Child-care program aims to unite seniors and toddlers

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

An unconventional approach – unparalleled in Strathmore – with emphasis on enhancing skills through a curricular-based child-care program, intends to connect local seniors and preschoolers in only a few months time and cater to demand.
Following a partnership between Calgary-based for-profit company Kids U and AgeCare, children and seniors are provided with the opportunity to build brain development and brain functions by promoting efforts to work together.
“What happens, from a seniors standpoint, is that they’re starting to lose a lot of their executive functioning skills and the children are building theirs, so the material basis that they use are very similar,” said Anil Karim, executive director for Kids U.
“The common misconception is that seniors are going to come and they’re only there to teach children. But there’s a lot of activities where they can cooperate and build things together, and it helps both the seniors and the child.”
Based on two philosophies, the Montessori method and the Reggio Emilia method, the program combines both curriculums – day care and preschool.
To compliment the brain-based learning, the rooms in the Strathmore facility, located next to Sagewood Seniors Community, are dedicated to either right-brain learning or left-brain learning.
Through fabrics, mirrors, colours, lights, and natural materials, children, aged three, four, and five years old, will have a chance to stimulate their creativity and play organically. Other rooms are structured, with focus on logic, numbers, words, and sciences. Karim said he was approached by numerous Strathmore families, who struggle with making a decision between child-care and preschool.
“A lot of times child-care and preschools are treated very differently and child care programs go through basic child-care needs of a child and some early childhood development,” Karim said. “Parents put their children in for 10 to 12 hours a day and that’s the type of care that they’re expecting. When they go to a preschool they go for two to three hours a day and they’re only expecting that the child is going to learn, and so it creates this divide between learning versus care. Kids U, bridges both together.”
According to Karim, the program is dedicated to developing a child’s five developmental domains: fine motor, gross motor, social and emotional, language, and cognitive. Upon building confidence in these areas, the child will then be paired with a senior to engage in numerous activities including reading, working on a puzzle, or playing games. However, the staff at Sagewood Seniors Community said the program will benefit the seniors in more ways than improving their skills.
“A lot of time when residents are isolated or don’t have any visitors, they develop loneliness or boredom,” said Michelle Pham, general manager for Sagewood Seniors Community.
“Our goal is trying to reduce that, and there is a lot of joy residents have when they’re around small children. Just watching them play, doing an activity, or having them read to the residents or vice versa, is a huge benefit to the resident.”
The Strathmore centre will be Kids U’s fifth facility, and will be one of two such projects partnering with AgeCare – the other one being in south Calgary. Kids U caters to over 400 children and has another 150 kids on waiting lists. In Strathmore, the child-care centre expects to accommodate 55 children. Currently waiting on their permit, the centre, which is already built, is anticipated to open its doors in September.