It Takes a Community to Raise a Child

CARING MATTERS
Published Thursday December 27th, 2007
Appeared on page C8

I am not a local Frederictonian. I am a transplant who made this wonderful city home about 10 years ago. When my family first moved here I had a very young child and was not working.
The Internet was not the daily tool it is today -- 10 years is forever in the world of technology -- and I found myself wondering where and how to meet other families with young children.

Often times it is through work that we make our connections to a new community, but at the time, I didn't even have that. I would go to the park and the wading pool and other local hangouts for people with young children, yet I did not have a link to the community as a whole.
I am sure I missed out on a lot of opportunities to become involved in activities for my child.
My family eventually met other young families, and we have come to think of Fredericton as home and as a great place to raise a family.

My story is a familiar one to newcomers to Fredericton.

Recently a young mother of two moved to Fredericton from Vancouver. She started looking for resources available to her and her young family. After considerable research, she realized how much easier it would be to have all the resources linked to one online site. In January 2007, that online resource was officially launched as fredkid.com, an online resource for parents with kids up to 10 years old. But it is so much more than just an online resource.

The project eventually became a part of the non-profit organization Healthy Families, Healthy Communities Association. The group has more than 60 local parent volunteers. The organization aims to maintain an online resource for parents and caregivers in New Brunswick and to provide access to family-oriented resources in the Greater Fredericton Area.

Other goals include connecting families with young children, both online and through regular community events, educate parents on hot topics related to parenting, promote preservation of the environment in the family and offer family-oriented events focused on healthy, active living.
In addition to the online component, several activities are hosted to let parents and kids meet face-to-face. The healthy family association made a commitment to organizing an educational, an artistic and an active event each year. This year these include the fredkid Artxtravaganza, a series of free art lessons for families, and the fredkid Family Learning Series, a series of four free lectures for parents. The association is planning a Geo-caching event.

The question has been posed to the group: "How can I access this resource without a computer?"
Fredkid hold a fair designed for that purpose. It's a day-long event filled with fun activities and interesting events for families. The event is free, making it accessible to all parents in the Fredericton area. More than 5,000 attended this year. This year, it will be held May 10. The organizing committee has doubled the space and hopes for 8,000 attendees.

If you are new to Fredericton, or if you have children aged 0-10 and would like to get to meet others with children in that age group, check out www.fredkid.com This is a marvelous resource for local families or for anyone planning to move to our area.

The old adage that it takes a community to raise a child can truly be applied in this case.