Category: Motherhood

Getting Your Child Ready (Emotionally & Practically) for Back-to-School: A Parent’s Guide

The Ashley RhapsodyLeave a comment

As the summer sun begins to set and the school bells start to chime, parents find themselves in the midst of back-to-school preparations once again. With a wealth of experience in the world of education, having worked as an Education Assistant for six years and working in ministry with children across the world for nearly two decades, I understand the importance of not just the academic aspect but also the emotional readiness for the upcoming school year. This blog aims to provide you with valuable insights and tips to ensure that your child not only excels academically but also embarks on this journey with emotional resilience and enthusiasm.

1. Establish a Pre-School Routine

One of the most effective ways to help your child prepare for the transition back to school is by gradually reintroducing routines into their daily life. During the summer break, schedules often become more relaxed, and bedtimes might shift. Start implementing a consistent routine a couple of weeks before school begins. Gradually adjust bedtimes, meal schedules, and other daily activities to align with the school routine. This will help your child’s body and mind adapt smoothly to the changes and reduce the shock of suddenly having to wake up early for school.

2. Connect with Teachers and School Staff

Building a positive relationship between your child and their teachers is crucial for their emotional well-being in the classroom. Before the school year starts, reach out to your child’s teachers to discuss any specific needs or concerns your child might have. This could include information about learning styles, social preferences, or any challenges they faced in the previous school year. When teachers are aware of your child’s unique needs, they can provide appropriate support and create a more inclusive classroom environment.

3. Engage in Conversations

Encourage open conversations with your child about their feelings regarding the upcoming school year. Ask them about their expectations, hopes, and any worries they might have. Listen attentively and validate their emotions. Reassure them that it’s normal to feel a mix of excitement and nervousness before starting school. Sharing your own positive experiences from your school days can help ease their worries and make them feel more connected to you.

Back-to-School Shopping with Metropolis at Metrotown: Where Style Meets Community Support

Back-to-school shopping isn’t just about finding the latest trends and supplies; it’s also an opportunity to give back to the community while preparing for the academic year ahead. Metropolis at Metrotown, BC’s largest shopping centre, has brought together shopping convenience and community support in a unique and inspiring way.

From now until September 4, Metropolis at Metrotown is hosting the “Spend & Get” shopping incentive. When you spend $275 on back-to-school essentials, you’ll receive a $25 gift certificate to Metropolis at Metrotown and a free lunch box. Even more heartwarming, for every “Spend & Get” redemption, $2 will be donated to Coats for Kids, a charitable program by the Rotary Club of Burnaby Metrotown. This initiative not only helps you prepare for the school year but also contributes to a worthy cause.

Visitors to Metropolis at Metrotown also have a chance to win big! Until September 4, you can enter to win a $500 gift certificate by scanning the contest QR code located at the captivating back-to-school art exhibit. This exhibit, displayed in the Grand Court, features Instagram-worthy sculptures made from colorful back-to-school materials. It’s not just shopping; it’s an artistic experience that resonates with the essence of the back-to-school season.

The back-to-school excitement at Metropolis at Metrotown runs through September 10, 2023. With its vast array of over 330 stores, convenient Skytrain access, and free parking, the shopping centre provides everything you need for a successful back-to-school shopping spree. Plan your visit to explore the variety of stores, enjoy the art exhibit, and make your contribution to the community through your shopping.

As the new school year approaches, take the time to prepare your child emotionally for the journey ahead. Combine this with a memorable back-to-school shopping experience at Metropolis at Metrotown, where style meets community support. Together, let’s make this transition a positive and inspiring one for both you and your child.

To learn more about the back-to-school shopping experience and events at Metropolis at Metrotown, please visit www.metropolisatmetrotown.com

How to Play with Your Toddler (Even When You’d Rather Be Watching Bluey)!

The Ashley RhapsodyLeave a comment

Hey there fellow moms! As much as we love our little ones, there are times when the thought of playing with them just seems like a Herculean task. Maybe it’s because we’re tired or stressed or just plain bored. Whatever the reason, the truth is that playing with our toddlers is important for their development and our relationship with them. So, how do we engage in play when we absolutely do not feel like it? Let’s explore!

