HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1988-05-11, Page 3Times -Advocate, May 11, 1988 Page 3
Tuckersmith one of leaders in municipal day care
VANASTRA - As the topic of
day care for young children pops up
more and more often in the media.
townships like Tuckersmith can be
allowed a smug smile. Tuckersmith
is one of the few municipalities in
Huron County which has been of-
fering this service for many years.
(The town of Wingham also oper-
ates a day care centre.)
Among the early supporters of
the Tuckersmith facility was Ervin
Sillcry, deputy reeve when a group
of Vanastra residents first petitioned
Tuckersmith council. The docu-
mented need for a day care centre
and the availability of government
assistance persuaded councillors to
back the proposal.
Sillcry -recalls that the project
MENU CHECK - Cheryl Nuhn (right), supervisor of the two day care cen-
tres at Vanastra, checks over the six weeks of menus with kitchen staffer
Susan Nolan.
faced opposition from some who
called the concept "glorified baby-
sitting". Tuckersmith councillors
defended the proposal as good for
local industry and good for the com-
munity. Sillcry explained that at
the time Vanastra had the county's
highest concentration of mothers on
welfare. Having a safe and secure
place to leave their children meant
many could go out anwork part-
time.
Day care centre opens
The Tuckersmith Day Nursery
opened in 1975, and the Lady Diana
Nursery for youngsters with disa-
bilities in 1980. Both arc housed
in the rcc centre at Vanastra.
The day nursery, which is open
from 6:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m..
has facilities to accommodate at one
time 34 pre-schoolers aged two -and -
one -half to five, and 10 school-age
children aged six to 10 before
school, at lunch, and after school.
Some come twice a week, some
three days, a few once a week, and
one farmer brings his child on a
part-time basis. A total of 60 chil-
dren are cared for each week. Fifty
percent of them attend five days a
week.
"It's a scheduler's nightmare",
A GOOD STORY - Mary -Lou Murray, program supervisor
to Amanda Bailie and Taura Brooks.
at the Lady Diana Nursery at Vanastra, reads a story
laughed Cheryl Nuhn. supervisor
of the two nurseries.
Nuhn supervises a day nursery
staff of three full-time Early Child-
hood Education graduates and one
part-timer with a Developmental
Social Work degree. She also has
overall responsibility for the Lady
Diana Nursery, headed by program
supervisor Mary -Lou Murray plus
two teachers, two high school vol-
unteers from thc co-op programs in
Scaforth and Clinton, and four adult
volunteers who conic in on a rotat-
ing schedule.
Nuhn has her Early- Childhood
Education diploma from Fanshawe,
and has taken sign -language and
other up -dating courses. She
worked at a day care centre in Wal-
kerton for 10 years before coming
to Tuckersmith three years ago.
Her most important qualification is
a love of children. About one-third
of the children arc from Tucker -
smith; the rest are from Morris,
Stanley, Goderich, Hullett, Clin-
ton, Scaforth, Blyth and other Hu-
ron municipalities.
Daily program
The children are divided into three
age groups. Each day a song and
story circle and a craft arc planned
around that day's topic. Making the
crafts teaches coordination, and rec-
ognition of shapes. Thc children
learn to write their names.
Thc children acquire social skills
just by spending supervised time.
with other children. Cooperative
play is encouraged. Nuhn finds
most quarrels are soon resolved
without the need for adult interven-
tion. If a fight over a toy can not
be resolved, the article in dispute is
put away for awhile.
At least one hour of the free play
time is spent outside, weather per-
mitting. Snacks arc served in the
morning and again in the afternoon,
and a nutritious dinner planned and
prepared in accordancc with Cana-
da's
ana-
das food guide is served each noon.
The children then brush their teeth .
Younger ones have a nap, while
the older children rest before resum-
ing their play.
Referring to the daily program
with its underlying mix of direct
and indirect learning, Nuhn stated
emphatically that she is a firm be-
liever in providing an educational
environment rather than n just a drop-
off place.
"Weare heavy users of the Clin-
ton public library. They are vary
understanding if we temporarily
misplace a book", Nuhn said, not-
ing the fact that half a person's life-.
time of learning is accomplished in
the first six years. The staff must
also keep up with the latest in chil-
dren's TV programs so thcy know
what the children are talking about.
The children share their home
lifc,'and what thcy learn elsewhere.
In a post -Easter discussion, one
child informed Nuhn that "Jesus is
not dead anymore".
The loss of a child's father
sparked a discussion on death.
"If we are asked a question, we try
to answer. . We don't hush up a
child. We are these children's regu-
lar stand-bys, their emotional sup -
Four convicted in JP court.
EXETER = JP Doug Wedlake
handed town convictions in four
Highway Traffic Act infractions
and a bylaw contravention in Exet-
er court on Tuesday, May 3.
Thc careless driving charge
against Martin Overholt, Exeter,
was amended to read "start from a
stop position not in safety". Over-
holt had been involved in a minor
collision on April 7 when he
backed out of a private driveway
and collided with a vchicic parked
.across the road, slightly denting
the parked vehicle and doing no
damage to the truck he was driv
ing`.
