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

3 Page 16 Halton Hills This Week, Wedriésday ‘January 5, 1964 ° Parent - to - Parent Determining | a child’s allowance By Sharon E. McKay Special to HHTW 1993, - well thank good- ness that’s over. It’s a new dawn and chances are, what is coming up with the sun are new financial commitments uke paying off the Visa bill). Those of us born in the 50s and 60s‘are considered the financially adrift generation. We're the “don’t-pay-until- they-come-and-get-us” bunch. It’s a philosophy that has landed more than a few of us in the soup. We want better for our children. Let’s talk allowance. There are several “ “theo- ties” floating around about childrens’ allowances. 1) Children should be given a pre-set amount of money. It should not be bound to behavior or house- hold duties. Household duties are the responsibility of everyone on the home and just as dad is not “paid” for cutting the grass, Billy is not “paid” for taking out the trash. (Ah, yes, the Iron Rice Bowl theory. But, in our society we expect to be paid for our efforts. Would dad go to the office for free? How does a kid make a bit extra?) 2) Children are given a base amount of money, usu- ally an amount that would not meet the child’s needs, added chores are allotted a monetary value. For exam- ple, allowance is $2, shovel- ing the snow - $3, cleaning the kitty litter daily - 25¢, and so (With this approach, some would say the message is - only jobs that are paid for are worth doing. Families can spend more time haggling than doing the chores.) 3) Children are not given Sharon McKay an allowance but their finan- cial needs are met based on the family’s ability to buy. For example, “If we have the money, you-can go to the movie.” (This “method” makes it impossible for a kid to plan, to save and a child -may be reduced to begging and nagging.) Note: In the 90’s many families are having enough problems just getting food on the table. If this is the case, children may be encouraged to make money by doing chores for the neighbors, babysitting, delivering papers, and so on. So - giving out ye ol’ allowance ish’t as easy as it seems. There are no right or wrong answers here. (Run from anyone who has the answer to any parenting issue!) But with the allowance, we are handing a message to our children. It’s worth a moment to thinkl about what that message should be. low much? ; Spare us all the line, “When I was your age, I got 50¢ a week.” I remember putting ten cents in the Coke machine and my Archie comics cost 12. (How’s that for dating myself.) City kids often fare better than’ country kids. A bench- mark, however, seems to be that a child in the 90’s receives a buck/loonie for every year of life. Ten.dollars for a 10 year old - does that seem like a lot? It depends. A city kid may pay for his or her bus pass while a country kid probably takes a school bus. My son receives $10 a week - a whopping amount compared to his best buddy until his pal found out that two lunches a week, plus school supplies had to come out of that amount. Yikes! Bottom line - before you decide on how much your child should receive, look at what he or she is expected to use the allowance for? Is the expected to buy birthday pre- sents for friends? Clothes? All entertainment? Lunch? Books? Save for a bond in November? What to do with the money? Having a bank account is great fun but if your kids are little, consider the “bottle system”. Take three bottles. Mark one “savings”, the second “mad money” and the third “gifts”. My four year old takes his precious three loonies and carefully deposits one loonie in each jar. (I initially gave him four loonies - one per year of his life but the fourth loonie was just too much pressure - what jar to put it in?) Nothing about parenting is easy - not even handing out money. My grandpa might have had it right. He’d just reach into his pocket and whatever was there m brothers and I would split. We usually cleaned up. Be careful with medication Rational use of prescrip- tion medicines is your responsibility. It means using medicines only when necessary, making sure that you take your medicine when your doctor decides it is required, and taking it exactly as direct Remember that minor aches and pains are nature’s signals to us that we-have not been taking care of our- selves, getting enough sleep or eating properly. Often, simple measures (without using medication) can be taken to correct the problem. A few minutes of rest can help a headache disappear, a glass of warm milk or cocoa or deep breathing exercises will help you relax when you cannot fall asleep. If you visit more than one doctor, make sure that each one knows about all the medicines you are taking. Never take large doses of any prescription medicine over a long period of time unless your doctor has told you to do so. Many medi- cines can be habit-forming Halton Hills This Week Classifieds... Get Results 873-2254 Carre 354 Guelph St. Unit 27 FLOOR FASHIONSLTD Georgetown, Ont. 877-9896 877-1666 = 26 Guelph Street (905) 873-1655 |Georgetown, Ont. and can lead to dependency. On the other hand, do not stop taking your medicine as soon as the symptoms disap- pear, unless your doctor approves. To prevent symp- toms from recurring, always take your medicine until it is finished. Follow your pharmacist’s directions for special storage conditions or shaking before use to ensure that each dose retains full potency required for the duration of your ther- apy. The bathroom is not the. best place to store medi- cines. Ideally, they should be kept in a cool, dry