First of all, let’s acknowledge that it’s okay to not always feel like playing. We’re human, and sometimes we need a break. But if we want to be intentional about our parenting and build strong connections with our kids, we need to find ways to engage with them even when we’re not feeling it.

One way to do this is to let our kids take the lead in play. We may not be in the mood to play dolls or cars, but if our child is excited about it, we can use their enthusiasm to fuel our own. Ask them questions about the game they’re playing or the characters they’re acting out. Get curious about their ideas and let their creativity spark your own.

Another trick is to set a timer for playtime. Commit to playing with your child for a set amount of time, say 15 or 30 minutes, and then give yourself permission to move on to something else. This can take the pressure off and help you stay present in the moment. Plus, your child will feel valued and loved by having your undivided attention for that short period of time.

If you’re really struggling to get into the play mindset, try incorporating elements that you enjoy. Maybe you love music, so you can sing and dance along with your child. Or perhaps you like to be outdoors, so you can play a game of tag or hide-and-seek in the backyard. Find ways to make playtime enjoyable for both you and your child.

Finally, let’s talk about the beloved TV show, Bluey. We all know that sometimes our kids want to watch a show or movie instead of playing, and that’s okay too. But what if we could make screen time a little more interactive? Bluey is a great show for this because it’s all about imaginative play and family relationships. Watch an episode with your child and then try acting out one of the scenes together. You might be surprised at how much fun you have!

So, there you have it! Playing with our toddlers may not always be our top choice, but it’s a crucial part of parenting. By letting our kids take the lead, setting a timer, incorporating our own interests, and even using TV shows like Bluey, we can make playtime more enjoyable and meaningful for everyone involved. Let’s show our little ones that we love them, even when we’re not feeling particularly playful.

Thanks for reading, and happy parenting!

Top 5 Fall Family Activities (that aren’t scary & won’t break the bank) around YVR

The Ashley RhapsodyLeave a comment

I love all that Fall has to offer and I also love the cutesy side of Halloween. I also love not spending all of my money trying to show my kid a good time, can I get an amen?  If you are looking for fun (not scary and not super costly) activities for your family this October, I have got you covered. 

Loft Country Farms

We visited Loft Country Farms for the first time this year and it was SO much fun! Honestly, I didn’t expect there would be so much to do and see, but we probably could have spent the whole day there. Pony rides, panning for gems, petting zoo, gourmet hot dogs and desserts, a western shootout, wagon rides, tractor rides, and of course the pumpkin patch. As a mom with a potty training 3 year old, I also really appreciated the cleanliness of their washrooms (let’s be real: this is something I appreciate with or without a kid lol). 

Online Pricing:
General Admission (Ages 3 and up) – $13.50 
Family Admission (2 parents and their children) – $54

They also have season passes available. 

Location: 2640 248 St, Langley, BC V4W 2R2

Laity Pumpkin Patch

It’s been a couple years since we have visited Laity Pumpkin Patch so we’re really excited to check it out again this year. 

Public Admission Rates

Weekend/Holiday Rate: $12.00 each (ages 3 and up) – incl. GST & ticket fees

Weekday Rate: $9.00 each (ages 3 and up) – incl. GST
(please note: Mon, Oct 10th and Fri, Oct 21st are holiday rates)

Ages 2 and under – Free (with paying adult)

South location: 12725 Laity St, Maple Ridge, BC V4R 2P2

North location: 21145 128 Ave, Maple Ridge, BC V4R 2R9

Art Knapps Surrey:

This one was a cute little surprise! You can buy pumpkins, visit their candy story, ride their train, and even partake in some mini-golf! The train rides are only $3.50 a person, and run every half-hour. They do have some “scary-ish” decorations (my kiddo was not into the giant sparkly purple spider… but it was all pretty tame). 

