Evening Mindful Parenting Series
In February, the Family Care Office will be offering a two-workshop Mindful Parenting series. Introduction to Mindful Parenting will be offered online on February 9 7:45 pm – 9 pm. Mindfulness for Kids: Building a Parent’s Toolkit will be the following week at the same time. Notes:
1) Please try attend both workshops if you can! Please register for each one of you are planning to attend both.
2) If you are planning to participate with someone with whom you co-parent, please submit two registrations even though you might be logging in from the same device. Thank you!

MINDFULNESS FOR KIDS: BUILDING A PARENT’S TOOLKIT

Date: Thursday, February 16, 2023
Time: 7:45 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: The webinar link will be shared with you via email prior to the session start time.

In this workshop we will explore practical ways of bringing mindfulness to the home. We will cover topics such as the benefits of a mindfulness practice for children, how to establish a mindfulness routine, and tips on practicing mindfulness as a family. Parents will leave with ideas of hands-on exercises, as well and simple and fun meditations to try with their children.

Facilitator: Mari Rossi has been facilitating mindfulness and yoga programs for parents and children for 15 years, and has led the Family Care Office Mindful Parenting programs since 2013. Mari has a degree in Psychology, with a specialization in Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health from the University of Toronto, and is currently a PhD student in the Women and Gender Studies Institute at U of T. Between her academic pursuits and mindfulness teaching, Mari finds time for her most important work: parenting her two kids, aged 11 and 13.

Registration required. University of Toronto students, staff, postdoctoral fellows and faculty are welcome. Partners and family members (including chosen family members) who are co-caregivers with U of T students, staff, postdoctoral fellows and faculty are also welcome to attend. If you have any access needs to ensure your full participation in this event, please contact the Family Care Office and we will try our best to work with you and make appropriate arrangements.

Evening Mindful Parenting Series
In February, the Family Care Office will be offering a two-workshop Mindful Parenting series. Introduction to Mindful Parenting will be offered online on February 9 7:45 pm – 9 pm. Mindfulness for Kids: Building a Parent’s Toolkit will be the following week at the same time. Notes:
1) Please try attend both workshops if you can! Please register for each one of you are planning to attend both.
2) If you are planning to participate with someone with whom you co-parent, please submit two registrations even though you might be logging in from the same device. Thank you!

INTRODUCTION TO MINDFUL PARENTING

Date: Thursday, February 9, 2023
Time: 7:45 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: The webinar link will be shared with you via email prior to the session start time.

In Mindful Parenting, we apply mindfulness principles to the art of parenting as a way to build a strong child-parent relationship and increase the well-being of both parent and child. In this introductory workshop, parents will learn, through fun and practical exercises, the key elements of Mindful Parenting, focusing on three pillars: awareness, acceptance, and intention. Come clarify your values as a parent and learn how to translate your long-term parenting goals into day-to-day life with kids; find new ways to cultivate self-compassion and patience towards your child; and understand the crucial role of parenting “mistakes” and how to embrace them as opportunities.

Facilitator: Mari Rossi has been facilitating mindfulness and yoga programs for parents and children for 15 years, and has led the Family Care Office Mindful Parenting programs since 2013. Mari has a degree in Psychology, with a specialization in Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health from the University of Toronto, and is currently a PhD student in the Women and Gender Studies Institute at U of T. Between her academic pursuits and mindfulness teaching, Mari finds time for her most important work: parenting her two kids, aged 11 and 13.

Registration required. University of Toronto students, staff, postdoctoral fellows and faculty are welcome. Partners and family members (including chosen family members) who are co-caregivers with U of T students, staff, postdoctoral fellows and faculty are also welcome to attend. If you have any access needs to ensure your full participation in this event, please contact the Family Care Office and we will try our best to work with you and make appropriate arrangements.

Date: Thursday, December 15, 2022
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm
Location: The webinar link will be shared with you via email prior to the session start time.

This workshop will explore issues that new parents face and how they can find resources and support during pre and post-pregnancy. Most new parents struggle with a lack of sleep, needing support, mental health, infant care, and more. Learn strategies to care for your baby’s physical, emotional, and developmental needs while taking care of your self too. Discover strategies, tools, and resources to help.

Facilitator:
Bronwyn Addico CBE(BFW) CD(DONA) www.balancingbirthbaby.com

Bronwyn Addico (she/her) is the owner of Balancing Birth to Baby, a support company for expecting and new parents that offers prenatal education and Doula support in Southern Ontario, Canada. She has been a Childbirth & Early Parenting Educator since 2015 and a Birth & Postpartum Doula since 2016.

