40 — Sunday, September 30, 1990 ~ North Shore News

WELL, SAY, it’s practical-
ly expected of us old
codgers, isn’t it? A little
carping? | mean, what’s the
use of all these birthdays if
we can’t exploit them once
in a while?

There isn’t one of us who
doesn’t deplore some aspect of the
way children are being brought
up, or the degradation of the
English language, or the decline in
moral standards, or the shocking
brevity of beach wear, or the ap-
paliing use of stimulants of vary-

. ing degrees of danger. And

' ensconced on our lofty pinnacle of

' accumulated years we air our sev-
eral dissatisfactions to each other.

Sometimes we spill over. Like
now. We expect to be labelled old
hat and out of touch, that's OK.
We just think that that’s a good
old hat, stitl worth wearing some
days. instruction,

We've been exposed lately to a Inspirational my foot.

Eleanor
Godley

E - :

THE VINTAGE YEARS

i kindergarten.
' I don’t have to say any more,
t you've read it all just as I have.

: degree of militancy of the parent
‘ Protesters. When we carpers went
-_ . ’ to school, the principal in his of-
fice was never questioned. Like-
wise the minister of education.
Jnviolable. What he said, went.
® . We are therefore aghast. next cold morning. That

Frances Bula, in the Vancouver parent power 53 years ago.
Sun’s special weekly supplement,
tevealed a startling breadth and
depth to this intransigent parental
, , revolution. It astonished me to
read her descriptions of
Manoeuvres devised and end-runs
undertaken. Squadrons are being
Positioned to roust incumbent
: schoolboard members. Masses of
sy : money are marshalled to seek
: legal advice. And all of it so that
: some little kids can be put in the
: care of schoolteachers while Mum
and Dad work their fingers to the

bone to maintain the set-up.

Bang. She left.
And left my sacrosanct

hours. The mural was used

daycare is

or centres?

child, observing

; The only really aggressive of the time together can be spent
’ parent I ever had to confront as a
: rookie schoolteacher scared me so

. thoroughly 1 knuckled under on
the spot. And she, too, was going
headlong at the education
ministry, though I was her trembl-

. ing flesh-and-blood target.

It was my first school, | was 19
years old, in charge of 14
- children, well, 13 children and one
. young man, in the bush. Six of
Ve : these children came from one

family, and it was their mother

. who crashed open the door of my
little log schoolhouse on an after-
noon early in my first month on
the job. She was a red-headed
virago whose kids, nearly half the
school’s population, surely tipped
the balance of power in that situa-

~ tion,

The burden of her refrain was
short and sweet. Cut out all this
crap about cave-men. One of her
kids was in Grade 5 — actually,
one of her kids was in almost
every grade in the school, but

. Grade 5, according to the shining

new revolutionary curriculum in

- which my training had abounded,

/ was to start the year on a rather
romantic preview of the evolution

{ , we of man. We had had some chats,

‘ Emily and 1, about apes and caves
and tree travel, and we had
started a mural together.

Murals were new in 1937. big
und new, and we did them for
almost ¢ yihing except
arithmetic. Emity had had some

little pleasure, | thought, in sket-
ching with me this rendition of the
past. } was still full of the inspira-
tional spirit of my Normal Schoo!

‘ very persistent school thing here Her terrifying mum blazed in
on the North Shore and other the doorway, letting me know

ay places. A huge brouhaha has boil- very clearly that she and her fami-
ed up over the decision of the ly had been brought up on the

‘ Education Ministry to control the words of the Bible and as all good
. entry of youngsters to Anglicans should, they believed

that was the word of God and
meant exactly what it said. God
made man and woman and there
‘ What is stunning about it is the was to be no more heretical
nonsense corrupting her children.

riculum in shreds. I shook for

Start the oil-drum stove on the

But with the current difficulty,
why hasn’t someone jumped into
the obvious breech to fill the big
need? Daycare is scarce, therefore
valuable, therefore
people are dying to have some, so
why not set up a daycare centre,

One can be with one’s own
the progress
through the crucial years, happily
contented with her/his peers, and
fill a general need at the same
time. It doesn't require all that
space or all that equipment, a lot

Pemberton Plaza (next to Save-On-Foods)
Open 7 days a week

984-3434

9 locations to serve you in the lower mainland

LIFESTYLES

Sometimes old hat
Is still worth wearing

out-of-doors, desperate parents
would probably be happy to do-
nate materials and pay handsome-
ly for the privilege.

