When my kids were babies and toddlers, I basically had a part-time job I didn’t apply for: tracking down Baby Time and Story Time schedules across every branch in town. Each branch runs them on different days, at different times — almost always mornings — so I’d map out my week around which library was…
Here’s the part of Canadian music education that made me sit up as a parent: the exams my daughter takes with her private violin teacher can count as high school graduation credit. Not extra-curricular. Not “looks nice on an application.” Actual credit, the same as passing a Grade 10, 11 or 12 course — through…
My younger daughter started the violin in Grade 5, in a free school strings program. By the end of that year she said the words every parent half-hopes and half-dreads: “I want to learn more.” So in Grade 6 we found her a private teacher. And almost immediately I started hearing two letters I didn’t…
If you’re raising kids in Canada, sooner or later you’ll think: “Every kid here seems to play an instrument. Should mine?” I had the same question. What I didn’t know at the time was how much of it the school takes care of — and where a parent actually has to step in. I have…
Before I moved to Canada, I did what every nervous newcomer does: I looked up the weather. Big mistake, or maybe a good one — the numbers I found said parts of the country regularly hit minus 40 degrees Celsius in winter. I remember feeling genuinely afraid. I pictured myself buried in snow for six…
When my second child turned three, I kept hearing the same thing from other parents: “Honestly, it’s barely worth going back to work once you factor in daycare costs.” I believed it. Full-time care felt completely out of reach, so I only sent her to a preschool program for three hours a day — and…
The first time I got one of those texts, I almost fell for it. It said I had a government refund waiting, and all I had to do was click a link and “confirm my identity.” My finger literally hovered over it for a second. I remember thinking: wait, could this be real? Did I…
My youngest turned 6 this year, and yesterday I finally sat down and applied for the BC Training and Education Savings Grant (BCTESG) through my RESP account. I’d been putting it off for months (mom life, right?), but a friend sent me a post warning that this $1,200 grant is being phased out — and…
My neighbors and I have a running joke: it would probably be faster to raise a family doctor from birth than to actually find one in Victoria, BC. Ten years in Canada, and I still don’t have one. So this post isn’t written from some expert-outsider view — it’s written from the same waiting list…
In Korea, if I got sick, I could see a doctor the same day. It cost money, but the appointment itself was never the problem. When I moved to Canada, I learned something surprising: healthcare here is free, but “free” and “fast” are two very different things. Nobody tells you that before you land. After…