Location: 4391 King George Blvd, Surrey, BC V3Z 1G6

Circus Osorio

Okay this is not fall specific, but a super fun outing around town this October. Tickets are $25 for adults, and each adult ticket comes with 2 free kids tickets (under 10). October 13, 2022 – October 17, 2022

Location: Coquitlam B.C. Coquitlam Centre – 2929 Barnet Highway, Coquitlam BC V3B 5R5

Arts Nursery Scarecrow Stroll: 

This is such a great FREE activity to enjoy with the kiddos (I mean, “Free” if you don’t buy yourself a ton of houseplants and pumpkins). 60+ Scarecrows to see, a pumpkin patch, and of course so many beautiful plants. We went during the week and there was an Ice Cream truck on site, but word on the street is the weekend has live music and food trucks. Open from 9:00am-6:00pm Mon-Sat, and 9am-5pm Sundays from Sep 24-Oct 31

Location: 8940 192nd Street, Surrey, BC, Canada, V4N 3W8

If you want to stay up to date on fun family activities around Greater Vancouver Area make sure to follow me on Instagram & TikTok @theashleyrhapsody

If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Your Mother

The Ashley Rhapsody3 Comments

I thought becoming a mother would redeem “Mother’s Day” for me, but my feelings around it have not really changed. 

“Mother’s Day” is a rough one for me. 

I don’t see my mother anymore. I haven’t seen her since I was a few months pregnant. Our relationship began to deteriorate when my parent’s got divorced, got worse through my teenage years, and finally imploded in my thirties. 

I know my mother did her best. I know she loves me. I love her. I did not create these boundaries in our relationship because I don’t love her. 

I haven’t spoken about motherhood on this platform much. I’ve hesitated because anytime I’ve ever mentioned my own mother in the past, even in veiled references, it turned into a fight between her and I. 

You know that expression, “if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all?” Well, I feel like, in my writing life, the expression is “if you can’t write about your mother, you can’t write about anything at all.” Not because every story is about her. Not because I have all of these terrible things to say, but because now that I have become a mother myself, I’ve discovered that mother’s are woven into everything. I can’t avoid writing about my mother, anymore than I can avoid being reminded of her. Mother’s, as a people group, shape all of us; even the absence of a mother. It is not merely “Mother’s Day” that rattles at the gates of our emotions, but it’s the everyday things that either remind us how utterly helpless we’d be without them, or how desperately we long for a mother-figure. 

It is for these reasons I haven’t written in over a year. I haven’t allowed myself to write about motherhood, in fear I would reveal my own mother-wound and further unravel pieces of myself.

But I am no longer just someone’s daughter, I am now a mother myself, and I want room to talk about my own motherhood. I want wide open spaces to express the beautiful, messy work of parenting without feeling like I’m betraying the system.

So, I give myself permission to acknowledge “mothers;” my own, myself, and all the spaces in between. 

A Gentle Birth: Suubi’s Birth Story

The Ashley Rhapsody4 Comments

“How has your ‘Gentle Project’ been going since the baby, Ashley?” I am condescendingly asked. “Are you up to your eyeballs in cloth diapers and compost?” Serves me right for being drawn to such smart ass friends. 

Yes, since having baby, my blogging for the Gentle Project has taken a bit of a back seat. I arrogantly thought babies just slept and ate all day so surely I would be able to commit to writing… but alas…

With that said, part of my Gentle Project was also about being gentle with myself; my heart, my emotions, and my body. The season of pregnancy, the experience of childbirth, and my survival through postpartum has indeed been a crash course in self-care and gentleness. In that spirit, I wanted to use my final Gentle Project post to share about my birth experience, what I have learned about self-care and the power of gentle thoughts.

Not-So-Gentle Birth Ideas

“Gentle” was never a word I associated with childbirth. In fact, I had never met anyone who, in my opinion, was more afraid of childbirth than me. Fear was a HUGE struggle for me long before I was even pregnant. Television, movies, and other people’s horror stories contributed to me believing that birth was a nightmare women had to survive, as opposed to a natural activity our bodies knew how to perform.

Fast forward to postpartum-me and I can confidently say I enjoyed my childbirth experience. I would even go as far as using the term “gentle.” My pregnancy wasn’t perfect, my birthing experience wasn’t perfect, but I did indeed enjoy it. 

My running joke during pregnancy was that I felt great until I visited a doctor and they told me all the things that were potentially wrong with me. With every doctors visit we would learn of something new detected in my blood or something seen in a sonogram, I would panic, and then the next appointment they would say they couldn’t find any problems… so I never knew what to expect, other than that I was expecting.

I started reading and researching about pregnancy and childbirth, even though my doctor told me never to Google anything ever. What can I say? I’m a rebel. A lot of what I read was SO negative and scary, I started understanding why my doctor discouraged me from my internet research, but in fairness, the doctors were just as scary. 