Give up the complicating city
job, change the chiid’s life, enrich
your own, Carp number one,

Number two carp is being jostl-
ed for positions by three, four,
five, and on and on, but we've
chosen television programming.
it’s most vicious aspect, and this
is not just affecting vulnerable
unsophisticated kids, is the visible
viciousness it thrives on.

Even if we watch nothing but
news programs, we are assaulted
so regularly by violent scenes we
become numbed to the impact.

How else could one account for
children watching the murder of
another child and not running
shrieking from that place? They
had watched murder before,
enacted on the television, in the
name of entertainment, it wasn’t
real.

We've for weeks watched
masked men paralyze two com-
munities, masked men with
weapons accompanied by women
and small children. We've scen
rocks thrown at heads .and win-
dows smashed, arsenals convened,
but then, this is just an extension
of the pictures we see constantly
of murderous exchanges in South
Africa and in Palestine and in
Ireland, where children carry arms
and lie in ambush.

We're increasingly optimistic
about the philosophy of world
reform. Surely some of that can
be applied to the disease of TV.
Such a tool it is, one can see the
whole world, alt the mighty lead-
ers, all the pitiful suffering and all
the careless wealth. It should be
leading us to understanding.

Instead it’ shows us repeated
horror and subverts our best
weapons of compassion and ordi-
nary kindness and _ selflessness.
That’s entertainment.

Note: There was an error in the
postal code for the Jack Bell
Foundation in the September 23
Vintage Years column. It should
read V6G IT9.

Also, there is no charge for the
Living Will, but donations are
most acceptable.

Q benellon

Buy 1 pair
of Benetton
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Wed y

"GOOD NEWS!

VINA VIETNAMESE CUISINE
is reopening on Friday, October 12

Sam, Pierre, Sean, Don, Paul and the rest of the Vina Staffwishto fj

invite all their past patrons back to Vina West Van for the dining
experience that has been a fine tradition of the
North Shore

: VIETNAMESE CUISINE

2508 Marine Drive
West Vancouver

® 926-6001

|

NORTH SHORE FAMILY SERVICES SOCIETY

EDUCATION PROGRAM

Fall 1990 988-5281

-- PARENTING

PARENTING THE S$ MONTH TO 2 YEAR OLD
Fee’ $36.00/Singie; $60.00/Couple. Fso1
Nov. 6-Dec. 11 Highlands Comm. Sch
6 Tuesdays 3150 Colwood Dr. gg Tuesdays
7:30-9:30 North Vancouver 7.00-9 30 North Vancouver

PARENTS OF TOTS & PRE-SCHOOLERS COUPLES COMMUNIC-=="DN - LEVEL I
Fee: $36.00/Single. $60.00/Couple FSO6 Fee: $68. 00/Count= FS75
Oct. 3-Nov. 14 Westover Comm. Sch. Oct. 9-Nov. + NSFESS.
6 Wednesdays 3467 Duvat Rd = Tuesdays 303-126 E. 15th St.

730-9 30 North Vancouver 7:30-9:30 North Vancouver
PARENTS OF SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN FORMING FRIENDSHIPS
Fee: $46.00/Single, $65.00/Couple Fs10 Fee: $36 00 FS87

LEARNING TO LOVE YOURSELF
Fs7:

Fee: $3000
Oct 16-Nov. 6 Boundary Comm. Sch.
750 E. 26th St.

Oct. 17-Nov. 28 Soundary Comm. Sch. Oct. 10.Nov. 21 Carson Graham Sec. Sch.
6 Wednesdays 750 East 26tn St. g Wednesdays 2145 Jones Ave.
7°'30-9:30 North Vancouver 7:30-9'30 North Vancouver
ALSO Sso9 CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Oct. 4-Nov. & Lions Bay Elem Fee: $15.00 F

6 Thursdays 250 Bayview Oct. 17-Oct 24 NSF.SS.
7:30-9 30 Lions Bay 2 Wednesdays 303-126th E. 15th St.
PARENTS OF TEENS - HOPING FOR HARMONY 7:20-9:30 Norih Vancouver
Fee: $46.00/Single; $65.00/Coupie Fs20

Sept. 25-Oct. 30 Carsan Graham Sec. Sch.
6 Tuesgays 2145 Jones Ave.
7:30-9:30 West Vancouver

SIBLINGS WITHOUT RIVALRY
Fee: $30.00/Singie: $50 00/Coupie

TRAITS OF HEALTHY FAMILIES
FS38 Fee: $9.00 Fss4

Oct. 4-Oct. 25 Highlands Comm. Sch Nov, 5 Carson Graham Sec. Sch.
4 Thursdays 3150 Colwood Drive + Monday 2145 Jones Ave.
7:30-9:30 North Vancouver 7:30-9:30 Narth Vancouver

UNDERSTANDING EATING DISORDERS
Fee: $9.00 Fs79
Oct. 10 Carson Graham Sec. Sch.