place. Never take medicine in the presence of small chil- dren as they will want.to fol- low your example. For more information, talk to your doctor, pharmacist or call Acton Social Services and Information Centre at 853-3310. We are located at 19 Willow St. North, Acton. The first school-managed day care in Ontario will be located at Ecole Sacre Coeur in Georgetown. Ron Chartrand, principal of the school, will anxiously await the tots’ a so he can turn them into fully computer- ritetate elementary school stu- to by Oksana Buhel/HHTW Cailinuter revolution at Ecole Sacre Coeur By Oksana Buhel Fear of computers will not be an issue for Ron Chartrand’s 112 children. “This will be a model school,” Chartrand, princi- pal of Ecole Sacre Coeur in Georgetown, insisted. The school is one of 300 in Canada which belongs to a telecommunication net- work — School-Net. Each teaching area in the school has a modem outlet, which will enable students to communicate with the other 299 schools. York University in Toronto is the site base, Chartrand explained, and from there, “we are connected to the world.” The outlets for the modem were installed dur- ing the initial stages of construction of the new Ecole Sacre Coeur, which is not completely -finished. “T told them to put the out- lets in while they were putting up the building,” Chartrand said. “it makes more sense than putting the walls up, then knocking them down to put in the outlets.” Chartrand added, this construction method may be reflective of the dominant role computers will play in schools. “We're preparing for the future,” Chartrand explained. Within the school, chil- dren will be able to benefit from Gram-R, a new french language grammar and spell-checker. Chartrand admits the con- cept of a-grammar and spell-checker is a “can of. worms.” Parents and teach- ers have expressed con- cerns children will rely too heavily on the computer program and not learn on their own. Chartrand insist- the program only under- lines problems, it does not provide answers. “We will still teach reading, writing and arithmetic. Gram-R is current used in Québéc school: “Hopefully a ff nays it here in a year,” le The project is sine held up by the absence of com- puters. Chartrand produced a stack of forms indicating the computers have been ordered, but the shipment has not yet arrived. “I know they’ll get here,” Chartrand explained. “I’m just waiting right now.” (There is one computer, located in Chartrand’s office, which the students ). < & & Presentation and writing tools have been selected for the incoming computers and teachers will have a selection of hundreds of software Programs in the fe) Education Software Services Catalogue. - Chartrand is also work- ing on a personal computer project which will benefit everyone associated with Ecole Sacre Coeur ~ a 24- hour bulletin board service (BBS). Parents will be able to call in to leave messages for their children, students will be able to call in for homework assignments if they are sick and members of the public can call for lists as sou and upcom- ing ev To a access the BBS, stu- dents and parents will have to use a modem feature on their own computer. “It’s like with a radio — years ago no one had one, and now everyone has one,” he explained. Chartrand is sure in the near future, “everyone will have one (a computer).” The BBS will also list hundreds of software pro- grams which can help stu- dents in weak subject areas. Chartrand is current- ly searching through thou- sands of programs to deter- mine which are most bene- ficial. He is also translating the entire program into french. “I’m not inventing any- thing,” Chartrand said modestly. “I’m just push- ing. If the kids want it bad enough. and they’re learn- ing — why not?” School-aged children will not.be the only ones learning at Ecole Sacre Coeur. By the end of January, or beginning of February, 32 tots will be attending the first school- managed day care in Ontario. Credit Valley By Frank Anthony Special to HHTW To counter the winter blahs, take one of the courses being offered by the Credit Valley Artisans. Try some- thing new in the new year to get you out of the house, for a change in pace and perhaps awaken a hidden talent. All of the courses are appropriate for beginners. George Gastle will teach wood carving related to carv- ing birds. Glynnis Milligan will be instructing the popu- lar adult pottery course and usan Kerr will again enthuse her students with the basic techniques for creating Artisans beat winter blahs and assembling a decorative stained glass project. If you have a yearning to learn how to handweave, then join Else Staal Nielsen as she gives basic instruction in weaving. If you want a different and a fun weekend, there are workshops for basketry and “off the press” print-makin, Lynn Kennedy teaches the basket-making and Bev Didur leads you through the print making process. ‘e two courses for chiles alsd: Bev Didur will instruct children in drawing and Mary-Ann Martin will introduce children to pottery. Registration for any of these courses is by mail, but must reach the. Credit Valley Artisans no later than one week prior to the first class. Don’t delay, some of these courses start in January and a. minimum number of regis- trants is required for the courses to run. Also some fill quickly because the class size is small. Registration forms are available at the library in Georgetown and also at the Halton Hills Recreation and Parks Department. You can also get more specific infor- mation on these courses by calling the registrar, Karen King, at 905-873-2018.