Category: children

June 10, 2015

Introducing Your Child to the Theatre at the Shaw Festival

Introducing Your Child to Theatre at the Shaw Festival

I love attending plays and this was a huge part of my childhood. My parents took us to Beauty and the Beast, ballet, Phantom of the Opera and so many more fantastic live shows. I love the architecture of the theatres, the thrill in the audience and the raw emotions from the actors. Sometimes I feel as though children are not encouraged to attend because they have shorter attention spans or they may act out. While this can be true at times, you should always encourage them to attend with you. These are social experiences that will last with them for a long time. One of the best places to experience live theatre is at the Shaw Festival!

Here are some helpful tips for your child’s first visit to a live play:

Arrive early and walk around the city. Niagara on the Lake is stunning in the summer months with the flowers and scenery, so take advantage of this with your child. Pack a lunch to enjoy in one of the parks or try out one of the fabulous restaurants that line Queen Street. This walk really helped our youngest burn a lot of energy while allowing us to see lots of beautiful architecture in the city as well as the lake.

Visit the local shops along Queen Street. We found so many unique shops and this one particular shop really caught the attention of both of our boys with the wind chimes. They fell in love! We spent twenty minutes in this store alone and they came home with a special chime just for them to remember the day.

Niagara on the Lake is rich in history and everywhere you turn there is a sign or flag to display that heritage. Why not really make it a day and visit Fort George for an hour or two? During the War of 1812, Fort George served as the headquarters for the Centre Division of the British Army. This was an important part of our trip as well as we were able to blend some education value into this stop as well as having fun walking around the site (and pretending to shoot cannons!).

The doors to the Royal George open an hour early, so make sure you get in there and take some time to relax in the downstairs lobby. Use this time to make sure your children go to the bathroom, get a small snack and maybe something to drink. The boys loved the mini stage and tables that were set around it. We enjoyed some cool, quiet time before the show started.

The play will make your trip so research what you will see and talk about it with your children. We attended Peter and the Starcatcher, which was fantastic and was a perfect fit for our family! It was full of humour, action and adventure. At one point our youngest was so involved in the action scenes with the Black Stache that he called out no when he was attacking Peter. It was adorable to watch how involved they were in the play and to me this is what theatre is all about, drawing you in to the raw emotions and feelings of the play. The actors in Peter and the Starcatcher did an amazing job drawing you and keeping you entertained throughout the whole two hours. We did not want the show to end!

End your day with ice cream! We stopped in at the Il Gelato di Carlotta, which serves the most divine gelato! I had the Dolce Vita and was in love at first bite. This was the perfect way for us to celebrate the wonderful day we had. Not only is their gelato delicious, they also source all of their fresh fruit from local farms (a win win in my mind!).

The Shaw Festival is the perfect opportunity for you to introduce your child to live theatre, which will be an experience they will not forget!

What other tips can you offer to parents taking their child to live theatre for the first time?

Disclosure: I received tickets to Peter and the Starcatcher. All opinions expressed are my own.

May 25, 2015

Create Your Own Minion Friends with Kinder Canada

Bee Do! Bee Do! Bee Do!

The famous minions are back and this time you can find them in Kinder chocolates!! Po ka?? (English translation from the Banana Language: What??).

Yes, you heard that right – in your favourite Kinder chocolates. Throughout this month, you can find these adorable little minions in store, in specially marked packages.

I was on the hunt for these packages for the last three weeks and I finally scored some at Walmart this past weekend. My boys and I decided to have a little bit of fun with our new minions by creating a league of minions out of all the spare Kinder capsules we keep in the home (they are the perfect storage for change!).

For this craft you will need:

Kinder capsules
blue and purple paint
black permanent marker
blue circular stickers

Directions:

Paint the bottom half of the capsules blue and leave upside down to dry. The ‘evil’ minions you will have to paint half of the capsule purple.

Once they are dry, use the permanent marker to add in the eyes, goggles and hair.

Add the stickers to the centre of their pants. We chose one of the minions to hold a heart and another to wear a flower in his hair (hence the sad face!).

And voila! A league of your own personal minions!

Our son set them up with his Minion toys in the living room and created his own ‘battle’ scenes. We had so much fun playing around with them.

Make sure you are following Kinder Canada on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up to date with this newest collection, fun giveaways and more!

Have you found the Minion collection in store? Out of the eleven available characters, how many have you collected?

Poopaye! Goodbye!

Disclosure: I am a KinderMom and receive perks associated with this affiliation. All opinions expressed are my own.

May 22, 2015

A Journey of Music and Story-Telling in Peter and the Starcatcher

“When I was a boy, I wished I could fly” – Peter and the Starcatcher

The Shaw Festival is ready to take you on an exciting adventure, through battles and finally to the magical island that will become the famous, Neverland!

