: A Novel

Another thing I learned, or relearned in this case, was how much I enjoy skiing.

On Saturday we revisited trail #26 in the Stony Swamp vicinity of Ottawa. I realized that cross-country skiing is not unlike riding a bike. You never really forget. And as soon as my boot clicked into the ski I felt it. It’s as if that click sends a signal to my brain. HERE. WE. GO.

The girls have gotten so good they practically leave us in the dust. Of course, I’m always bringing up the rear, because I like to stop and take a photo. Or two. Or four.

It wasn’t a sunny day, but the weather was fine and the snow was snowy.

It so want to remember these breathless and beautiful moments, and how fortunate we are that we can do this kind of thing so close to home.

I tried skiing mindfully, with all of my senses this time around. Seeing, hearing, breathing. Skiing is a sensory activity, although you’d be forgiven if you didn’t make that connection right away. It is magical. The only thing that could have made our excursion better? A thermos hot coffee, enjoyed right at the end. (Note for next time!)

You want to know something cool? As we were leaving we encountered an unusually large group of people getting ready to head out on the trail. Normally people tend to ski in much smaller groups, even solo, so seeing a dozen strapping on their skis at once was a bit odd. One of the gentlemen asked Mark to take a photo, and of course he obliged. As it turns out, this was a group of recent immigrants on an intro-to-skiing adventure, with participants hailing from all kinds of different countries in the middle east. They’d never been on skis before. I’m so glad there are people who (a) are offering this kind of experience for people and (b) are adventurous types who go along for the ride, even though the idea of strapping sticks to your feet and sliding through the forest might seem a little unfamiliar and otherworldly.

A quick ski in the woods is quite a lovely welcome though, don’t you think? Welcome to Canada, welcome to Ottawa, welcome to winter.