Overholt paid his $53.75 fine
that day.
Brian W. Pridham, RR2 Staffa,
pleaded guilty to using the wrong_
plates. When stopped on Highway
83 on April 23, police discovered
that the plates on the 1980 black
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Trans Am he was driving had been
issued for a 1979 Olds Cutlass.
Pridham said that since he owned
the plate he had not known he still
had to registera change in vehicle.
He paid his S53.75 fine that day.
William T. Moffatt, Bolton, was
found guilty in his absence of
speeding on Highway 23 in Us -
borne township on March 7. He
was fined $47.25, and given 15 days
to pay.
Kevin J. Graham, RRI Strathroy,
unsuccessfully defended himself
against a charge of_passing.while
off the roadway. A police .officer
testified that he had observed Iwo
northbound vehicles on Highway 4
near Hensall on April 4 where the
highway is four lanes. As the high-
way narrowed to two lanes, the car
in the outside lane continued on the
shoulder of the road, speeding up to
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Graham said he had assumed as
the other vehicle was slowing, that
it would turn left into Hcnsall.
When it didn't, he decided the safer
course was to continue and pass
rather than brake and risk skidding
to pull in behind. He noted the lack
of any sign warning that the pave-
ment was going to end or the road
was to narrow.
Graham was found guilty and giv-
en 15 days to pay a fine of S53.75.
Gary W. Deitz, Hensall, who was ,
not in court, was found guilty of
two parking bylaw infractions. He
was ticketed twice, on December 7
and December 21, for parking in a
posted no parking zone on the north ,
side of,Mill St. in Hensall. Dcitz i
was fined $50 or five days in jail on
each count, and given 15 days t
pay.
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port while they are here", Nuhn re-
marked, adding "Children of • this
age don't know how to lie, and they
don't need to_ - they trust us."
Who pays
Approximately half of those who
have children at the day nursery pay
the •full fee of $13.50 per day..Re-
ceipts are given for tax purposes.
Others are charged according to
their ability to pay; some are com-
pletely subsidized. Nuhn said that
the latter also make their contribu-
tion to the centre; they will bring
in a big cake -to be shared by every-
one, or a box olgood used clothing
or toys their own children have out-
grown. "they do a lot for us",
Nuhn added.
If costs go above the daily fee, 80
percent of the excess for.the subsi-
dized spaces is charged to the goy-.
cmment, and the remaining 20 per-
cent is -picked up by the sponsoring
municipalities. Last year•Tucker-
smith taxpayers paid S7,266.29 of
the S50,205.09 deficit. The pro-
vincial subsidy amounted to
S39,355. and S3,583 came from
other municipalities.
There is a waiting list of 18 for
the Tuckersmith Day Nursery. All
applications for enrollment are
passed on to the provincial mini-
stry of community and social ser-
vices, who also decide on the_
amount to be paid in each case.
Lady Diana Nursery
The Lady Diana Nursery cares 1or
12 children who have special spe-
cial needs because of physical han-
dicaps such as spina bifida or cere-
bral palsy, and those who arc
developmentally handicapped.
The Lady Diana Nursery is open
in the mornings from 8:45 until
11:30. Children arc transported in
by bus' from as far away as Dun-
gannon.
The Lady Diana program is based
on the individual needs of each
child. Group expeditions arc made
to the Vanastra swimming ool and
on field trips. Every etlort. is in. do
for close communication between
parents and staff. Each' child has a
daily journal which goes back and
forth from school to hong. Staff
members make hone visits, and.
parents receive a monthly newslet-
ter from the nursery.
No bill to taxpayers
This facility operates at no charge
to the municipality. Last year the
provincial government contributed
567,080, and the Central Huron_
Community Living Association in
Godcrich paid the remaining S9,728
of the centre's I987 576,808 oper-
ating costs.
Remember early days'
The first supervisor, Karen A1cF-
wan-McC'onnel1. has good mento -
ries of her 10 years at Vanastra.
She recalls the initial struggle to
educate the community to. the fact
that -the relatively new concept of
rural day care was not just babysit-
ting but educational, and still re-
members the continual support re- -
ccived from clerk Jack McLachlan.
"We all did a lot of growing, a lot
of learning. 1 Was young, the idea
was young to both the council and
the public. I look back at the ex-
perience as very positive", -she said
recently.
Jim McIntosh, who was clerk of
Tuckersmith when thc centre
opened, also renicnibers the start-
up of -the day caro centre, accom-
plished despite the objections of a
minority who thought all mothers
should be in the home.
"The children of working families
are hotter there than anywhere. Pco-.
pie whose children are at the centre
appreciate the boost it gives their
children when they enter school", he-
said.
esaid.
The two Tuckersmith centres can
point to no better advertisement for
child care than their own record.
The money to keep happy and pro-
tected in the care of qualified person-.
net is well s 'nt.
'-�
7
CREATING - Ashley Garrett and Nathan Kuehl concentrate on their crea-
tions at craft time at the Tuckersmith Day Nursery.
Stephens Furniture will refund you an amount to the sales tax...
"It's just like paying no tax at all"....
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