After a difficult birth experience in 2013, she embarked on a journey to become a Birthing From Within childbirth mentor and spent time in California in 2016 to further her in-depth training. Bronwyn has been deeply influenced by this program’s view of birth as an initiation into parenting and how to examine your fears of birth and parenting. She uses the tools that she learned in this program within all aspects of her professional career and has developed them into a coaching program to help birthing people prepare for birth and work through a difficult or traumatic birth experience. She has supported more than 200 families during their births and early parenting journey.

Bronwyn is a single mother to two wonderful kids.

Contact Bronwyn: bronwyn@balancingbirthbaby.com

Registration required. University of Toronto students, staff, postdoctoral fellows and faculty are welcome. Partners and family members (including chosen family members) who are co-caregivers with U of T students, staff, postdoctoral fellows and faculty are also welcome to attend. If you have any access needs to ensure your full participation in this in-person event, please contact the Family Care Office and we will try our best to work with you and make appropriate arrangements.

Date: Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Time: 11:30 am – 1 pm
Location: The webinar link will be shared with you via email prior to the session start time.

Do you ever find yourself automatically reacting to your children in ways that leave you feeling disconnected, discouraged, and even depleted? Do you find that some of the most difficult parenting moments are when your children need you the most? Mindfulness skills can help by supporting parents to regulate our big emotions when we are feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or getting activated by our children’s big emotions. In this workshop, Sara will share mindfulness and compassion practices for in-the-moment parenting challenges, guided by a recognition that many of these challenges arise from the very stressful climate in which we parent. These practices can help us to be responsive rather than reactive; and be a little kinder towards ourselves along the way.

Facilitator: Sara Marlowe, MSW, RSW provides psychotherapy to individuals, couples, families and groups in private practice. She is a certified Mindful Self-compassion teacher (UCSD) and has trained in PACT (A Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy and Emotion Focused Family Therapy. She facilitates mindful self-compassion groups for parents and couples. She is the author of several mindfulness related children’s books including No Ordinary Pizza: A Story about Interconnection, My New Best Friend, which introduces self-compassion to children, and No Ordinary Apple: A Story about Eating Mindfully. She is the parent of two children and can be found online at www.mindfulfamilies.ca

Registration required. University of Toronto students, staff, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and their partners are welcome. If you have any access needs to ensure your full participation in this event, please contact the Family Care Office and we will try our best to work with you and make appropriate arrangements.

Date: Thursday, March 17, 2022
Time: 10:00 – 11:00 am
Location: The webinar link will be shared with you via email prior to the session start time.

Do you ever wonder what kind of object killed the dinosaurs? Or how what things from space might someday hit the Earth? Together, we will explore the often overlooked members of our solar system: the comets, asteroids, and other objects that might collide with our planet. This event will consist of a short lecture, an interactive trivia quiz, and plenty of time to ask questions!

School age children of U of T students, staff, faculty and postdoctoral fellows are welcome to attend. Register at family.care@utoronto.ca with your name and status at U of T, names of family members and ages of children, and dietary restrictions if any.

If you have any access needs to ensure your full participation in this event (examples might include sign language interpretation, mobility issues, or any other accommodations), please contact the Family Care Office and we will work with you to make appropriate arrangements

Event co-sponsored by the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics and the Family Care Office.

Date: Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Time: 10:00 – 11:00 pm
Location: The webinar link will be shared with you via email prior to the session start time.

Want to create a room inside your house that didn’t exist before? Create your very own magical pillow fort at home from cushions and blankets and stuff you already have. Forts are a perfect place for reading, drawing, snacking and hanging out. As a group we’ll make and decorate our own happy places at home and then come up with a set of fort building instructions we can share with others.

Parents and caregivers: this workshop will involve the temporary, safe, re-arrangement of some soft furnishings in your home. All fort-builders must agree to re-assemble the living room to its original state with minimal coaching and encouragement from you.

School age children of U of T students, staff, faculty and postdoctoral fellows are welcome to attend. Register at family.care@utoronto.ca with your name and status at U of T, names of family members and ages of children, and dietary restrictions if any.

If you have any access needs to ensure your full participation in this event (examples might include sign language interpretation, mobility issues, or any other accommodations), please contact the Family Care Office and we will work with you to make appropriate arrangements

Event co-sponsored by Hart House and the Family Care Office.

Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Time: 10:00 – 11:00 am
Location: The webinar link will be shared with you via email prior to the session start time.