Hypnobirthing and Other Gentle Things

Somewhere around the 12 week mark, a dear friend of mine asked me if I had ever heard of hypnobirthing, and encouraged me to listen to a podcast from Russel Brand (yes, that Russel Brand) where he interviews a woman by the name of Katharine Graves about Hypnobirthing. 

There were three factors in me having a gentle pregnancy and birth: a supportive partner, my “doula” friend, and hypnobirthing! When I first heard about Hypnobirthing I summoned images of a stage performer hypnotizing audience members into clucking like chickens and embarrassing themselves. Then as I started learning more about it I summoned images of crunchy hippies lighting serenity candles, and braiding their armpit hair. I remained a skeptic for a long time, even when seeing it’s benefits during pregnancy, but after coming out on the other side of childbirth, I’m happy to report there was nothing crunchy, hippy, or stage performer about it. I could go on and on about what hypnobirthing is, but that would be a different (really long) blog post. If you want more info go to the experts here. 

Upon the discovery of hypnobirthing I immediately changed my approach to birth. Instead of being an experience I had to “endure,” I started looking at it as the amazing life-changing, life-starting experience it is. I started shutting people down when they’d see my swollen belly and feel inclined to tell me about their traumatic labour experience (everyone from the well meaning ladies at work, to random strangers in the grocery store. I also grabbed a stranger-woman’s boob in the grocery store when she grabbed my pregnant belly… but that’s a story for another time. Well, actually, that’s pretty much the whole story. I’m not into unsolicited touch. The end.) I stopped watching TV shows when birth was being depicted as a screaming, bloody, horror show, and I was also careful with how I spoke about pregnancy and birth. 

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The day before I went into labour (featuring cute pregnant belly: great to compliment, not recommended to touch without asking.)

Funny enough, I found a lot of people struggled with me speaking positively about birth. Many felt inclined to “take me down a peg” when I spoke about what I enjoyed about pregnancy or what I looked forward to in birth. I quickly learned that complaining was far more socially acceptable than being positive. 

Suubi’s birth was an amazing experience. It did not go as I planned, but I was prepared for my plans to change and to go with the flow… so in that way, it went according to plan. 

I planned and hoped for a short labour, no drugs, and natural delivery. That was the dream. I was hoping to be like those women who feel a sneeze coming on and then whoop, a baby.

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One’s high on gas, the other one is high on life.

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My birth team, clearly having a blast.

I laboured for a few more hours than expected (48 more hours actually), and after successfully dilating to seven centimetres, ended up having an “emergency” cesarian section (“emergency” is in quotes because it did not feel like an emergency; we calmly came to the conclusion that c-section was the best route, and 8 hours later, there we were). KmyXVl2BTqy1Mbk7oTJC2Q

Though Suubi’s birth turned out a lot different than I planned, anything I was able to have some control over went beautifully. My time labouring at home was peaceful and quiet. The people who surrounded me were positive, encouraging, and empowering. I listened to music, cracked jokes, and felt an absolute gentleness around the whole experience.

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Hypnobirthing helped me not only in pregnancy, and labour, it also helped me during postpartum. It taught me how to speak and think kindly about my body, my feelings, and my baby. It taught me to be  prepared with close friends to support me and check in on me. Most importantly, it assured me that I know what’s best for myself and my child, and that I am allowed to advocate for my own care.

Living Gently 

I recognize, statistically, that the experience of birth for many women can be quite scary and dangerous. I recognize the privilege I have to live where I do, with the medical care I have, in the skin I have. It is not lost on me the absolute blessing [miracle] it is to have a healthy baby and an incredibly supportive husband.

I wrote this post out probably about 14 times. I was meant to post this in December but kept second guessing myself. I didn’t want to feel like I was rubbing salt in the wound for anyone. I didn’t want to trigger those who have struggled. 

But I also think about pre-pregnancy me. I think about the YEARS I spent fearing something that turned out to be one of the best experiences I have ever had. I know how much I needed to hear from somebody that birth could be gentle and not terrifying. I know that not everyone’s experience can be guaranteed, but if I have learned anything from this year of The Gentle Project it’s that there is no harm in attempting to live more kindly, and more gently, no matter how imperfectly.