Peter and the Starcatcher is based on the 2004 novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson and tells the story of what happened before JM Barrie’s novel Peter and Wendy. Before he becomes Peter Pan, Peter sails out from London on a ship with an undetermined destination. He is just one of three terrified and lonely orphans. When the ship’s precious cargo, a trunk of star-dust, causes a battle between the British Empire, the pirates, the ship’s captain and a girl named Molly lead the boy into adventure. The battle ends with everyone being stuck on Mollusk Island. With the help of Molly’s nanny and the other orphans, Molly and Peter fight to keep the star-dust safe.

The play was produced in 2012 and went on to win five Tony Awards delighting audiences old and new. The play is recommended for ages eight years and up and has a total running time of two hours and thirty minutes with one intermission.

The Shaw Festival wants to give one of you the chance to witness this magical journey live on the Royal George stage! My Canadian residents can now enter to win a pair of tickets to the live show using the Rafflecopter form below. Accommodation and transportation are not provided so please keep that in mind when entering, the date will be determined (the show runs from May until November). Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a set of tickets to attend this event. All opinions expressed are my own.

May 21, 2015

Celebrating Our Unique Family with Netflix #StreamTeam

When my husband and I were married, we joined two very different cultures and backgrounds: Italian and Zimbabwean. Over the years this has meant adjusting to different attitudes towards aspects of the home, meals and even language! I still remember driving the car with my husband and him yelling at me to pay attention to the robots. So of course I looked around the intersection scanning for robots, but what he meant by robots was the traffic lights (oops!).

Eleven years and two children later, we are still growing stronger, becoming accustomed to each others cultures and preferences and blending this into our children. Our children attempt to talk like their Daddy (with the accent) and use his unique words. The only thing I can’t quite get used to is some of the food items he loves! I dislike meat on a bone (don’t ask it is truly a personal thing that even I don’t understand!) and he loves his meat (ox tail!).

Each family is unique in their own way and while our family brings to it a blended culture many other families bring their own twist on the traditional nuclear family – think same-sex parents and step families. There is no longer the ideal perfect family and this is what makes each family perfect in their own unique way.

Netflix is celebrating your unique family this month with some popular hit shows that includes: Party of Five, Raising Hope, Gilmore Girls and the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

For the younger kids, Netflix celebrates their uniqueness with films that include: Alvin and the Chipmunks, Despicable Me, Mr. Peabody and Sherman.

What makes your family unique? How do you embrace this uniqueness?

Disclosure: I am a Netflix #StreamTeam member and receive perks associated with this affiliation. All opinions expressed are my own.

May 8, 2015

The Motherhood Journey: Support, Guidance, Love and Trust #TheMotherhood

Motherhood: the state of being a Mother, maternity, the qualities or spirit of a Mother, Mothers collectively. As an adjective: having or related to an inherent worthiness, justness, or goodness that is obvious.

The day my first son came into this world was the most incredible moment of my life. Hearing his cry, counting his fingers and toes, cuddling him close to my chest were moments of absolute bliss. The moment I first held him against my chest, was probably the closest any one person can get to heaven on Earth. Those feelings were revived when I gave birth to my second son almost seven years later. It is a moment of absolute perfectness that is so hard to describe.

Those moments also marked my first steps into the journey of motherhood. It wasn’t long after I gave birth that I realized becoming a Mother wasn’t a role that I had to nor one that I should face alone. The saying, it takes a village to raise a child, becomes clear after you become a parent. Mothers need to form a group of people around them to guide, support, love and give them much-needed adult time.

So who helps me with my motherhood?

My Motherhood group consists of a large group of women that includes my Mom, sister, Aunts, colleagues and my neighbour. Each one of these incredible individuals has helped me in so many ways grow as a Mother and be the best Mother that I can be for my boys. I turn to them when I am lost, when I need advice and for a shoulder to cry on.

My sister has always been there for me night and day. When I am scared or stressed, I know that I can message her at any time and she is always there to answer me (even at three in the morning!). She is my sound advice and shoulder to vent on. She is the first person I share all my news with, especially about my boys, my career and my goals. I am grateful to have her in my life.

Those ladies right there – they are my biggest supports in life and motherhood. They are so much more to me than my colleagues. With just one look, they know how I am feeling, if I need a hug or just a moment to breathe. When our youngest started daycare, all I wanted to do was cry everyday after the drop off. They are the ones to give me a hug, make me laugh and remind me of their own experiences with their children. You know those crazy questions you have about parenting? The ones that you think no one will be able to answer? These ladies are the ones I go to for help, they help me without judgement and even manage to make me laugh about the situation. No matter what they always help me see the goodness in every situation.

These incredible individuals help make up my ‘motherhood’. This Mother’s Day, Campbell’s hopes you take a moment to reflect on those people in your life who help us on our Motherhood journey, they don’t have to be a Mother but are those people in our lives who help make us better for our children. Take the time out this week to thank them for all that they do.

Who helps you on your journey of Motherhood?

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post from Campbell’s Canada. All opinions and reflections are my own.