What would you do if a law was created so that you couldn’t dance or sing anymore? Canada’s First Nation’s people found a way to secretly a way to go against the norm. As a result of trusting their inner voices, a new style of celebration was created.

Join Karen as she shares the secret journey of finding a current expression of celebration.

Karen Pheasant-Neganigwane is an Anishnaabe award-winner book writer, author of “PowWow – a Celebration Through Song and Dance”.

School age children of U of T students, staff, faculty and postdoctoral fellows are welcome to attend. Register at family.care@utoronto.ca with your name and status at U of T, names of family members and ages of children, and dietary restrictions if any.

If you have any access needs to ensure your full participation in this event (examples might include sign language interpretation, mobility issues, or any other accommodations), please contact the Family Care Office and we will work with you to make appropriate arrangements

Date: Tuesday, November 30, 2021
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm
Location: The webinar link will be shared with you via email prior to the session start time.

Do you ever find yourself automatically reacting to your children’s challenging behaviour in ways that leave you feeling disconnected, discouraged, and even depleted? Do you find that some of the most difficult parenting moments are when your children need you the most? Mindfulness skills can help by supporting parents to regulate our big emotions when we are feeling stressed, overwhelmed or getting activated by our children’s big emotions. In this workshop, Sara will share mindfulness and compassion practices for in-the-moment parenting challenges. These practices can help us to be responsive rather than reactive; and be a little kinder towards ourselves along the way…

Facilitator: Sara Marlowe, MSW, RSW provides psychotherapy to individuals, couples, families and groups in both private practice and the Mindfulness Clinic. She has trained as a facilitator in Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and is a trained teacher in Mindful Self-compassion (MSC). She facilitates mindfulness & compassion workshops and groups for all ages. She is the author of several mindfulness related children’s books including My New Best Friend, which introduces self-compassion to children and No Ordinary Apple: A Story about Eating Mindfully. She has been a regular instructor at Ryerson University in theSchool of Early Childhood Studies for over 13 years. She is the parent of two children and can be found online at www.mindfulfamilies.ca

Registration required. U of T students, staff, faculty, and their partner/spouse are welcome to attend.

If you have any access needs to ensure your full participation in this event, please contact the Family Care Office and we will try our best to work with you and make appropriate arrangements.

Date: Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm
Location: The webinar link will be shared with you via email prior to the session start time.

This workshop will explore issues that new parents face and how they can find resources and support during pre and post-pregnancy. Most new parents struggle with a lack of sleep, needing support, mental health, infant care, and more. Learn strategies to care for your baby’s physical, emotional, and developmental needs while taking care of your self too. Discover strategies, tools, and resources to help.

Facilitator: Bronwyn Addico CBE(BFW) CD(DONA) www.balancingbirthbaby.com

Bronwyn Addico, Birth & Postpartum Doula, Childbirth & Early Parenting Educator, Birth Preparation & Healing Coach. Bronwyn has worked as a prenatal educator in the Kitchener-Waterloo area for many years. After the birth of her son in 2013, she became a certified Dancing For Birth instructor.

In 2014 she embarked on a journey to become a Birthing From Within childbirth mentor and spent time in California in the Spring of 2016 to further her in-depth training. Bronwyn has been deeply influenced by this program’s view of birth as an initiation into parenting and how to examine your fears of birth and parenting. Since that time she has worked as a birth and postpartum Doula, supporting close to 100 families during this special journey in their lives.

Bronwyn is a single mother to two wonderful kids. She is able to share a wealth of information based on her vast array of parenting experiences. Contact Bronwyn: bronwyn@balancingbirthbaby.com

Registration required. Current University of Toronto students, staff, faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and their partners are welcome. If you have any access needs to ensure your full participation in this event, please contact the Family Care Office and we will try our best to work with you and make appropriate arrangement.

Date: Friday, August 20, 2021
Time: 10:00 – 11:00 am
Location: The webinar link will be shared with you via email prior to the session start time.

A session for U of T students with family responsibilities and their spouse/partner to chat and connect with their peers and/or to ask a Family Care Advisor questions on:

• Child care & child care subsidies
• Schools
• Children’s programs
• Balancing study and family (and work too, if that is your case)
• How to get connected with a peer mentor
• Other issues that student parents have to deal with

All new and current U of T students with family responsibilities and their partner/spouse are welcome, registration required.

If you have any access needs to ensure your full participation in this event, please contact the Family Care Office and we will try our best to work with you and make appropriate arrangements.