New columnist celebrates surviving another month
Coquitlam Now
August 27, 2008
By: Clare Adams

It is with great excitement that I start on this new writing adventure. Seven years ago my husband and I arrived in Canada with similar excitement and anticipation. Having fallen in love with Vancouver, we quickly learned that you move out as far as you can without needing to cross a bridge and so we found the Tri-Cities. We have never looked back….

…. the government has given me hope that we may have full-time kindergarten in time for daughter starting next year, which, coming from the UK, where she would be starting full-time school this September, seems like a great idea to me.

While I am sure that there are many parents reading this contemplating whether their little one is ready for kindergarten and wondering where the last five years have disappeared, I can only watch my daughter's boundless inquisitiveness and know that she will watch with envy as her five-year-old friends start school….

Currently preparing to juggle family and earn a living, I really wanted group infant daycare and found myself limited to a "choice" of just three local facilities, making me feel like a lottery winner when I got a place.

This is one reason why I feel strongly in favour of extending kindergarten. I can but hope that by freeing up some capacity in our daycares, we can address the shortage of daycare places. Meanwhile, I think I'll be spending the next month pondering how I can possibly feel lucky when I will be paying close to the same as my mortgage each month for childcare. Strange.