The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

44 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday December 5, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Quality is the top priority at YMCA Child Care T he smell of banana bread baking. The happy sounds of kids playing. All of the stress of the day falls away as you walk into St. Luke's YMCA Child Care Centre -- and is replaced with a wonderful feeling of warmth and safety. Just like coming home. April White, supervisor of this centre and 15-year employee with YMCA Child Care, is justifiably proud of this day-time `home' for children and the quality program and care that the centre provides. But she knows that there is always room to improve and is excited by the learning that she has seen take place as part of the implementation of the first year of Halton's Quality First Program. The Quality First Program is only a few years old, and was launched in recognition of the need for a high level of quality care and education for young children and their families. The importance of the early years for the healthy development and long-term success of our children is well-known ­ and Quality First provides the tools, training and support needed to make this happen. "We knew that we already had a quality program, but Quality First provided our staff with a fresh outlook and new ideas," said April. "Quality First experts come in and it's not like they are `checking up' on us -- it feels more like a partnership. They evaluate our environment, how we interact with the kids, how professional we are, and more. Then they help us to set goals to try new things and improve -- and they come back to see how we are doing. We feel like we're part of the whole process and we know we won't fall back, because we are always moving forward." April's favourite example of the positive impact of the program is about a concept called `many.' Quality First trainers saw the Y's kids playing with two different sets of blocks at a time and asked them to not just provide two different types, but `many'. "Our staff were concerned that this would be confusing for everyone and that there would just be a big mess every day, but we tried it and could not believe how well it worked." "When we bought lots of new types of blocks and put them all out at once, the kids loved it. They extended their play to creative new levels because of the variety of tools that they had, and they now build amazing creations all the time. We see less behavioural issues, because the kids are not concerned about having enough of a certain block, and they play together more constructively and socialize really well. Quality First also gave us new ideas for labeling the blocks with both pictures and words, so clean-up is not an issue and the kids love to help." April said that the concept of `many' has been helpful in other areas too, like dramatic play, where they are encourage to always maintain a `house' theme as well as another theme. "Now if we have a construction theme running, someone will go to the `house' and at the end of the day, the construction worker will come home and the play is extended." Finding the right child care for your family is an important decision. Look for the Quality First poster when you visit a centre to ensure a high quality environment and program for your child. For more information about YMCA Child care, go to www.ymcaofoakville.com, or call the Y at 905-845-3417. Fee assistance is available through the YMCA Strong Kids Campaign. The YMCA of Oakville is a charitable association open to all, dedicated to providing lifelong opportunities for health enhancement and personal growth. -- Submitted by the YMCA of Oakville Taking on more can slow us down, says CFUW dinner speaker The Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) -- Oakville will welcome well-known Canadian cultural commentator, Christopher Dewdney as a speaker at its dinner meeting on Monday, Dec. 8. A prolific author, Dewdney will speak on his most recent non-fiction book, Sole of the World: Unlocking the Secrets of Time, which outlines the author's life and activities over a nine-month period, including his metaphysical musings. Dewdney blends science, and mathematics elegantly with literature and poetry, and recommends we all shake up our daily routine, or take on new projects in order to slow down time -- or at least our perception of how quickly it is passing by. Dewdney lives in Toronto and teaches creative writing at York University, but has also taught in creative writing departments and served as writer-in-residence at many Canadian universities. The meeting is being held at the Oakville Golf Club (1154 Sixth Line) and is open to members only. To become a member, contact Sarah Sims at cfuwoakville@yahoo.ca, or 905-815-1130.