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.

Date: Thursday, August 20, 2020
Time: 2:00 – 3:00 pm
Location: Online – link will be emailed to registered participants prior to workshop

In these times of great uncertainty, there are so many unanswered questions and so many aspects of our lives that are outside of our control. How, then, can we remain in control of our financial lives to build and protect our futures? How do we put ourselves in the best position to be able to weather any potential future storms still to come?

Join us for this interactive webinar where we will discuss:

• Strategies for assessing where your family is financially right now, deciding where you would like to be and how you can best get there.
• How to prepare for future unknowns, including the tax implications of many benefit programs and the effect of loan deferrals on our long term debt repayment plans.
• OSAP deferrals and student COVID-related benefits.
• Concrete strategies for rebuilding emergency funds and even sharing some everyday savings ideas.

There will be plenty of time for questions, so you can email them to us in advance or come with yours!

Facilitator: Anne Arbour, a Financial Educator with the Credit Counselling Society, a non-profit agency dedicated to helping Canadians manage their money better, solve their debt problems and learn about credit.

Registration required. U of T students, staff, postdoctoral fellows and their families 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.

If you wish please email your questions in advance to family.care@utoronto.ca.

Date: Monday, April 20, 2020
Time: 1:00 – 2:00 pm
Location: The webinar link will be shared with you via email prior to the session start time.

Have you or your family been impacted financially by Covid-19? Are you worried that your income may be impacted in the near future? Worrying about our health along with our finances can be scary, stressful and can create a lot of stress on us and our families.

Join us for a practical webinar on how to plan for emergency reduced income, deal with your bills as well as your creditors. You are not alone and we are here to help you!

Facilitator: Anne Arbour is the Financial Educator at the Credit Counselling Society, with over 25 years of experience in financial services and a passion to promote financial literacy in her community. Anne holds an MBA from York University – Schulich School of Business, and is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance (CEPF).

Registration Required. U of T students, staff, faculty and their families are welcome to attend.

Date: Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm
Location: Koffler Student Services Centre, 214 College St., Room 313

Cooking your own baby food is easy and affordable, and best of all you know exactly what’s in it! Learn to:

• Use simple equipment to make baby food
• Know how and when to introduce solid foods
• Compare homemade and store-bought baby food
• Adapt the food their family is eating to their baby’s needs
• Handle and store food safely

Facilitator: Marcela Jaramillo, Food Share

Registration required. University of Toronto students, staff, faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and their families are welcome. Please let us know if you have any mobility challenges so we can accommodate your needs.

Date: Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Time: 1:00 – 2:30 pm
Location: UTM Maanjiwe nendamowinan (formerly the new North Building), MN, Room #4107

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 about the key elements of Mindful Parenting, including listening with full attention, becoming aware of emotions, developing a non-judgemental attitude, accepting difficulties and challenges, building compassion and acceptance, and embracing mistakes as opportunities. Parents will not only experience practical exercises in the workshop, but also bring home tools and techniques for increasing presence, patience, and compassion towards self and child.

Facilitator: Mari Rossi has been teaching yoga and mindfulness for parents and children since 2006. She also teaches an online Mindful Parenting course at Indiana University.  Mari has a degree in Psychology, with an specialization in Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health, and is currently a doctoral 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 eight year-old son and ten year-old daughter.

Registration required. University of Toronto students, staff, faculty, and their partners are welcome. Please let us know if you have any mobility challenges so we can accommodate your needs.

Date: Thursday, October 3, 2019 WAITLIST
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm
Location: Koffler Student Services Centre, 214 College Street, Room 313

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 about the key elements of Mindful Parenting, including listening with full attention, becoming aware of emotions, developing a non-judgemental attitude, accepting difficulties and challenges, building compassion and acceptance, and embracing mistakes as opportunities. Parents will not only experience practical exercises in the workshop, but also bring home tools and techniques for increasing presence, patience, and compassion towards self and child.

Facilitator: Mari Rossi has been teaching yoga and mindfulness for parents and children since 2006. She also teaches an online Mindful Parenting course at Indiana University.  Mari has a degree in Psychology, with an specialization in Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health, and is currently a doctoral 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 eight year-old son and ten year-old daughter.

Registration required. University of Toronto students, staff, faculty, and their families are welcome. Please let us know if you have any mobility challenges so we can accommodate your needs.

Date: Thursdays, June 6, June 13, June 20
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Location: Koffler Student Services Building, 214 College St., Room 313

In this Mindful Parenting series, we will apply mindfulness principles to the experience of parenting as a way to build a strong parent-child relationship and increase the well-being of both parent and child. Parents will explore the Mindful Parenting framework and its key elements: awareness of self and child; presence and patience; non-judgemental attitude; compassion and acceptance; and embracing mistakes as opportunities.

Each session will include a guided meditation, which participants are encouraged to practice at home between sessions. Group discussion and sharing of experiences will take place every week, and a variety of tools and techniques for implementing mindful parenting at home will be explored.

Facilitator: Mari Rossi has been teaching yoga and mindfulness for parents and children since 2006, and this is her fifth year facilitating the Family Care Office’s Mindful Parenting series. She also teaches Mindful Parenting at Indiana University, via webinars. Mari has a degree in Psychology, with an specialization in Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health, and is currently a doctoral 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 eight year-old son and nine year-old daughter.

Registration required. University of Toronto students, staff, faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and their families are welcome. Please let us know if you have any mobility challenges so we can accommodate your needs.

Join us as we visit the University of Toronto Planetarium for an exciting show and chance at viewing through a telescope. If we have clear weather that night, you will be able to see the planet Mercury at its highest point above the horizon in the evening sky, just after sunset.

Please note that we might only be able to see the Toronto skyline if it is cloudy, but we will still get to fly through the solar system in the planetarium no matter what the weather is like.

This event is for children Grades 3 to 8 (children from 8 to 14 years of age), and at least one of their parents must be a current student, staff, faculty or postdoctoral fellow. Children need to be accompanied by an adult (only one adult per family please, as we want to make room for as many children as possible). Event co-sponsored by the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Family Care Office.

What is Wen-Do? Wen-Do is a self defense course designed for women, by women to learn easy to use and easy to remember methods of protecting ourselves in a wide range of situations. Techniques are designed for effective use by women of all ages, sizes, and abilities. A combination of discussion, with practical physical skills results in an integration of mental and physical preparedness.

This two day course is not just for mothers-daughters. Bring along a niece, your friend’s child, your sister, your partner’s daughter. The child must be over 9 yrs.

Come join us for three mornings of guided meditations for parents, led by Mari Rossi.

Immerse yourself in mindfulness and see first-hand the benefits of a consistent practice. Start your summer on the right foot by taking the time to ground yourself and kick-start your mindfulness practice.