1 Wednesda: 2145 Jones Ave.
Fee: $36.00 GRIEVING & LOSS Fs40— 7.30-9:30 ¥ “erth Vancouver
Oct tiNoe. 15 NSFSS PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME Fsso
. . ; V.S.F.S. ee: $5.
8 Thursdays Ste. A wee Giyce Ave. Nov. 7 Carson Graham Sec. Sch.
SEPARATING AND MOVING FORWARD _— Wednesday 2345 Jones Ave.
Fee $30.00 FS45 7.30-9:30 orth Vancouver
Nov. 7-Nov. 28 NSFSS.  - oo. gg.ggd MORE HOT FLASHES F583
4 Wednesdays 303-326 E. 15th St ce: $9.
700830 North Vancouver Nov. 14 , Carson Granam Sec Sch
NAVIGATING LIFE'S CHANGES 1 Wednesgay Norty es ave
Fee: $26.00 FS47 7309.30) Ag G Youn auo en eer
Nov. 6-Nov. 27 Carson Graham Sec. Sch. , VELCOMING You Fse4
9 juesdays grag yones Ave t Nee a * Carson Granam Sec. Sch.
730-930 North Vancouver 1 Wednesoay 2145 Jones Ave.
7:30-9:30 North Vancouver

NIGHT SCHOOL IN.A DAY.

BECOMING STRESS SMART
oo

Fee $30 FSs2
Oct. 13-Nov. 8 NSFE.SS POSITIVE DISCIPLINE WORKSHOP
5 Thursdays 303-126 E. 15th St Fee: $28.00 FS33
730-9 30 North Vancouver Oct. 27 Lucas Centre
MARRIAGE PREPARATION 1 Saturday 2132 Hamilton Ave.
Fee. $68 00/Coupte FSS: 9:00-4:00 North Vancouver
Oct. 15:Nov. 19 NSF.SS HEALING THE INNER CHILD - LEVEL II
6 Mondays 303-126 E. 15th St Fee: $28.00 FS71
7 30-9.30 North Vancouver Nov. 3 Lucas Centre
WOMEN WHO LOVE TOO MUCH - 5 1 Saturday 2132 Hamitton Ave
Fee. $36 00 FS61 = 9:00-4:00 North Vancouver
Oct G-Nov. 13 Sutheriand Sec. Sch COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELY - LEVEL I
6 Tuesdays 1860 Sutherland Ave Fee. $28.00 FS74
7.30-9 30 North Vancouver Oct. 27 Lucas Center
WOMEN AND THE BLUES 1 Saturday 2132 Hamilton Ave.
Fee $2700 FS63—-9. 00-400 North Vancouver

Oct. 9.-Oct. 30 Carson Graham Sec. Sch BUILDING YOUR CHILD'S SELF ESTEEM

1 Tuesdays 2145 Jones Ave. Fee $28 60 FS78

7:30-9:30 North Vancouver — Qct. 30 Carson Graham Sec Sch
ASSERTIVENESS TRAINING - LEVEL | 1 Saturday 2145 Jones Ave

Fee $30 00 FSS7 9.00.4 00 North Vancouver

Oct 2-Ocs. 23 Carson Graham Sec. Sch

4 Tuesdays, 2145 Jones Ave

7 00-9:30 North Vancouver

HEALING THE INNER CHILD - LEVEL f
(New Section)

Fee $2500 NS fee
Jet 43 §
‘ Saturday 303-126 € 15th St

900-4 00 Narth Vancouver

FAMILY DROP-IN PROGRAM

Our agency runs Family Drop-in Centres where parents and children
under five can meet with supervised play for the children, time tor sociahz-
ing and quest speakers for the parents The centres provide a welcome
break trom day-to-day routine and operate at six locations across the
North Shore. Phone 988-5281 for information

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER
PLEASE CALL 988-5281
NORTH SHORE FAMILY SERVICES
303 - 126 East 15th Street, N. Van. V7L 2P9